Isiah Thomas was wrong again. The Knicks have a little bit of heart and pride when they want to show it.
Responding to Thomas’ attack on their manhood, David Lee, with 22 points and 11 rebounds, and his teammates blasted the defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers 108-90 last night for their season’s largest margin of victory before a Garden crowd that has rarely sounded like this in 2007-08.
The fans gave their 8-17 bunglers a rare standing ovation in the final 25 seconds, even though an audible, if weak-hearted, “Fire Isiah” chant came down at the end.
“It’s been a while,” Lee said of the cheers.
The Garden wasn’t sold out for LeBron James, falling 1,000 short of capacity. But the Knicks will take it as the hostility disappeared by the end of the night.
“I thought tonight our attitude matched the ability of the team,” Thomas said. “The key now is to sustain this level of play in terms of attitude matching ability.”
Jamal Crawford said the players discussed Thomas’ rant, in which he said the team lacked “heart, pride and courage.”
“We all talked about what he said,” Crawford said. “We said we got to get our stuff together. He didn’t call us out all season. When he says it, you know you have to get it together.”
Thomas said before the game, “Better days are ahead,” and at least it was a better night.
Tuesday, Thomas seemed a desperate man when he said that if he doesn’t get the ship righted in two weeks it would be fair to discuss his dismissal. He’s got 13 days to go.
Crawford (21 points six assists) played a controlled point guard. Quentin Richardson, who hasn’t been able to hit the Hudson River, found his shot, finishing with 16 points, making four of six 3-pointers.
Nate Robinson was an energy boost, intercepting a backcourt inbounds for James (32 points) and soaring for a dunk that sent the crowd into a tizzy. Even Malik Rose was dusted off to play 11 minutes of solid defense and add one timely block.
The Knicks did it without Stephon Marbury, whose mental and physical condition is a mystery. Marbury missed practice Tuesday because it was his recently deceased father’s birthday, and he missed the morning shootaround with the flu. However, he was ready to go last night.
“The start of the second quarter, he said to me if things are going well, he was OK with not playing tonight because he hasn’t practiced in a while,” Thomas said. “We had control of the game, so I didn’t think there was a need for him tonight.”
Eddy Curry picked up two fouls in the first 2:05 and did not return in the half. The Knicks proceeded to play one of their best halves of the season without Marbury and Curry, building a 63-50 lead.
Lee did it all, scoring in transition, on alley-oops, on driving layups, racking up 17 points, eight defensive rebounds, going 8-of-10 from the field in the first half.
Richardson and Crawford hit back-to-back treys for a 72-52 lead with 9:42 left in the third, and they were never threatened.