Great bashing of Isiah Thomas

[Lurker]

By Tony Mejia
CBS SportsLine.com Staff Writer

Isiah Thomas, you need to go.

Your actions on Monday night are unforgivable. Somehow, you thought it would be a good idea to let your Knicks play through Miami's franchise-record 27-0 run. Jason Kapono and Udonis Haslem hit practically every shot they took while the Knicks just stood around and watched.

The Heat went on to win 101-83 without Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal.
   
"This is the first time that I have been with this group that we didn't show up," Thomas said. "By the time we showed up, the game was over.

"There is no strategy for being down 29-3. As professionals and as men, you have to step out on that floor and compete against the other player. There is no strategy for lying down and taking it."

You got one right. There's no excuse for allowing a team to get carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey by not calling a single timeout when it became clear one was needed. You let the Knicks down, just like they let you down.

Look, there's no doubt you were a fabulous basketball player, among the best floor generals of your generation. You were tough, arrogant, brilliant and dominant. Anyone who saw you play respects you.

As a coach, though, you're a failure. Sadly, the exact traits that made you so valuable as a superstar fail you in the role you occupy now. It doesn't build character to take a 27-0 beating. It builds catastrophe.

Bob Knight coached you at Indiana? You didn't pick up anything from him? As hot-headed as he is, Knight would never have allowed his team to be embarrassed the way you did. You left your team out there to die, and it should be no surprise that they died. It's what you set them up to do.

The New York Knicks are a joke. Thanks to bad management, they were awful before you got there. Your bravado made everyone, including owner James Dolan, believe you had the remedy.

You don't. You have no idea. You're clueless to the point where it hurts to watch. A 27-0 run without a timeout? Are you even trying?

Sadly, the fact is you are. But you just don't get it. Stop being so pompous that you believe your team will rise to each challenge you set forth. Your job is to help the team grow. A 27-0 run, without a timeout, doesn't accomplish a thing.

Except prove how foolish you truly are.

[westkoast]

You know Phil Jackson does this on occasion but not quite in the same regard.  If they run off 10 straight, he sits and let's them try to figure it out.  I do doubt that they would get 27 points scored on them without a PJ timeout.

Isiah is worthless when it comes to everything but being a guard on the Detroit Pistons.  Here is a thought that could have helped prior to this year...Isiah call  up your buddy Joe Dumars and ask him for tips.  It wouldn't be the first time you needed his help to get something done!

[WayOutWest]

PJ would do that with a veteran team, he uses that as a guage of where his team is mentally.  He does NOT do that if he thinks his team cannot handle it.  PJ doesn't pull that with the current Laker squad because they are too young, he calls time outs alot more often when the Lakers are stumbling, he knows they are not ready yet.

[Lurker]

PJ would do that with a veteran team, he uses that as a guage of where his team is mentally.  He does NOT do that if he thinks his team cannot handle it.  PJ doesn't pull that with the current Laker squad because they are too young, he calls time outs alot more often when the Lakers are stumbling, he knows they are not ready yet.

That was my thoughts...Jackson did this with the three-peat team and in Chicago.  But then those teams were also talented enough to never fall into a 27-0 run.

[Rolando Blackman]

Hey, y'all:
   
I think that Isiah's accomplishments as as a player are vastly overrrated.  Let me ask you, which '80s PG would you rather have in those days - Andrew Toney (of the Sixers) or Thomas?  Let's face it, Toney was a far better and more talented player than Isiah - major jump-shot range, awesome ability to break down a defense with his 'dribble-drive' (Chickie Baby - snif), AND great defense.  Without his supporting cast (even as a Lakers fan, I will admit that the 'Bad Boys' were bad-ass), I think Isiah would have been just another also-ran guard.  Somehow, the sports media got attached to him and has never let go, just because of his 'cuteness' -  much to the satisfaction of Isiah's bank!  As far as I am concerned, Lloyd 'World' Free was more of a team player than Isiah...and this is stated in all seriousness.
   
-Rolando
Shaq #1 forever