As team struggles, Isiah can feel heat
NEW YORK -- Speculation has been heavy in New York that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas could be fired soon, though the team's eight-game losing streak ended against the Bulls on Saturday.
Both of the city's tabloid newspapers featured Thomas-related headlines on Page 1 -- not the front of the sports section -- Saturday morning.
Prior to the 85-78 win over the Bulls, Thomas was peppered with the same question over and over again about whether he'd been given any vote of confidence by Knicks owner Jim Dolan. Thomas, a Chicago native, managed to summon some creative answers.
"When you're sitting here 2-9, the speculation, the animosity, the heat, the passion that comes from the media and the fans -- that's deserved," Thomas said. "We deserve that and I deserve that. Because 2-9 is not where we intended to be at this point in time.
"The critics aren't always wrong. Sometimes they're right on the money. At 2-9 and the last performance we gave at home against Golden State, you're dead on. Now, we have the ability to change that.
"Our fans are supportive. They come to our arena every night cheering for us and wanting us to win. They don't come to the arena every night to boo and be mad and angry at us. However, when we don't have a good performance, that's their right. The fan in me, I would react the same way."
Thabo stays cold: With the Bulls trailing 78-75 and less than four minutes remaining in Saturday's contest, Thabo Sefolosha attempted a pair of shots -- the first was a 3-pointer that grazed the back of the rim and the second a mid-range jumper that struck the front iron.
That wouldn't be unusual except that Sefolosha started the day shooting a miserable 29.2 percent from the field. He was replaced by Joe Smith following the second miss.
"He was wide open," coach Scott Skiles said. "He missed one and we were encouraging him, if he got another one, to go ahead and take it. Right now, we've got to keep encouraging guys to take their shots, because otherwise we pass them up and the clock winds down on us and then we're in trouble.
"The (second miss) is basically just a wide-open baseline 12-footer. All of our guys can make that shot. We have to take it and make it."
Bull horns: Luol Deng said he felt good before Saturday's game, but decided to rest his sore back one more day. There appears to be a good chance he'll play today at Toronto. … The Bulls started Andres Nocioni at small forward and Tyrus Thomas at power forward. Thomas (7 points) showed some nice energy, but he picked up 5 fouls.
He said it: Ben Wallace on the Bulls' struggles: "We've just got to find a way out. We better or I'm going to lose my daggone mind."