Knicks' Curry struggles badly
Before playing the Bulls on Friday, Knicks coach Isiah Thomas revealed this shocking assessment of former Bulls center Eddy Curry:
"He may never be a great defender or a great rebounder, but he's a great scorer and we're going to use that," Thomas said.
New York didn't get any of the three from Curry on this night. Playing with a fat lower lip, Curry went scoreless with 3 rebounds in just 14 minutes.
It's been a struggle this season for the Calumet City native. His scoring average of 14.3 is more than 5 points below last year's total. In his last five games, Curry has averaged just 7.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.
"There's certain things he probably won't ever be good at doing," Thomas added. "We want to make sure he keeps doing the things he knows how to do well. He scores well."
It would take too long to count all the times Curry was benched by Bulls coach Scott Skiles for poor defense. Asked before the game to comment on Thomas' statements, Skiles refused to touch it.
Gray finds time: A couple of weeks ago, Scott Skiles suggested that rookie center Aaron Gray would get more playing time. It never materialized, though Gray was given some meaningful minutes Wednesday against Indiana.
The 7-footer from Pittsburgh let Jermaine O'Neal drive past him for a 3-point play but seemed confident on offense. Gray finished with 3 points and 3 assists in nine minutes. He didn't play at all against the Knicks.
"What he is right now is he's a guy nobody knows yet," Skiles said. "The more he plays, the more people are going to know what he can do and then people will make adjustments. He's a big target in there. He can catch the ball. If anybody even starts to collapse on him, he generally makes the right pass out of there and we get an open shot.
"He's not great yet with guarding face-up people. They tend to go right by him. But back-to-the-basket people like Eddy (Curry), he can hold his ground against those guys."
Thomas takes punishment: Scott Skiles expected Tyrus Thomas to be suspended for Wednesday's scuffle with Indiana's Troy Murphy and didn't complain that Murphy was fined $10,000 and not suspended.
"I didn't really have a problem with it," Skiles said. "I've looked at it so many times. Tough call."
Thomas was suspended one game without pay, so he was essentially fined $39,382.
Bull horns: Chris Duhon received the NBA's community assist award for November before the game. … Heading into Friday's action, Kirk Hinrich led the NBA in free-throw percentage at .951, then went 4-for-4 against New York. Ben Gordon (.917) was tied for fourth.