Now, it's official. A loss in Toronto on Friday ensured the Knicks will not make the playoffs for a third consecutive season. Clearly, it wasn't a shock. The season's been so bad that most of the players began to coast shortly after the All-Star break.
"It's disappointing," embattled head coach Isiah Thomas said. "We definitely had high hopes coming into the season. I always thought we would be a playoff team this year and I'm disappointed that we're not." He practically guaranteed a postseason berth when the season got under way.
Thomas doesn't believe the season got away when Stephon Marbury overreacted to a potential benching and went AWOL. He felt there was a chance until the Knicks went 0-5 on their second West Coast swing.
RAPTORS 103, KNICKS 95: Nothing ever seems to change. The Raptors shot an eye-popping 72 percent in the first quarter and jumped in front 32-23. And for the rest of the game, the Knicks were forced to play catch up.
It's a strategy that hasn't worked all season.
Toronto eventually built a more comfortable cushion, but the Knicks closed the first half with a 14-3 run and went into the break trailing 49-44. They didn't have anybody to stand up to Chris Bosh, though, so the Raptors pulled ahead again. Bosh finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds. He was even hitting from behind the arc.
"Toronto did a pretty good job keeping us at bay," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said. "Every time we made a run Chris Bosh had the answer."
