NEW YORK _ The Knicks deserve coal in their stockings.
It's hard to rank the worst losses of this so very ugly season, but Monday night's 121-115 embarrassment to the undermanned Wizards is certainly a contender.
New York (7-24) allowed the wheels to fall off early in the fourth quarter before launching one of their trademark too-little-too-late comeback attempts. With 4:20 left in the fourth quarter and the Knicks trailing by 17, James Dolan left his seat and walked purposefully through the tunnel. He never returned. The Knicks went on a 16-2 run after Dolan' departure, but Elfrid Payton missed a potential tying 3-pointer in the final seconds.
The Wizards (9-20), who had lost seven of their previous eight games, were depleted to the point of hilarity.
Davis Bertans, Rui Hachimura, CJ Miles, Isaiah Thomas, Moritz Wagner, Thomas Bryant, Jordan McCrae and John Wall were all out, leaving the Wizards with only 10 active players. Their starting lineup included Isaac Bonga, Admiral Schofield, Ish Smith and Ian Mahinmi. That is not from an episode of Hogan's Heroes.
The Knicks, meanwhile, were without Marcus Morris (sore Achilles) and Taj Gibson (illness). Julius Randle responded with 35 points, but the defense was poor and allowed 30 points from Beal.
Washington's Isaiah Thomas was suspended for an incident two nights prior in Philadelphia, where the point guard approached some heckling fans and tell them to stop being disrespectful. Players in the stands is a huge no-no after the "Malice in the Palace," so the suspension was automatic.
The two fans, who reportedly acknowledged cursing and sticking up their middle at Thomas, were banned from the arena for a year.
"Foul language. Or using your middle finger. Or two of them. Or four of them in those two knuckleheads' case. That's crossing the line," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. "Taking it personal is crossing the line. Boo them, yell at them, scream at them, tell them, 'You stink, you're 0-for-5, bad pass, you're our best player, those type of things. You're the MVP for us.' Those are great things. But when you cross the line, it's unacceptable."
Fan behavior has been a hot-button issue in the NBA the last few seasons. The players, increasingly empowered under commissioner David Stern, have been vocal about the verbal abuse and have prompted initiatives to curtail it.
"It puts everybody in a tough position," Brooks said. "But most importantly, there's young kids there watching with their parents trying to have a good time and those are great memories for them to have the rest of their lives and they're dealing with knuckleheads that want to act like they're part of the game or want to be cool so they can show off to their friends and show the video that their other buddies are taking while they're saying these things. It's just moronic and it's embarrassing that they even think that is cool."
