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Yes, these are trying times in the land of Knicks. The team was non-competitive for the final three quarters of Monday night's home loss to the Toronto Raptors. They've lost ... a whole mess of games this month (I ran out of fingers to count them all).
With the team in crisis mode, the patriarch stepped in to watch Tuesday's practice.
With Phil Jackson observing, Knicks are spending a lot of time working on defense today. Toronto shot 53% last nite pic.twitter.com/aTJQain3lG
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) February 23, 2016
Defense! Why that's just crazy enough to work! Apparently the major players in New York's front office joined the Zen Master in watching practice. (And, of course, Isola gonna Isola):
Phil Jackson, Steve Mills & Clarence Gaines all watching today's Knicks practice. This is a code red...maybe James Dolan is in the building.
— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) February 23, 2016
Mr. Gaines, if you are reading this, please don't leave us!!! You're the best, and we need your wisdom now more than ever.
Carmelo Anthony is pissed off, but Rambis isn't pissed that Carmelo is pissed?
Rambis not upset Melo was upset: "I want players to be angry. I want players to be frustrated. That’s the right attitude to have." #Knicks
— Barbara Barker (@meanbarb) February 23, 2016
If he enjoys angry, frustrated players, he's certainly come to the right place!
The biggest, juiciest news morsel of the day was Rambis's evasive response to questions about the starting lineup.
Kurt Rambis on possibly making a change to the starting lineup: "When you're losing, you are considering a lot of things. We'll see."
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) February 23, 2016
Isola tweeted that Jose Calderon could be one facing demotion, but that is probably just conjecture. Given the fact that New York's three frontline starters are actually good, and the organization's unrelenting love of Arron Afflalo, Calderon is a probably a good guess.
Will we see a new starting five Wednesday night? That would certainly be something.