We Had Surrendered: Isiah Thomas

Josh Q. Public: I will go down with this ship; and I won’t put my hands up and surrender. There will be no white flag above my door.

Public Service Announcement:

Ok here we go! By now the whole world has seen it. From Bangor, I just met her, to Kalamazoo, we saw it. Were you appalled? Were you outraged? What appalled you the most? Was it the hard foul by serial hard fouler, Mardy Collins? Snatching Rucker League All-Star JR Smith by the shoulders and smashing him down to the floor? Was it Napoleon Nate Robinson. Napoleon Nate Robinson looking like he wanted to throw down with the whole Denver team? Looking like he wanted to throw down with the whole Denver team and nearly succeeding? Was it the NBA’s leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony? The NBA’s leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony throwing a big giant all day sucker punch and running away like a little girl? Was it the Keystone Cops/Benny Hill chase scene afterwards? Jared Jeffries and Mardy Collins chasing Melo across the Madison Square Garden? Garden security, the referees and the coaching staffs of both teams chasing Jared Jeffries and Mardy Collins chasing Melo across the Madison Square Garden? If I were a New York Knickerbockers fan, none of that would have appalled me more than Isiah.

At the press conference after the melee, the donnybrook, the fracas, the free for all, the rhubarb. At the press conference afterwards, Isiah said three little words that appalled me most of all. Isiah: “We had surrendered.” Those three little words are the most repulsive words in all of sports. In pee-wees we are taught never to utter them. Never to even think them. I immediately ask myself, how many other times have these never say die Knicks, said die. How many other times have they surrendered. If I am the owner of the Knicks, I fire Zeke on the spot just for saying those three little words. “We had surrendered.” It makes me shudder, it really does. Isiah said more. To Melo: “I just said to him you’re up 19 with a minute and a half to go. You and Camby really shouldn’t be in the game right now. We had surrendered. And those guys shouldn’t have been in the game at that time. They were sticking it to us pretty good.” Oh, I get it. You give up, so the other team should too? That’s why you were taking the beating you were taking. You gave up. No Mas. I quit. Uncle. I give. Mercy. If I’m a Knick fan, I quit too. I quit going to games. I surrender my season tickets. I quit watching on TV. I surrender my Knick merchandise. There is no way I back a team of quitters.

Not for nothing, expect some very harsh penalties for these transgressions. Very harsh.

Peace out homies. Six Two and Even! josh q. public

Enable Comment Auto-Refresher

JoshkrossDraft Pick

1062 days ago

Score 0

What does Isiaiaiaiah have on the Dolans? He must have naked pictures of all their wives. Or proof they have group sex with sheep. How is this ass not fired? If I didn't hate the Nets so much, I might start rooting for them...

Permalink | Reply

Davis21wylieMVP

1062 days ago

Score 1

Honestly, I've never seen 'Melo run so fast as he did after he sucker-punched Collins. George Karl should run tape of the brawl whenever Melo dogs it in practice -- "I know you can run faster than that! We've got it on tape!"

Permalink | Reply

False ProphetAll-Star

1062 days ago

Score 0

most definetly

Permalink

Anonymous Fanatic #1

1062 days ago

Score 0

Isiah has destroyed this Knick team for a long time. they will be awful long after Zeke and Dolan are out of the picture. Its just atrocious what he's done

Permalink | Reply

ChristofMVP

1062 days ago

Score 0

Knicks will be contenders again. So will the Sixers. We may all be dead and buried by then, but that is another sotry for another time.

Permalink | Reply

BU ICEMANJV Squad

1062 days ago

Score 1

I agree you should never surrender, and always go down fighting. Of course by fighting I mean trying to score and playing tough defense. Then again, the Knicks can't do either of those things so their only option was to thug it out.

Permalink | Reply

Anonymous Fanatic #2

1062 days ago

Score 0

the main point that all of you have obviously missed is that they were trying to stick it to the knicks and their fans. they WERE UP BY 19. so, the knicks might suck, maybe isiah should be fired, maybe, maybe, maybe. who cares the point was that they were showing the knicks up!!! in hockey there would have been a brawl. a real one at that, not a bunch of people throwing sucker punches and running away. in baseball if you are stealing bases when you are up by 10 in the ninth inning, then you will be subject to high fastball. the point is when you are up big like that at the end of the game there is no need to run it up and keep your starters in the game. they were running it up and the knicks called them on it. i saw the foul, it was not that bad. again in baseball you better believe caryellow would have been hit next time up. in hockey he would have been crushed in the boards or open ice. and then they would have kicked the crap out of him. i don't like people showing people up in sports and neither do most of you. so get off your high-horses and suck it up. it was a hard foul and that's all.

Permalink | Reply

BU ICEMANJV Squad

1062 days ago

Score -1

First of all AF, sack up and login.

Second, there's a difference between a hard foul that's within the rules or "sprit of the game" and the one that was delivered. There was no attempt to go for the ball, it was delivered with "malice aforethought." Bringing two arms down on a double tomahawk chop and push isn't just a hard foul. A true hard foul isn't as blatantly obvious.

Third, fighting is an accepted part of the game in hockey, not in basketball.

Fourth, this isn't your don't-hurt-little-Billy's-feelings-by-continuing-to-play-the-game-and-score league, it's professional; you're expected to be good enough to stay with the rest of the competition. Everybody should be beyond all that touchy-feely candy-assed crap. You want people to suck it up? Fine, then make sure that the Knicks suck it up when they're getting their ass kicked again (and it will happen again this year, BOOK IT!) and don't act like a bunch of jagoffs.

Permalink

Anonymous Fanatic #3

1062 days ago

Score 0

first off icecube, it was not a hard foul. suck it up sissy boy. it was such a hard foul that he was right up after the foul? give it up. and i like how you stated it is accepted in hockey. well, then what about baseball? in baseball when you are up big you lay off (i.e. don't steal bases, don't hit and run, etc.) if you don't, you can be sure a star on your team will get hit- and believe me, that will hurt (badly).

what is so funny about you clowns on this site is that you don't even know the history behind this. try reading instead of writing your silly ill-informed comments. their is a hatred between these two coaches and nugget boy was running it up and pushing it in his face in the garden. knick boy didn't like it and retaliated. NOT TO HARD TO UNDERSTAND. It happens in most team sports, you show off you get the smack down. Done deal.

Permalink

EnyboDiv-I Stud

1062 days ago

Score 0

Maybe I can apply this philosophy to work. Next time I am swamped with work and my boss gives me even more work to do, I think I'll body check him into a cubicle wall. Or maybe throw a stapler at his head.

Permalink

Ray agmJV Squad

1061 days ago

Score 0

that was NOT an OK foul. come on, maybe you weren't watching the same game but Collins put his arms around Smith's neck IN THE AIR and pulled him down. just because Smith got up quick doesn't mean he couldn't have been seriously hurt if he had fallen slightly differently. if you were an athlete who's future and livelihood was dependant on your physical health and some dude tries to take that away in the closing minutes of a fairly hopeless game, don't tell me you'd just "suck it up." the Knicks are pathetic because their coach is pathetic. Isaiah saying that they were victimized first because they had "surrendered" is just an excuse to throwdown without looking like you want to throwdown. weak on so many levels. why is that clown still in charge of an NBA team? in my view, his playing legacy is tarnished by his ineptitude as a coach/gm.

Permalink