When Qyntel Woods tried a 360-degree dunk and missed it to open the second half against Indiana on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, no one was more interested in seeing how Knicks coach Larry Brown would react than Nate Robinson. “I know [Robinson] was trying to wait and see what I was going to do with Qyntel,” Brown said with a smile yesterday.
When Brown sent Woods back on the court after calling a timeout, Robinson couldn’t believe it. “I was thinking, ‘Now what if I would have done that?'” Robinson said. “I was telling Quentin [Richardson], ‘If that was me, I’d be sitting next to you guys right now.’ I would have just run straight to the bench. I wouldn’t even look at nobody. I would just walk right to the bench.”
Robinson’s showboating antics have been a source of consternation for Brown all season, but never more so than last Sunday, when the Knicks’ coach criticized Robinson for playing to the crowd while scoring a career-high 34 points – and giving up 47 to Allen Iverson in a loss to the 76ers.
The New York Post’s Peter Vescey notes the best way for one of Brown’s players to ingratiate himself with the coach is to become an opponent.
Is anyone keeping score of how many of Larry Brown’s ex- players he has found appealing since joining the Knicks?
Jalen Rose, whom he once challenged to a fight during a game (“Ah, come on, Coach,” he responded) when they were briefly together in Indiana. Larry Hughes . . . Mike James . . . Speedy Claxton . . . Eric Snow . . . Theo Ratliff.
How rejected must Mack Calvin, Fatty Taylor and Paul Silas feel not to hear Little Boy Blue mention their names.
Last week Brown was spotted hugging Iverson, a guy he tried to banish from Greece and warred with continuously while coaching the 76ers.
“I never had any trouble with Allen on the court,” Brown’s forked tongue spoke when the New York media questioned him about their impromptu love-in.
I see, so being late for team meetings, not practicing and cursing out the coach when removed momentarily from games are offenses unrelated to the court.
Guaranteed, six weeks into next season, Brown will be hugging the deported Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis before and after games whenever their teams meet.
The Knicks will try to extend their current winning streak to a lofty 3 games later this afternoon when they take on the Celtics at the Building That’s Named After A Bank Of Some Sort.