Jamal Crawford scored 30 points in the Knicks’ 111-110 loss to the Nets earlier tonight, the final exhibition tilt for both sides, but former coach / current consultant Isiah Thomas remains the big story after denying earlier reports he’d suffered an overdose of sleeping pills.
Zeke told the NY Post’s Perry Chiarmonte and Marc Berman there’d been an incident with his 17 year old daughter, while Harrison, NY police — unwiling to identify whoever was admitted to White Plains Hospital Center — insist the stricken party was a 47 year old man. Newsday’s Ken Berger has more on the matter :
A White Plains Hospital Center worker told a Newsday reporter that a man he presumed to be Thomas entered the emergency room after midnight with clothing on his face, concealing his identity. Neither Thomas nor his daughter was listed as a patient there Friday.
Thomas’ son, Joshua — a student at Isiah’s alma mater, Indiana University — told the Daily News that his father and sister were at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut on Friday, but neither was listed as a patient there, either. Joshua Thomas denied the reports of an overdose, citing his sister’s hypoglycemia — which can cause fainting — as the source of the medical scare.
No Knicks officials claimed to know what had befallen Thomas or his family, creating a scene that one club official termed “bizarre” before the team’s final preseason game.
“Basically, he’s got some kind of a family issue,” team president Donnie Walsh said. “And he’s asked that we respect their privacy, which I intend to do. ”
Pressed to clarify whether the medical issue involved Thomas or a family member, Walsh said, “I’ve heard both versions. I really don’t know.”
True Hoop’s Henry Abbott — suffering the sort of abuse that only seems to come from anonymous commentators — points out the sedative Lunesta was one of the substances found in the apartment of the late Heath Ledger.
I genuinely wish Isiah Thomas nothing but the best. No amount of frustration Thomas inflicted upon Knicks fans (or Continental Basketball Association owners) oughta be measured against the health and happiness of his family. Suicide’s a heck of a way to get out of living next door to Stephon Marbury, and besides, would you kill yourself if you knew your favorite film was going to be on cable later that night?