Nate Rob, you fool...

To eliminate any confusion, I think the reaction to "The Brawl" has been completely overblown. Participants in many fights worse than the Knicks Nuggets melee have b een punished less severely. Greg Anthony, another Knick, left the bench in street clothes in 1993 to sucker punch Kevin Johnson and only got 5 games. How is what anyone did on Saturday worse than that, let alone worth 3 times the punishment? Fights happen in sports, and in the case of the Knicks, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. They've been sucking, and every althelete has pride. Eventually one of them was going to snap. All that aside, Nate Rob has gone and done something stupid.

A few weeks ago he screwed up a toss to himself dunk in a close game against the Cavs and admitted it was dumb, saying he wouldn't try it again "Unless we're up by 20." In other words, he wouldn't do something needlessly flashy unless he was in a situation where he could show up the other team.

The Knicks were down 20 at home. If it were the other way around, Nate would have absolutely tried to get a highlight reel dunk in before time expired. But his reaction to the play by J.R. Smith is completely contradictory to his comments about his own show boating. "They just wanted to embarrass us. It was a slap in the face to us. As a team, as a franchise, we weren't going to let that happen." Nate should have to take it if he wants to give it out. His role in this fight highlights his immaturity, and to me, indicates a regression from his behavior at UW.

As much as I felt Larry Brown was going to be a great mentor for Nate, I believe Isiah is the worst possible coach for Nate. Larry Brown was always about playing winning basketball. Doing it the right way, making good choices and playing as a team are his priorities. Isiah clearly views basketball (and maybe life) as a series of personal wars, and places a lot of value in not only winning, but establishing dominance over the other team.


"The attack by those who want to die - this is the attack against which you cannot prepare a perfect defense." - exerpt from "The Dosadi Experiment" by Frank Herbert

I hated Isiah Thomas growing up. Being a kid in Chicago that was too young to know that Chitown was Isiah's before it was Jordans, he was the bully we couldn't beat. The guy we should have beat but couldn't. The Pistons were the only true rival of the Jordan led Bulls teams. The Celtics had already faded when the Bulls got really good, and the Knicks were never really a threat. Jordan and the Bulls were talented enough to beat the Pistons the two years they lost to them in the eastern conference finals. We had a strong enough roster, but the Pistons would do whatever it took to win. Isiah set the tone for those Piston teams. He was the general, Liambeer was the sergeant at arms, and the Bulls were their bitches. Domination was all that mattered. Isiah was a suicide bomber on the court.



Nate Rob has always been an instigator. He was the engine behind UW when he played here. Everyone fed off of his fearless nature and his desire to completely destroy the opponent. At the same time, Nate Rob is addicted to flash, and clearly likes to be the center of attention. Nate wants to be on sportscenter, he wants to excite the crowd, and he want to rip his opponents still beating heart from his chest (Kali Ma!). At UW, I felt the win was what drove Nate more than anything. Occasionally you'd see him do something dumb to show up the competition (like the time expiring dunk he put on Oregon), but for the most part, proving UW was a team to fear appeared to be his top priority.

On the Knicks, Nate Rob is more concerned with himself. This is a cultural problem that centers around Isiah. Isiah made it OK to openly question coach Brown, and tacitly allowed the Knicks to put their own personal goals ahead of the teams. Nate Rob, in the center of this, decided his own pride is what mattered most. Nate clearly has a passion for the game, but with the team he is currently on, he is unable to see himself as the selfless player that could be great. Instead, he's little more than a punk. And it makes me sad.