The ‘ I’ in the sky
Thomas laying low in new role with Libs
Seemed like-old times— an Isiah Thomas run team getting slaughtered at the Garden.
In the season’s worst performance, the Liberty fell behind by 22 points in the fourth quarter and were routed by the Mystics, 7459, Sunday night before a modest crowd of 7,629.
In fairness, Knicks/ Liberty owner James Dolan still is clinging to a basketball winner at MSG as the Liberty are 32. Thomas, the Liberty’s president, attended the rout after missing the previous two games as part of NBA TV’s coverage for the NBA Finals.
In fact, Dolan has attended as many home games as Thomas — two each. Thomas, who used to view Knicks games from the longgone Willis Reed tunnel, watched Sunday from the sixth row, midcourt, sitting with his wife. He was not made available to the media after his leading scorer Tina Charles, had a brutal outing — 3of17, two turnovers, for six points.
Also attending were two Knicks— Langston Galloway and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the 2014 unsigned secondround draft pick.
A WNBA ownership committee still is reviewing whether to approve the Liberty’s plan to make Thomas a part owner of the franchise because of his involvement in a sexual harassment lawsuit and trial while serving as Knicks president. If that plan falls, there’s no telling whether Thomas will stick it out as president since that seemed a vital component of his decision to join the Liberty.
His face and name are nowhere to be found on the main page of the Liberty’s website despite Dolan hiring him to attract renewed interest in the team that had a threeyear exile to New ark.
On press releases announcing Liberty roster moves, vice president of operations Kristin Bernert and coach Bill Laimbeer are named, but Thomasis not. A team spokesman said Thomas wants to give Bernert exposure.
However, it seems MSG has had Thomas lay low until the ownership issue is settled. Dolan, the only remaining original WNBA owner, has not been happy losing money on the Liberty.
Through four home games, the Liberty are averaging 6,982 fans. That’s down from last season’s number of 8,965.
In a taped interview from MSG Network’s Sunday telecast, Thomas said his aim is to rejuvenate interest in the team.
“The thing that we would like to do is just reintroduce our team back to our fan base, reintroduce our team back to the community,’’ he said. “It’s been a franchise displaced because of the renovation of the building and we kind of lost our fan base a little bit, so wewant to grow back up and really just expose the talent and expose the players to New York. Once we do that, I’m confident that people will fall in love with the players.’’
There was nothing to like Sunday. Their rookie firstrounder, point guard Brittany Boyd struggled in a new starting role — 1of8 shooting, five turnovers, nine points.
“We got a little exposed and Tina had a bad shooting night,’’ Laimbeer said. “They played more physically than us and beat us up.’’