It started out looking like yet another ugly episode in the Isiah Thomas era, perhaps even the final chapter if things had continued to go horribly wrong again.
An ornery crowd of 18,979 at Madison Square Garden was not going to have much patience, not after what had happened in Boston the night before, and opened the proceedings by letting Isiah and the rest of the Knicks have it with lusty boos and pointed chants after the Knicks fell behind by 17 late in the third quarter.
But by the fourth quarter the boos were replaced by raucous cheers, and the chants of "Fire Isiah" became chants of "Defense, Defense," all in vigorous support of the home team.
One game after demonstrating neither heart nor pride in a 45-point loss to the Celtics, five Knicks -- Jamal Crawford, Fred Jones, David Lee, Zach Randolph and Quentin Richardson -- proved scrappy and resilient enough to quiet the calls for Thomas` head with a hard-fought 91-88 victory last night. (...)
