Weak East Might Save Zeke After All

In 1976, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA's Midwest Division with a sparkling record of 38-44. The Pistons finished second, at 36-46. But in the playoffs, Detroit swiped a best-of-three series from Milwaukee, literally, when Chris Ford stole an inbounds pass in the closing seconds of the deciding Game 3.

It was the last time that a team won a division title with a losing record.

Thirty years and some change later, history might repeat itself, and one of the beneficiaries of such nonsense could be our old friend Isiah Thomas.

Today, as the Pistons prepare to invade New York to take on Zeke's Knicks, the Atlantic Division is being led by the Toronto Raptors, who are setting the league on its ear with a scintillating 12-16 record. The Knicks -- the team coached by Thomas who works under a "win or else" decree -- are tied for second, with a 12-18 mark. Even the dreadful Philly 76'ers, at 7-19, are just four games out of first place.

But back to Thomas. Knicks chairman James Dolan, after the bitter (what else?) divorce with Larry Brown, made Thomas the coach, in addition to his GM duties. The marching orders were simple: win or be out of a job.

Well, Thomas isn't winning (mainly because he has to coach a bunch of players assembled by Thomas the GM), but it might not mean he gets fired after all. The Eastern Conference, at this rate, could very well have a division winner with an under-.500 record, plus a team or two in the tournament with records that aren't very impressive, either.


"Anybody want to coach this team?"


In other words, Zeke just might wiggle his way out from under Dolan's decree.

If the Knicks make the playoffs -- and at this point who's to say that they can't? -- would Dolan still kick Isiah to the curb? Or would he change the decree, midstream, to "make the playoffs (even with a losing record) or else"?

As usual with Thomas, some of the deciding factors have nothing to do with actual on-court performance. The feeling here is that the powers to be inside Madison Square Garden will evaluate the entire picture, i.e. any distractions/embarrassments, before deciding whether to allow Thomas back into the building next season.

That's where the betting money should be about even.

Already, Isiah has taken some heat for his role in the Nuggets-Knicks brawl -- mainly for his unbridled warning prior to things turning nasty. Instead of taking the high road and leading his team by example, Thomas went into punk/thug mode, which his cherubic grin has for years thinly hidden. He's also been in the news for allegedly ordering his players to undercut the Spurs' Bruce Bowen, as a reaction to Bowen's suspected tendency to slide his foot beneath the legs of opposing jump shooters. The typical Thomas/eye-for-an-eye mentality. That may have been an endearing quality as a player/assassin, but it becomes unseemly as a coach.

Yet here Thomas is, the coach of a real-life second-place team. Yes, it's a crap division, but second place is second place. Just ask the '76 Pistons, who eventually extended the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors to six games in the conference semifinals.

So Isiah might stick around a while longer. The 9 Lives cat has nothing on him.