Bird vs. Zeke

[J Romeo]

> Did anyone read Scoop Jackson's latest article on Page 2 of ESPN?

> http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/080312. 

  I'm
> going to try and answer his
> question as to why Larry Bird doesn't face the same scrutiny in
> Indiana as Isiah does in New York:
> 
> In the 11 years Bird has been involved with the Pacers, they've only
> missed the playoff's once and
> had one season with a losing record. They went to three straight
> conference finals when Bird was
> coaching, including a finals appearance in Bird's third and final
> year as coach. 

BTW - Isiah coaching the Pacers the following year then lost to, though
higher seeded due
 to Pacer injuries, a vastly inferior Boston Celtics team in the
playoffs by sitting his starters with minutes to go and then losing
the game and series. 

> In the five years since Isiah has been involved with the Knicks, they
> made the playoff's once (they
> were swept in the first round by New Jersey during Isiah's first year
> as GM) and have never had a
> winning record.
> 
> The most games the Pacers have won while Bird has been GM is 62. The
> most games the Knick's have won
> while Isiah has been GM is 39 (during his first year).
> 
> Bird is the GM of a team from Indianapolis (one of the NBA's smallest
> markets). Isiah is the coach
> AND GM of the NBA's most valuable franchise in New York. The Knick's
> also have the league's highest
> payroll, and currently have a worse record than the Pacers.
> 
> The Knick's had to pay 11.6 million dollars to Anucha Browne Sanders
> after a jury found Isiah guilty
> of sexual harassment.
> 
> On second thought, maybe Scoop's right. Maybe the media is just
> racist.

Perhaps Patrick Ewing can put together a charity game to raise money
for Zeke's next blunder?