PHILADELPHIA — In 10 years as general manager and president of the Nets, Rod Thorn was in a daily war with the Knicks. Area rivalry and all that. So he escaped down the New Jersey Turnpike to the 76ers but still finds himself battling the same old foe.
“Isn’t that amazing? It really is. Moved down the Turnpike but we’re still fighting them,” Thorn said with a laugh yesterday.
Thorn readily admits the Knicks are not a team he wants to go to war with because they are, in a word, dangerous.
“Really dangerous,” Thorn said. “They’ve got a guy to protect the rim in [Tyson] Chandler. [Carmelo] Anthony’s playing at the top of his game right now. He’s engaged. The [Iman] Shumpert kid has done a great job for them. He’s going to be a real good player. They’ve got guys coming in who can score. They’re dangerous any given night.”
The 76ers, who not too long ago looked like a stone-cold playoff lock, are holding down the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Knicks. Philadelphia has eight games left, starting with the Nets tonight, but the 76ers close out the season with five on the road.
“The last month, we’ve had a struggle. We played really well early and then we didn’t, so we brought everybody back into the picture,” said Thorn, referring to coach Doug Collins’ lineup shakeup two games ago — a move that has resulted in 107 bench points in two wins. “We’re in a fight with the Knicks and Milwaukee.”
What went wrong?
“We haven’t shot the ball,” he said. “We’re first or second in defense, but we just don’t make enough shots some nights. Our bench was really great most of the year and then they dropped off. [Lou] Williams and [Thaddeus] Young weren’t playing as well and we had been like second in the league in bench scoring for most of the year. Last couple games they’ve come back and when those guys are going good, that’s when we’re good.”