Opinion

HOW TO FIX THE KNICKS

New York basketball fans’ long local nightmare is over. Or is it?

With Wednesday’s season-ending 132-123 loss to the Indiana Pacers, the New York Knicks tied their worst record in club history, 23-59.

The only good news was yesterday’s firing of coach Isiah Thomas, who had lost his other job – president of basketball operations – earlier this month following the hiring of former Pacers executive Donnie Walsh.

Thomas’ pink slip came not a moment too soon. Besides the awful product he assembled on the court over the last few years, Thomas also managed to produce a sexual harassment suit that cost Madison Square Garden $11.5 million in cash and untold ill will.

But will the replacement of Thomas really augur a new start for what was once one of the elite NBA franchises?

After all, the only constant in the nine years since the Knicks last made the NBA finals is the chairman of Madison Square Garden, James Dolan.

Dolan’s Cablevision empire purchased the Garden and its sports assets in 1997. Quick as a wink, the collapse followed.

And just a few years ago, Thomas and Dolan brought in Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown – someone who had won both pro and college championships.

Brown departed after producing one horrific losing season. Will Walsh avoid that same fate as president?

True fans who remember champions with names like Bradley, Debusschere and Reed – and contenders like Ewing and Starks – can only pray that Dolan will leave Walsh alone enough to restore the Knicks to credibility.