Isiah Needs New Plan After Sorry Opener

I warned Isiah Thomas that Marbury and Nate Robinson couldn’t play together.

Or was it Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph?

One way or the other, the False Prophet let Friday night’s game get away from him in the fourth quarter; I hate when so-called professional coaches allow that to happen. Feeble substitutions, unsavory shot selection and shoddy clock management led to numerous inexorable fast break opportunities.

Why re-insert Marbury after nine minutes of sitting when his head clearly wasn’t in the courtroom? I mean, other than not to lose the cooperation of his partner in crime for the next season or two?

And what happened to the plan to punish the Cavaliers in the paint? Why change after three quarters? Zydrunas Ilgauskas is 7-foot-3, his feet appear to be moving faster than usual these days and his help defense is admirable. So why not go inside to the 6-10 Knick he’s not guarding?

Thomas may have been afraid to force feed Curry for fear he’d have to visit the welfare line where he aborted five straight, but it’s a tad early in the season to demonstrate no confidence in the Big Meal Ticket by conspicuously making him your go-away guy.

Again, what happened to the philosophy of not settling for perimeter jumpers (even the wide-open variety) early on the clock, especially on the road. For those with a Knicks affection or connection, it’s cause to cringe, I submit, whenever N8 drains one or two, much less three or four.

And what happened to the time-honored tradition of attempting to quiet the home crowd that had only just come to life? What hap pened to try ing to bring momentum to a screech ing halt with a time- out or two or three in hopes of re grouping and re gaining a sense of purpose?

Even in defeat, I think we all agree, Randolph (21 points and 14 rebounds) is the best Zach since Wheat. At the same time, it seems his resourceful presence greatly impinges on David Lee’s effectiveness: