Francis Says He's Team's Fall Guy

Steve Francis said he's used to being made the scapegoat and said he believes he's being made one here.

"You want to be able to step up and take responsibility for things," Francis said at yesterday's morning shoot-around before the Knicks lost to the Hornets, 92-90, last night.

"When things aren't going well, who else would be the donkey that they pin the tail on than myself? It's been like that since I've been here."

Isiah Thomas lashed out at Francis during Thursday's video session, where the Knicks coach/president didn't feel the Knicks got center Eddy Curry enough touches in the post in their disappointing 104-94 loss to Toronto.

Francis was dreadful against the Raptors, making seven turnovers, and had two heated discussions with Curry on the court. Francis, however, had a much-better outing last night in scoring 21 points with 10 assists and just two turnovers, but missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Knicks Always n Forever wrote:I got to admit, i was so pissed when that happened. It was hard to watc the Knicks lose like that. Now we dropped to 10th place because Indiana won today.

Vash wrote:I think that the coaching staff was trying to call a timeout. A win would have put us in the 8 spot ahead of the Nets. But its a moot point now.

Francis has been cutting down on his TOs lately. He just has to continue to take care of the ball and look for Curry in the post.