Source: Comeback against Bucks saves Thomas, Knick coaches

Isiah Thomas’ claim that coaching in New York is like being on death row every day is a feeling that his assistant coaches apparently experienced Friday night as well.

According to a source, before the Knicks’ dramatic comeback victory over Milwaukee, at least two assistant coaches said that if the team suffered another blowout loss they were convinced that Thomas and the coaching staff would be fired. Three hours later, the Knicks overcame a 17-point, second-half deficit and won in the final minute.

Garden chairman James Dolan, who has not spoken publicly on Thomas’ job status since last March, was not seated in his customary baseline seats at the Garden for a third straight home game. There is a possibility that Dolan could have watched any one of the last three home games from a luxury suite. Garden president Steve Mills also was conspicuously absent.

It is unclear if the two assistant coaches had been told by Thomas that no one would survive another ugly loss or if the coaches based their feelings on the fallout from an embarrassing 45-point defeat to Boston one night earlier on national television.

During the TNT broadcast, studio analyst Charles Barkley speculated about Thomas’ job security, saying, “He’s about as safe as me in a room full of cookies. If I’m in a room full of cookies, the cookies ain’t got no damn chance.”

Later, Barkley said that if the Knicks lost to Milwaukee, “I think it could be (Thomas’) last game.”

Thomas has five full-time assistant coaches on his bench, not including player development coach Greg Brittenham. Thomas was responsible for hiring Brendan Suhr, Mark Aguirre and George Glymph. Dave Hanners was brought in by Larry Brown, while Herb Williams was originally hired by Don Chaney. The Knicks do not allow their assistant coaches to be interviewed.

Thomas is under tremendous pressure to win now, and the fact that he hasn’t received public support from either Dolan nor Mills is both telling and unfair to his entire staff. One week ago, Thomas told reporters that he didn’t anticipate a coaching change being made but he wouldn’t say whether Dolan had told him that.