[V]

January 10, 2004 -- Don Chaney was allowed to run another practice while Isiah Thomas stayed holed up in his office yesterday at the Knicks' Westchester campus. The Stephon Marbury blockbuster has not yet proved the answer, and Thomas was trying to figure out which button to press to get his club out of its ongoing mess.

The Knicks' new boss was attempting to make Rasheed Wallace a Knick, but talks with Portland broke down yesterday and the Blazers' bad-boy power forward appeared headed to Dallas as part of a package for Antawn Jamison, sources said.

After bolting the Garden following Thursday's 32-point loss to the Rockets with his eyes blazing in anger, and even getting testy with a heckler, Thomas declined to meet with reporters, apparently saving his electric smile for his appearance on David Letterman's show Tuesday.

Thomas finally emerged from his cave late yesterday afternoon. He had not spoken to Chaney since the Rocket massacre. But at 4:30 p.m., after the three-hour practice, Thomas sat down with his coach to talk things over.

The fans at the Garden on Thursday let Thomas know what they wanted with their first-ever "Fire Chaney" chants during the loss to Jeff Van Gundy. But Thomas was not ready to end the depressing Chaney Era yesterday. Chaney will coach tonight against the Bucks, but there's hardly an assurance he will last this five-game homestand.

Chaney put up a brave front. When told the "Fire Layden" chants lasted a year-and-a-half before action was taken, Chaney said: "That means I'll have a chance to finish [the season] with this team. If I have a chance to finish with this team, I think we'll be in the playoffs."

Thomas' bid for Wallace is futile since, according to a league executive familiar with the Blazers' thinking, Keith Van Horn's maximum contract needed to be part of the package to get the salaries to add up to Wallace's $17 million.



"Keith is the only player [Portland] could get and become a worse team defensively," the league executive said. "There is no deal with them. If they take Keith for his two more years, they might as well just pay Rasheed."

In addition, Blazers GM John Nash, who had the same position with the Nets when John Calipari made the call to draft Van Horn, knows too well the forward's deficiencies.

The Blazers would have been interested in Kurt Thomas, Frank Williams and Michael Doleac, but the contracts wouldn't add up.

The Knicks, who have lost four straight to drop nine games below .500, are three games out of the eighth seed. Tonight, they face No. 7 Milwaukee, a team they may have to pass to make the eighth seed. The Bucks have haunted Chaney this season, beating him twice and inspiring criticism after he benched Dikembe Mutombo in the fourth quarter of the first loss on Nov. 5 at the Garden.

If the Bucks batter the Knicks tonight, the "Fire Chaney" chants are sure to resurface.

"[The fans] pay money to see our team," Chaney said. "They can act the way they want to. They have a right too. When we don't play well, everything comes out on me. I don't react to the fans. They went after Patrick Ewing and that was unjust. Fans are fans. They're very fickle."

Chaney's newest excuse for the Knicks' woes is the "adjustment period" with a fresh floor leader in Marbury.

"Hopefully it won't take too long, but if it does, [Thomas] has to do what he has to do," Chaney said. "He has pressure on him too. My job is to win, no matter if we have new guys or hurt guys. I know that. I'm a realist. I know Isiah has a job to do. He has to make a decision on patience or no patience."