Decline And Fall

Brooklyn native Larry Brown signs a five-year, $50 million deal to coach the New York Knicks. --July 27, 2005

Aug. 1 "I guarantee [ New York] will be in the playoffs. Stephon [Marbury will] be an All-Star under Larry." -- Magic Johnson

Oct. 8 "[G.M.] Isiah [Thomas] has done a great job improving the team...." -- James Dolan, Madison Square Garden chairman

Oct. 25 "This is fun. I enjoy coaching and teaching, and we have so many young kids that want to get better." --Brown

Nov. 4 "The people are hyped up. We're crack addicts who haven't had our fix for a while." -- Spike Lee, director and superfan

Season begins with an OT loss to the Boston Celtics. --Nov. 2

Nov. 4 ( Knicks record: 0-2) "I have no clue who to play.... I'm not thinking about matchups. [I] just need to find out how to put guys in positions they can be successful." --Brown

Nov. 17 (2-6) "If [Brown] wants me to play a different way ... I'm down for it. But if we lose, I'm not going to be happy playing like that." --Marbury

Feb. 1 (14-30) "Coaches coach execution, they're not supposed to coach effort.... I've always been places where I knew I could count on the effort." --Brown

Feb. 7 (14-33) "Larry and Isiah, they need to get on the same page.... It's a circus there." --Forward Antonio Davis, after being traded to the Raptors