Will Bigger Mean Better For Knicks?

“When we constantly have to play small when the other guys are big, it catches up with you,” said Thomas. “It’s not that the guy’s not there, he’s not tall enough. It’s not that the guy doesn’t rebound the ball, he’s not tall enough. I can’t be mad at guys for that.”

Indeed, the originally vision of the “6-11, 6-11, 6-11” front court has been M.I.A. with not just the versatile, and defensively devastating, Jeffries but also Channing Frye out. “Without two of our main guys, and when they are playing at the top of their game as Washington was last night -- they played as well as they played last year going into their playoff stretch -- well, that’s a tough night for us,” said Thomas.

Help, however, might be on the way as Jeffries is likely to return next Monday (against Boston) or for Wednesday’s game versus Atlanta. And it’s safe to say that it won’t be a moment too soon.

“Not just last night but, really, the last three or four games, we’ve been playing teams with difficult match-ups, a lot of quicker power forwards who can go out on the perimeter, put it down on the floor, drive by people, and shoot,” said Thomas. ”In match-up such as these, in particular, Jared might make a difference.”

‘’With him, we’re a bigger team,” added Thomas. ”You can get by playing small -- but I think we’re a better bigger team than a small team. I also think that when we get all our pieces back, we can be a very good defensive team.”

Thing is, Jeffries is not just tall, he’s long. He also gets in your shirt -- he’s one player who LOVES to play defense. “I know that whenever I faced him in the past, he was someone who gave me a lot of problems very coming from the weak side blocking shots,” center Eddy Curry said. That’ll surely help -- but is it the panacea? “We have to play better defense as a TEAM,” said Curry, nodding swiftly for emphasis.

“Sure, at the moment the fans are impatient with us,” added Curry. “But I think once we start to play better, we’ll get them right back. We’ve got to get a lot tougher on defense, keep our guys in front of us, and when we do get beat have rotation behind us so that we can be helped.”

Of course, just as the Knicks might be on the verge of getting Jeffries back, Steve Francis goes down with right knee tendinitis. ”It’s been bothering me all season, really for the last 4-5 months, but last night wasn’t even able to move,” the guard said. “And yes, it’s been affecting my play, most definitely in my lateral movement, and everything. I don’t think I’ve dunked once all season.”

“I took a MRI last month and it showed nothing except the knee was very, very hot,” added Francis. “Pretty much a strained tendon. I don’t think I’ll need surgery. I hope not.” Francis bent down, knocking on the wood floor at this point.

“Since I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve seen all of us dressed healthy for a game ONCE,” Curry shook his head in disbelief.

Of course, there was always a chance that the return of Jeffries might affect Francis’ spot in the starting lineup, anyway. “I hope he comes back to add to our mix as we try to improve. I came off the bench before,” said Francis. “It’s no big deal to me. I’m not trippin’. I’m worried about winning more than anything. That’s the most important thing.”

“I don’t think yesterday was indicative of the way we played the whole season,” said Thomas. “It was a bad night. But I’m very confident that pretty soon our fans will be cheering for us.”