After Antonio Davis finished his first practice as a Raptor on Tuesday, he had some parting words for those who run his former team, the Knicks.
"Larry and Isiah, they need to get on the same page," Davis said of coach Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas, the Knicks' president. "Is the team going younger or older? What are they doing? Where's the team going?"
Davis was speaking publicly for the first time since Thomas traded him to the Raptors on Friday for the 33-year-old small forward Jalen Rose and for what will probably be a mid-first-round draft pick.
Davis, a 37-year-old forward, said the Knicks' organization was "a mess."
He also said he had been taken aback by his trade to Toronto, where he played for more than four seasons starting in 1999. He has also played in Indiana and Chicago.
Davis said the Knicks had gone to great lengths to coax him to report last fall after acquiring him and Eddy Curry in a trade with Chicago. At the time, Davis, whose family lives in Chicago, was considering retirement.
"I hope they're happy with what they got," he said Tuesday. "They have to be looking out for the best interests of the Knicks, and Antonio Davis has to be looking out for the best interests of Antonio Davis."
Asked if he was holding anything back to avoid further criticizing the Knicks, Davis nodded and smiled.
A Knicks spokesman did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
The trade has been questioned because Knicks officials said they were in a rebuilding mode but ended up acquiring Rose, who is 33 and who is owed US$16.9 million next season. Rose's addition could limit playing time for young players like Trevor Ariza and Nate Robinson.
Davis has received considerable attention in recent weeks. He was suspended last month for rushing into the stands in Chicago when he saw his wife involved in a confrontation with a fan.
His wife was charged with misdemeanor battery last week in connection with an October traffic altercation in a Chicago suburb.
Davis said the recent tumult in Knicks management -- Thomas has been accused of sexual harassment by one of the team's former front-office employees in a federal lawsuit -- had not affected the players.
"It's definitely a circus there, but it's not something players are really too involved with," he said. "You get a few questions about it, but there's really not much more than that. I wouldn't say it's been a distraction."
He said he was pleased to be rejoining Toronto, even though he was jeered in recent seasons when he returned to play.
During his first stint with the Raptors, he demanded that the team trade him. One reason he cited was his concern that his children might receive a poor education in Canadian schools.
"Even if I had left on a good note, there are still going to be people who don't like you and don't like what you stand for," Davis said. "But I can't really worry about that."
Davis said he liked what he had seen from the Raptors in recent weeks. Toronto started the season 1-15, but the Raptors have gone 16-16 since then.
"I feel it's a lot better," he said. "Obviously, this is a young team trying to get somewhere and trying to be competitive each and every night."
Hinting at his unhappiness with the Knicks, Davis said: "I was telling the guys, this was the first time I've got to run up and down and enjoy myself in a long time. It was nice to see some fresh faces and see guys who really cared about playing and listening to their coach, trying to do everything they can to help each other and to win basketball games."
Kings 104, Grizzlies 96
At Sacramento, California, Brad Miller scored 22 points, including two straight 3-pointers late in the game, to help Sacramento past Memphis.
With the score tied and the shot clock running down, Miller connected on a 3-pointer with 1:02 left to give the Kings a 99-96 advantage. Following a Memphis turnover he made another one to extend the lead to six with 33.8 seconds left.
Miller, who had missed the last three games with a thumb injury, scored 12 of the Kings' final 14 points and added 10 rebounds.
The Grizzlies lost their 14th straight game in Sacramento. Their last win came on the final game of the 1997-1998 season when the Grizzlies still played in Vancouver.
Bobby Jackson had the Kings wishing he never left. Jackson, who had only two points in the first half, made four 3-pointers after intermission and finished with 24 points for Memphis.
Hawks 66, Detroit 98
Joe Johnson scored 29 points, including a layup with 7.5 seconds, to lift the Atlanta Hawks over Detroit 99-98 in the NBA on Tuesday, denying the Pistons their 40th win.
Detroit, which still boasts the best record in the league, suffered its first two-game losing streak of the season. The Pistons (39-8) are off to their best start in franchise history.
Trailing 98-97, Atlanta (15-32) had possession with 26.7 seconds left. Johnson worked the clock down before driving past Rasheed Wallace for the layup.
Following a timeout, Richard Hamilton missed a short jumper over Johnson. The Pistons had one final possession but couldn't get off a shot after inbounding the ball with one-tenth of a second left.
Clippers 85, Knicks 82
At New York, Sam Cassell hit consecutive 3-pointers in the final two minutes, including the go-ahead one for Los Angeles.
Elton Brand scored 25 points, nine in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Clippers improved to 4-1 on their six-game road trip that ends on Wednesday at Detroit. They have won nine of 10 overall.
Cassell was quiet for most of the game and finished with only 13 points, and before his late surge the most energy he showed was when he was hit with a technical foul that was taken away by another referee.
Jalen Rose scored 23 points for the Knicks, who have lost six straight and 12 of 13. They fell to 0-6 this season without starting point guard Stephon Marbury.
Mavericks 102, Lakers 87
At Dallas, Josh Howard had 22 points and was one of the Dallas defenders who helped frustrate Kobe Bryant for most of the game, as the Mavericks won their NBA-best 12th straight game.
The Mavericks' winning streak coincides with their club-record streak of holding a dozen straight opponents under 100 points. This time, they showed they could defend Bryant, who was held to 24 points -- well below the 62 and 43 in his other two games against Dallas this year.
Brian Cook scored a career-high 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting, and became the first player other than Bryant to lead the Lakers in scoring in the past 17 games.
Duke and North Carolina will forever be celebrated for the championship banners they hang, and for the all-American players and NBA stars their basketball programs produce.
But those who stood through most of the second half of an 87-83 victory by No. 2 Duke on Tuesday night will not soon forget what happened at the Dean E. Smith Center.
It was a night for Duke to try to re-establish itself as the nation's pre-eminent team. And it was a night when North Carolina's young team seemed to grow up.
The senior guard J.J. Redick scored 35 points as the Blue Devils withstood a furious rally by the Tar Heels. The freshman guard Greg Paulus made two free throws in the final seconds, and the senior Shelden Williams added one more to seal the victory for Duke (22-1, 10-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). The No. 23 Tar Heels dropped to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in the conference.
Duke, which has won five in a row, has been ranked first or second all season amid expectations of a deep run in the NCAA tournament this spring. But the Blue Devils have been less than perfect of late.
So with North Carolina's 2005 national championship banner waving tauntingly above, there was a statement to be made, or at least reiterated, when the Blue Devils traveled here.
As if a Duke-North Carolina game needs any added fuel. This rivalry remains among the best in college basketball, although Duke had won 15 of the previous 18 games between the teams. Make that 16 of 19.
Still, coach Roy Williams will be remembered for the job he did coaching the Tar Heels on Tuesday night. They nearly came away with the victory.
Duke used a 12-0 run to start the second half, when North Carolina committed six turnovers without taking a shot, to build a 52-35 lead. Williams, furious with his team, substituted all five players and delivered a stern lecture on the sideline.
"I was so mad at that group, I just wanted to do something so I wasn't charged with assault," Williams said.
Whatever message he delivered, it worked. The Tar Heels responded with a 14-2 run to close to 54-49 with 11 minutes 42 seconds remaining.
North Carolina took its first lead since early in the first half when David Noel sank a 3-pointer with 6:46 to go to make the score 64-63. North Carolina extended its lead but ultimately gave in to Duke's experience in the final minutes.
A loss at unranked Georgetown on Jan. 21 knocked the Blue Devils out of the No. 1 spot in the polls. And most recently, the Blue Devils found themselves at the center of controversy in a 97-96 overtime victory against unranked Florida State at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
The officiating crew used in the game was suspended for one game by the ACC after league officials said a technical foul called on Florida State's Alexander Johnson in the second half -- his fifth foul -- was incorrectly assessed.
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