My sister-in-law has been sitting next to former Knick great Kurt Thomas on a flight for the last few hours, so let’s all share our remembrances of Kurt as I bet he’ll see this post. 😉
For me, there were obviously many classic ones back in the day, but it seems hard to ignore the Utah game in his second stint here. He just would not let them lose that game. It was amazing, and stands out so much almost exactly a decade later.
Here’s the Daily News on that game: https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/role-missing-stars-smith-felton-copeland-lead-knickspast-jazz-article-1.1292492
17 replies on “Kurt Thomas Appreciation Post”
I wasn’t really following the Knicks during his 1st stint. But even at 40 he made an impact for the team.
He was on both of our last two runs to the conference semi-finals: 2012-13 & 1999-00 (made it to the conference finals too).
Bring back Kurt Thomas!!
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201303180UTA.html
The Knicks have had one unambiguously good season since I turned 5 and I will never forget this game within it.
1998-99 too, but the gap in years isn’t as fun
The man came out of college having led Division 1 in scoring and rebounding and yet sublimated any desire to run up his stats for the good of his teams. Put him in a time machine and bring him back, we need him now with Mitch hurting and Ju Randle regressing to last year’s no bueno Ju. Please thank him for his service to the Knicks!
https://twitter.com/NBA_University/status/1616080336148107266
Top 1% in player efficiency going 1v1 and taking people to the hole this season.
I’m comfortable when Knicks make trades with Marc Cuban. Won’t be suprised if next month Reggie Bullock starts swishing them at the garden.
Kurt Thomas pretty much did everything the way it should be done. Very proper dedication to craft and crew. Seems like a great teammate.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mitchell-robinson-injury-update-knicks-big-man-out-at-least-three-weeks-after-thumb-surgery/
trouble brewing ahead…
tell captain kurt that jowles will beat his ass.
also, does kurt know that he’s one of only 3 knicks in recorded history with 1000 offensive rebounds and 2000 personal fouls (willis et al were pre-orb statkeeping)? he’s in the bloody pantheon.
Kurt had an amazing arc. Steady improvement in college with a pretty incredible peak. Steady improvement in the pros. One of the truly great late bloomer stories.
Personally I loved the way he carried on the tradition of badassery that I loved so much from Ewing, Oak and Mase.
Kurt Thomas would’ve been the hero in Game 2 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals if the Knicks hadn’t blown the game in the final minute.
I was going to say exactly what EB said – we can’t seem to be able to win a playoff series without Kurt, so we need to bring him back! If not to play, maybe as an assistant coach? 😉
Please tell him he has a fan in Portugal and thank him for all his time with the Knicks, the 1999 run to the NBA Finals is one of the most epic seasons i have ever witnessed! 💪
When I first saw “Kurt Thomas Appreciation Post,” it made me think that he passed away. (I’m very glad that’s not the case.) Now it just makes me think that we need to be more careful how we title our threads. 🙂
OK, so I looked at the boxscore contained at https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201303180UTA.html, as passed along by TNFH. For once I’m not trying to be a smart-a$$. I looked at Kurt Thomas’ line in that game and I can’t figure out what is supposed to be special about it. Is this the right game?
Definitely in the NYK Badass HOF. Miss you, Kurt!
He was at the game last night, wasn’t he?
DDB here’s some background on that game…
https://www.postingandtoasting.com/2013/3/19/4124034/isola-kurt-thomas-has-a-stress-injury-in-his-foot
OK; got it. Not about the stats. Thanks, Z-man.
The guy was averaging nine minutes a game or so and suddenly, following what turned out to be a career-ending injury, he played almost 27 minutes in that game, including the final 15 minutes of the game. It was mostly his defense that stood out in the game.
I could definitely beat Kurt’s ass but I never would, he’s everything I loved about the Knicks