Knicks coach Larry Brown did not rule out the possibility that forward Quentin Richardson will miss the final 12 games with a sprained left thumb, the New York Daily News is reporting.  

Richardson is set to be re-evaluated tomorrow.

It appears that there are not many people that make Knick coach Larry Brown happy these days.

With 1.8 seconds left yesterday, Larry Brown was passionately arguing a decisive noncall with referee Joe DeRosa, who responded that it really didn't matter. Marko Jaric was on the free-throw line, about to seal a 98-94 victory for the Timberwolves, who avoided blowing the biggest lead (25 points in the third quarter) in franchise history.

"It doesn't matter to you," Brown said, almost choking up with the emotion of the loss and the near comeback. "You can just go home. But it matters to us."

Every time a Stephon Marbury team plays the Wolves, talk of a reunion with Kevin Garnett is brought up by the media.

"I've never been opposed to a reunion," Garnett said on Sunday, "but I've always let him know that I'm going to be in 'Sota; he's always let me know that he's going to be in New York. So I guess we got a problem."

"Playing back with Kevin, that would be something that would be talked about forever," said Marbury, who has been booed whenever he has faced the Timberwolves at the Target Center since being traded.

According to a source who talks regularly with Minnesota owner Glen Taylor, Taylor is dead-set against trading Kevin Garnett, who was the league MVP only two years ago.

"No chance," the source said yesterday. "He's not doing anything rash because they're losing. He still views Kevin as one of the premier players in the entire league."

The Timberwolves are expected to be active this summer in finding Garnett a new supporting cast. Stephon Marbury's name has already been mentioned as a possibility. But as one Eastern Conference GM said, "Is K.G. desperate enough to want Steph back?"

New York rookie Channing Frye says do not blame fellow Knick rookie Nate Robinson for his season-ending injury, the New York Daily News is reporting.

Robinson tripped Raptors guard Andre Barrett, whose shoulder then slammed directly into Frye's knee.

"I think I've seen it 100 times now," Frye said before last night's game against Memphis at the Garden. "I heard people say stuff about Nate and it was his fault. It wasn't his fault at all. It was just a basketball play.

"Stuff like that happens. He felt bad afterwards. I told him I would have done the same thing. (It was an) accident, just one of those freak things."

It took Kevin Garnett all of one minute to answer a Thursday morning question when a reporter asked him at shootaround if he ever thinks about playing in the New York-New Jersey area. "No," Garnett said. "Not at all."

Larry Brown has hinted he could foresee the Knicks packaging Denver's and San Antonio's first-rounders with an expiring contract (Maurice Taylor) to move up in this year's draft.

With the lottery weak, teams might want to fall back to get an extra pick. One mid-lottery selection the Knicks have interest in is LSU's 6-9 athletic shot-blocking forward Tyrus Thomas.

In fact, Brown has told confidants he thinks Thomas should be considered for the No. 1 pick, though most scouts see the freshman as mid-to-late-lottery choice.

In a saga which never appears to end, the latest from New York has coach Larry Brown saying his team doesn't care after the Knicks' latest rout, this time at the hands of Steve Francis' old team, the Orlando Magic.

Francis, who got more boos than playing time in his return to Orlando according to the New York Daily News, and Jalen Rose spent the final three quarters on the bench.

"I looked out there and it looked like a lot of guys just didn't care," Brown said. "That's tough, but you gotta keep finding the people that do (care) and hope you have enough of them."

Brown insisted the benching of Francis and Rose was not a punishment.

"I just decided to play the guys I played," said Brown.

Magic forward Dwight Howard came off the bench to score 23 points and grab seven rebounds in only 23 minutes, according to a report by the Associated Press.

It was Howard's first non-start of his young NBA career, punished after showing up late for shootaround.

"Traffic is traffic. But it's no excuse for me to be late," Howard said. "I'm a leader for the team and I can't be late for shootaround or anything. So it's my fault."

Meanwhile, in his first game at Orlando since being traded last month, former Magic guard Steve Francis had just two points in 11 minutes, all in the first quarter.

Orlando fans greeted Francis with a smattering of boos and applause during starting lineup announcements, but saw little of him later.

"I can't do anything about it. I am not in a position to demand minutes. I did not go through training camp with this team," Francis said.

In this week's episode, RealGM Radio host Aaron Bronsteter introduces his future co-host James Gould and discusses the Toronto Raptors, talks Knicks with New York Times columnist Howard Beck, reflects on March Madness with J.T. Magee, discusses Duke with Frank Dascenzo of the Durham Herald-Sun and checks in with RealGM Radio's fantasy expert Craig
Huffman.

Click [Read] to listen to the podcast.