The New York Knicks may have ended with four losses from four attempts against the New Jersey Nets, but as Stephen A. Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes at least they, unlike the Sixers (or most other teams for that matter) were there.

Too often a team will be stuck in the middle of mediocrity, standing pact with the same, underachieving players while at the same time pleading for patience by their fans.  Rebuilding usually means a long, painful trip of futility.  That was before Isiah Thomas took over the helm of the Knicks in December, transforming a frustrating team stuck in the middle of no where into a team confident of making some noise in the playoffs in four short months.

Taking over in December Thomas was anything but gun shy, making deal after deal to the point where even the most faithful Knick fan were nervous.  Thomas took risk after risk, replacing the coach and most of his team to reignite interest in his team.  Wins often do this.

"When Steve and [MSG chairman] James L. Dolan made the call for me to come, I knew what challenges were ahead, but I couldn't turn it down," Thomas said. "I knew the salary-cap situation. The players that were on this roster. The losing, the lessening fan support, the feeling that this was a franchise heading down the wrong path. I knew I had to be creative to turn this thing around.

"In life, there are always reasons for why something can't work. But there are always reasons why something can. Most times, people who fail in life are usually the ones who seem as if they're scouring the earth to find obstacles instead of the solutions to overcoming them. I don't. That doesn't mean I'll always succeed."

He may not always succeed, but that does not mean that he will ever stop trying to achieve his ultimate goal, which is to bring a championship to the City of New York.  He is far from done yet.

Will Thomas go after Kobe Bryant, or come calling for Iverson? Will he try to maneuver a three-way deal for either, or just go after Tracy McGrady?

"I'm going to do something, I can tell you that," Thomas said, defiantly. "We're after a championship. That should be everybody's goal."

Jim O'Brien wasn't unemployed for long.

On Tuesday, the former head coach of the Boston Celtics was hired by the Philadelphia 76ers as their new head coach.

A press conference is scheduled for 3p.m. on Wednesday at the Wachovia Center to introduce O'Brien to the media.

O'Brien's contract is a multi-year deal believed to be worth at or more than $3 million a season.

O'Brien was 139-119 with the Celtics, which was his only NBA head coaching job until this one.

The Portland TrailBlazers are relieved that the 76ers didn't come after their coach Maurice Cheeks, who Portland denied Philadelphia to talk to last year.

"Now we can go about our business without further distraction," Blazers general manager John Nash said last night, adding that persistent speculation about Cheeks "was baseless because Philly never asked us about Maurice Cheeks."

Chris Ford, who became the team's interim head coach after Randy Ayers was fired on February 10, is interested in staying with the team and plans on to chat with 76ers president and general manager Billy King about that possibility.

The Philedelphia Sixers announced the signing of Jim O'Brien On Tuesday night. O'Brien replaces interim head coach Chris Ford, who replaced Randy Ayers on Feb 10th when he was fired by the team.

O'Brien, who stepped down as head coach of the Boston Celtics on January 27th, left the Celtics due to conflicts with general manager Danny Ainge.  

A press conference has been scheduled for 3 p.m.  on Wednesday, where the Sixers will formally introduce him as their new head coach.

This will be the second head coaching job for O"Brien.

he was 139-119 in three years with the Celtics.

Chris Ford threw his hat in the ring yesterday as a candidate to become the full-time coach of the 76ers.

We think.

But even last night, after meeting earlier in the day with president/general manager Billy King, Ford - the interim coach for the final 30 games of the just-completed season after replacing the fired Randy Ayers - Ford was not ready to publicly offer a definitive stance on his situation.

Asked whether he is a candidate, Ford said, "I think so."

King has said he will consider Ford for the position, but Ford has steadfastly declined to say much more than that he would like to remain with the organization in some capacity.

That remained the case yesterday, when he said: "I've talked to Billy. He knows my sentiments. I let it be known to Billy."

Amid speculation that the Sixers are likely to ask Portland for permission to speak with Maurice Cheeks, the Trail Blazers coach and former Sixers star guard and assistant coach, Cheeks told the Oregonian: "There is no Philadelphia situation. I would like to be here [with the Blazers] next year, but there is no Philadelphia situation. I am the Portland Trail Blazers basketball coach. There is no Philadelphia situation."

The 76ers finished 11th in a 15-team conference. They ended the season by losing four straight. You went out and traded Keith Van Horn for the "Big Dog," Glenn Robinson, then found out he was a Big Puppy, instead. Your star, Allen Iverson, missed a career-high 34 games this season - after signing a $76.7 million contract extension - and neither's absence helped this team, appeased this city, or served your political aspirations.

Injuries, dissension and a flagrant lack of leadership decimated this franchise, returning it, momentarily, to a moribund state. And knowing you, B.K., all the cigars in the world won't mellow your mood. With chairman Ed Snider lurking, knowing he'd give up hockey before allowing another 33-49 season to take place under your watch, you're smart enough to know the clock is ticking.

"Winning cures a whole lot of problems," you've always said, B.K. The problem? You haven't done it yet. That distinction belongs to Larry Brown.

Allen Iverson told Sixers president Billy King the one thing he wanted to hear at their season-end meeting: The Answer wants to stay a Sixer.

"He said he wants to be a part of it," King said yesterday. "He's been here when it was bad, when it was good, to now when we're not in the playoffs. He says he loves it and doesn't expect to see himself ever playing for another team."

Iverson, a five-time All-Star, continues to be the subject of trade speculation in Philadelphia. Before this season, he signed an extension that lasts through 2008-09, but after another year in which he seemingly didn't get along with the coach, it could be time for a change.

Iverson's thoughts? Who knows? While he's maintained all along he never wanted to be traded, Iverson hasn't talked to reporters for almost a month while he's been out with a knee injury. He's rarely been seen before games and does not sit on the bench during games.

Iverson, along with all but two of his teammates, was in attendance for the team's end-of-year meeting but left without talking to the media.  Reports indicate that he did talk to his teammates about the disappointment of missing the playoffs.  Iverson has had several run ins with interim coach Chris Ford this season just as he had with old coach Larry Brown, but stressed that he did want to remain in Philadelphia and he could play for any coach -- Ford included.

"He said, `Billy, I can play for anybody,' " King said.

Ford said he would like to remain in the organization and the players have publicly offered their support for his return. He's earned respect by enforcing team rules and not letting problems fester.

"It's been great. He just wants you to come out and compete and play hard," guard Eric Snow said.

Before King makes any roster moves, he wants to hire a coach. While he will consider Ford, it's likely that the Sixers will have their fourth coach in three years. King said yesterday there was no timetable for a decision, but the process has already started and won't take that long.

"This year's been a disappointing season for all of us," King said. "I thanked a lot of them for the fact that we finished the season with a chance to make the playoffs. I think our guys came to play and compete and that's all you can ask for when things aren't going in your favor."

With Philadelphia in a now unfamiliar position of preparing for a post season which includes golf rather than playoff basketball, the Sixers held their annual season-ending team meeting at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This year there was no Allen Iverson - Larry Brown blowup, with Brown preparing his Pistons for a run through the East while Iverson made it 25 straight days where he was unavailable to the Sixer beat reporters.

Amid all that, there was other news. King said that interim coach Chris Ford would be given consideration for the full-time job, but that he had yet to meet with Ford on that subject. King also said 13 of the 15 players on the roster attended yesterday's meeting; Marc Jackson was excused, Derrick Coleman was not. Of Coleman's absence, King said, "It will be dealt with."

Heading into the offseason the team's coaching situation is by far their most pressing need.  Randy Ayers was hired to replace Larry Brown before the season then didn't even make it through his first 82 games, Ford taking over and leading the team to a 12-17 record - mostly without Iverson, and minus the playoffs.

"It's started - the process has started," King said. "Hopefully, it won't take that long. Chris is a guy that I will consider for the job. I think he did a great job; he got our guys to play hard."

Ford, who previously coached the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, had been out of the league for three seasons when he joined Ayers' staff at the start of this season. He has said he would like to remain with the organization, and he has indicated he has the option of doing that next season in some capacity. He has not said outright that he wants to remain the head coach.

"I'll meet with Billy sometime and see where I'm going to be," Ford said. "I have no idea. I'll wait until I talk to Billy."

Later, Ford said: "I don't think Randy or myself really had the team that they thought they were going to have. Unfortunately, it just never presented itself on the court. It's tough to evaluate what could have been if they were all available and healthy. But that's professional sports."

Iverson clashed several times with Ford, but King said, "My intention is, Allen will be on the roster."

King said Iverson, who is completing his eighth season with the team, told him yesterday: "Billy, I can play for anybody. I want to win."

"He said he wants to be a part of this, that he's been here when it was bad, good, and now [when] we're not in the playoffs," King said. "He loves it here. He doesn't see himself ever playing for another team."

Asked whether, despite his intentions not to trade his star, he would listen to offers, King responded, "Please don't read into what I said."

Having played just 48 games this season, the Sixers' Allen Iverson has lost his eligibility for official status in any individual league statistical category other than minutes, where he is No. 1 with an average of 42.9.

Phoenix's Shawn Marion is the official leader at 40.8 minutes per game, just ahead of Suns teammate Joe Johnson, New Orleans' Baron Davis and New York's Stephon Marbury, all tied at 40.5.

Iverson, who led the league in steals the last three seasons, is ineligible in that category because, with 115, he is 10 short of the required minimum of 125. Ironically, his average of 2.4 would have had him tied with Davis for No. 1.

His 26.4 scoring average would be No. 2 to Orlando's Tracy McGrady, but the minimum requirements are 70 games or 1,400 points. He has 1,266 points.

The race to the final playoff spot in the East is already over, the Sixers officially eliminating themselves from the race with a 89-75 to the New Jersey Nets at Continental Airlines Arena.  Both Boston and Philadelphia were fighting for the final place but you wouldn't think so with neither team being able to win down the stretch.

The last two weeks had evolved into a comedy of errors. The Sixers and the Celtics were trying to see who could stumble the least and thus get the spot.

The Celtics helped the Sixers by going on a four-game losing streak, including defeats Friday and Saturday at New Orleans and Atlanta. A win in either game would have put them in the playoffs.

But the Sixers assisted the Celtics as well. Including yesterday, they lost four of five games. That slide wound up ending their streak of consecutive postseason appearances at five, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2001.

"We had to win our games, and we had to have help," cocaptain Eric Snow said. "That's tough in this league to do. We had a chance and, unfortunately, we weren't able to pull it out.

"The guys tried. I don't know if the teams were just better or played better. For whatever reason, we just weren't able to win games when we had to."

The 76ers and more than 19,000 fans looked on anxiously Friday night while the 27-foot shot from Washington's Gilbert Arenas flew through the air just as the red light that rings the backboard went on to signify the end of the game.

The shot appeared at first to be long, but it banged off the backboard and swished cleanly through the hoop, sending the Sixers to the edge of the cliff in terms of their playoff hopes.

Arenas' three-pointer gave the Wizards an 83-80 victory and left the Sixers with their mouths open in disgust. The shot epitomized the entire season for the Sixers, who were fighting for their playoff lives against a team they should defeat, a team that hadn't beaten an Atlantic Division team on the road all season.

"And we lose on a shot like that off the glass," guard Aaron McKie said. "Yeah, it does [epitomize the season]. I guess when it goes bad, it goes bad. When things go good, it seems like everything else falls in place for you. That wasn't the case for us tonight."

Even though the Sixers remained two games behind the Boston Celtics, who lost, 89-80, at New Orleans, the loss left them in dire straits. They need to win their last three games - and the Celtics have to lose their final three - to gain the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"This game hurt," point guard Eric Snow said. "We've got to win all our games, and [the Celtics] have got to lose all their games. We're not really out, but with each loss, our chances severely decrease."