Last summer Isiah Thomas and the Knicks hired Larry Brown over ex-Piston Bill Laimbeer, and according to a report in the New York Post, Laimbeer believes that if he was hired instead of Brown things would have turned out differently.

"I thought if I got the opportunity to coach here, I would have done a fine job," said Laimbeer, in his fourth full season as the head coach of the WNBA's Detroit Shock. "They fell into a bad mix here last year with the coach and the players."

Last night did not provide much evidence to support Laimbeer, as Detroit fell to 19-9 with a 75-67 loss to the Liberty (8-21) in front of an announced crowd of 8,640 at the Garden.

"They had a 'players versus coaches' mentality here and it showed," Laimbeer said. "For everything he's done, Larry Brown is not the easiest coach to play for."

What would Laimbeer have done that Brown failed to do?

"You've got to get the guys to buy into what you're saying and Larry didn't do that," Laimbeer said. "I'm confident enough in myself that I think I would have. The players would have liked playing for me."