With Larry Brown's deliberate halfcourt offense a distant memory, Isiah Thomas wants the Knicks to resemble the high-octane Phoenix Suns, at least in some respects.

"We won't be as good as they are at it," Thomas conceded yesterday after practice in Greenburgh. "But I think the whole league is moving that way. I watched a couple of exhibition games last night, and even (Jeff) Van Gundy is starting to play a little faster. So it's a league where right now the pace is quicker. You've got to have good guards to play that way. I think we've got four good guards to keep the tempo at a certain level that we like to play at. Now we've got to get good at executing at a fast pace and thinking at a fast pace. The cream of the cream is Phoenix, the way they've been able to do it."