Not liking what he was seeing from his prized offseason acquisition, Knicks' Coach Isiah Thomas yanked Zach Randolph from the lineup early in the second half of Saturday night's embarrassing 105-77 loss to the 76ers at Madison Square Garden.

Randolph fully expected to check back in. He never did. The seventh-year pro was glued to the bench for the rest of the second half, watching the calamity from the sideline.

"I wanted to play," Randolph said after practice at the MSG Training Center yesterday. "I want to be out there every minute. I want to play. Whatever I can do to go out and help the team. I don't like sitting on the bench."

Randolph, who'll look to get back on track tonight when the Knicks (6-13) host the Dallas Mavericks (13-8) in the second game of a three-game homestand, wasn't exactly thrilled with getting pulled. He wanted to be out on the floor to work himself out of his funk.