Knicks' Wilkens likely to resign
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-22 17:08

New York Knicks head coach Lenny Wilkens reacts during the second quarter against the Houston Rockets, Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at Madison Square Garden in New York. He indicated he would likely resign as head coach. [AP]

Lenny Wilkens met with Knicks president Isiah Thomas after New York's last-second loss to Houston on Friday night and indicated he would likely resign as head coach, two sources told The Associated Press.

The resignation will likely come Saturday morning when the team holds practice at its suburban New York training facility, said the two NBA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Knicks' 92-91 loss to the Rockets on Scott Padgett's off-balance jumper at the buzzer gave New York nine defeats in its last 10 games.

Wilkens and Thomas met for more than 30 minutes afterward, the sources said.

It was unclear who would take over as coach of the Knicks, whose slide has dropped them into third place in the weak Atlantic Division with a record of 17-22. Citing an unidentified league source, the Daily News reported on its Web site that Wilkens' successor would be Herb Williams, who guided the club for one game a year ago in the interim between Don Chaney's firing and the hiring of Wilkens.

The 67-year-old Wilkens is both the winningest and losingest coach in NBA history, going 1,332-1,155 in 32 seasons with Seattle, Portland, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and New York. He won his lone NBA title with the SuperSonics in 1979 and coached the United States to a gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The anticipated coaching change came two days after the Knicks were outscored 17-2 in the final 4:55 of a 17-point loss at Toronto. That defensive meltdown was just one instance of the type of late-game breakdowns that have plagued the Knicks throughout this season.

The latest last-second letdown was Padgett's buzzer-beater, which came after New York's Jamal Crawford was unable to handle a pass from Stephon Marbury, leading to a shot-clock violation with 10.2 seconds left.

"We were up three with a minute to go. It seems that's been our life of late," Crawford said. "I has to turn. It can't be this bad."

New York lost 88-86 to Chicago on Monday, when Ben Gordon made a driving 8-footer with less than a second left.

Wilkens still has two years and $10 million left on his contract.

Last season, he led the Knicks to their first playoff berth since 2001, going 23-19 after taking over the team following Chaney's firing. The Knicks were then swept by New Jersey in the first round.

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