Even when the New York Giants were looking for a new coach, even when the health of baseball's most infamous boss, George Steinbrenner, was being questioned, New York wanted to talk about only one thing.

"I don't care what happens, New York wants to be a basketball town," said one local radio talk show host last month.

The sentiment is understood loud and clear by Isiah Thomas, the man who has set about giving New Yorkers what they really, really want -- a New York Knicks basketball team they can be proud of.

Often called a 'storied franchise', the Knicks have acquired a mythical nature beyond their achievements: two NBA championships in 58 years.

But that matters little in a town where image is everything.

The talk show host went on to explain what every one of his listeners already knew: that the Knicks 'are Broadway'. The team's public relations department gives the media the names and seat placings of each celebrity attending home games.

It is almost as important for the Knicks to look good as it is for them to win. Thomas, the president of basketball operations who arrived in December not so much atop a white horse as a tank, is greedy. He wants to win pretty.

The grand ambition makes his methods all the more ironic, for the former All Star point guard has, in less than a month, instigated a bloody revolution.

Under predecessor Scott Layden, criticized by fans and media for failing to build a talented roster, and under previous coach Don Chaney, the Knicks missed the playoffs in 2002 and 2003.

In a weak Eastern conference, that was considered a sin. In a city which demands the excitement of the post-season, it was unforgivable.

BLOCKBUSTER DEAL

Thomas has already done more in four weeks than Layden managed in two years. Out first went the 'dead wood' of players on inflated contracts.

Then came Thomas's masterstroke: a blockbuster trade for Stephon Marbury, the Brooklyn-born point guard who will light up Madison Square Garden for years to come. Some fans did not believe the deal until Marbury walked out for his debut.

With a starting five in place, not to mention the solid back-up play of Penny Hardaway, Thomas was in control of the team. The power enabled him to oust coach Chaney and his 72-112 losing record in the most brutal of circumstances.

Chaney, moments after being fired last Wednesday, was forced to leave the Garden in front of television cameras just two hours before the Knicks' home game against the Orlando Magic.

No wonder they called Thomas, who oozes charm, the 'smiling assassin'. But the fans had what they wanted and, with the appointment of Lenny Wilkens -- the respected Hall of Fame coach and the most successful in NBA history in terms of wins -- a new era began.

"It feels special...We have a chance to build something special," said Wilkens before his first game in charge, a 108-88 demolition of the Seattle SuperSonics last Friday.

Interestingly, both Thomas and Wilkens told the media early in their tenures how they had overcome adversity as children in their respective, deprived neighborhoods.

Thomas related how his mother had once dealt with a gun-toting gang who arrived at the family home in Chicago in 1966. Wilkens said he learned how to remain calm under pressure when a Brooklyn gang threatened him and his friends with guns.

"I think I've had something to prove since the day I was born," said Thomas.

INTERIM MEASURE

The quest for vindication and acceptance comes from more than a need for good publicity. Thomas is not universally liked throughout the NBA and has not always been a success, either, despite his Hall of Fame playing career and two NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons.

As a manager with the Toronto Raptors in the 1990s and coach of the Indiana Pacers until his own firing by Larry Bird last year, Thomas failed to impress.

Many observers believe Wilkens could be an interim measure designed to improve the Knicks until Thomas is ready to step in as coach.

Whatever his motives, there is no doubting Thomas's will nor denying his early success.

Under Wilkens, the Knicks are 3-0, and since Chaney left they are 4-0. Marbury is dominant and the Knicks have a playoff berth in their grasp.

Thomas, Wilkens and Marbury have much to do before they can compare themselves with Red Holzman, the coach of the NBA-winning Knicks teams of 1970 and 1973, or with playing greats such as Willis Reed, Patrick Ewing and Walt 'Clyde' Frazier.

But when you see lifelong fan Spike Lee, the film director, dressed from head to toe in blue and orange, orchestrating thousands of delirious fans in the Garden from his courtside seat, it is clear something special is going on.

For the moment at least, New York has what it wants.

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