It’s rather remarkable, isn’t it, that the Knicks’ best performance of the year is a game in which Stephon Marbury doesn’t play, and Eddy Curry plays only 16:25? Isiah Thomas’s two most significant acquisitions sit, and the Knicks blow out the Cavaliers (or more accurately, LeBron James and four other guys).

So I went over to the Knicks practice today, and found out that Marbury is still really struggling with his father’s death and that he won’t make the trip to Charlotte.

But also, I watched intently as Thomas smiled his way through another press briefing. The first question was, “How does it feel to be answering basketball questions again?” And Thomas smiled and said he was thinking the same thing. Then a few minutes went by and somebody asked him out of the blue how he’d characterize his relationship with Garden exec Steve Mills. “So much for the basketball questions,” Thomas cracked, before answering the question, that he thinks the relationship is “good.”

Why is this man smiling? Is he a fool? No sir. He’s a smart guy. Is he delusional? Perhaps? Is he as tough as they come. You bet.

I wrote a column for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow about how this guy is handling being on Isiah Watch, even if I personally don’t believe Jim Dolan is even close to opening the trap door under his GM/coach, not as long as Dolan gets his one win every once in a while and believes Thomas when he tells him that the Knicks are close.