Accusations in Magic's new book enrage Isiah
Isiah Thomas fired back at Magic Johnson for excerpts in a soon-to-be-released book that discussed everything from the reason for Thomas' omission from the 1992 Olympic Dream Team ("Nobody on that team wanted to play with him," Johnson says in the book) to an accusation that blamed Thomas for spreading rumors that Johnson was gay or bisexual after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1991.
"I'm really hurt," Thomas, the coach at Florida International University, told SI.com on Wednesday. "I really feel taken advantage of for all these years. I'm totally blindsided by this."
"When The Game Was Ours" was co-written by Johnson, Larry Bird and longtime NBA writer Jackie MacMullan. Among the several references that Thomas disputed to SI.com included the suggestion that Johnson persuaded former Madison Square Garden president Steve Mills to hire Thomas to run the Knicks in 2004. Madison Square Garden is owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday.
"It's so hypocritical," Thomas said. "There is this public person and then there is this B.S. person. There's Earvin and then there's Magic . . . It's just like the line he perpetuated that he got me the Knicks' job. Oh, yeah? Ask Jim Dolan. Ask Barry Watkins. That's a lie."
On behalf of Dolan, Watkins, who is the Garden's spokesman, told Newsday, "Isiah got the job on his own merits without any help or assistance from anyone."
"I'm tired of getting punched and people using me because they think I'm not going to say anything," Thomas said. "Those days are over. Game on."
