Darko Talkin' 'Bout Practice

November 29, 2009

There have been no "Free Darko" signs in the Garden stands, but the 7-foot Serbian center realizes he is trapped in coach Mike D'Antoni's doghouse with no way out.

In an interview with The Post, Darko Milicic sounded bitter about his status as the franchise readjusted their priorities toward making center Eddy Curry viable and left him in the dust. Milicic has been a DNP in eight of the last nine games, logging four minutes in the contest he played.

"I already had enough bad experiences in the NBA, so I'm not going to cry about it," Milicic said. "If he don't play me, he don't play me. I'm here."

Milicic got his hackles up when asked if he thinks he will return if he excels in practice.

"The NBA is not like that," Milicic said. "That's what I learned in Detroit. You can be bleeping Michael Jordan in practice, you're still not going to play in the game. They used to tell me in Detroit, show me in practice what I can do. I showed and showed. But then I didn't play. Practice is practice. The game is the game. Coach has his guys he wants to play he thinks is going to make this team a winning team."