At the World's Most Famous Arena, the World's Allegedly Most Knowledgeable Basketball Fans congregated last night for what figured to be the latest in a long line of hideous performances by the home team.

Knicks fans aren't necessarily the smartest basketball fans around, just as New York point guards aren't the very best players at that position, contrary to popular belief. But fans here know when the product stinks and normally react accordingly.

So they booed the Knicks off the floor after Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis took enough ill-advised shots and made enough bone-headed mistakes down the stretch to turn a certain victory into one of the season's most brutal losses. But if any good came out of the 108-101 defeat to the Bulls, it's that you won't hear Marbury and Francis compared to Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe anymore.

The sad part is that Jim Dolan, the man in charge, isn't going to be swayed by a crowd's reaction or the Garden's recent chants of "Fire Thomas." Or even by cold, hard facts.

Dolan has been described over the years as a contrarian, but this week he referred to himself in terms you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Explaining that he still believes in Isiah Thomas and his "strategy," despite the ongoing train wreck located five floors above Penn Station, Dolan said, "Maybe some people think I'm brain dead."

Judging from what he's allowed the Knicks to become, who are we to argue?

As far as Dolan is concerned, Thomas isn't going anywhere, and the first two years of his rebuilding job, as bad as any in pro basketball history, aren't being counted against his record.

On second thought, "brain dead" may have been putting it nicely.

"I always listen to the fans," the Garden CEO said during his memorable session with the writers the other day in Memphis. "I just don't necessarily do what they want me to do."

So when you're at the Garden, boo till your head hurts or until you get the kind of indigestion that drove Larry Brown to a Memphis hospital complaining of chest pains. It won't matter, although Brown certainly understands why some fans again vented their frustration at his team.

"How can you blame 'em?" he said before the Knicks were torched by Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. "We've lost a lot of games and we've been out of a lot of games early. I don't fault 'em one bit. It's the first time I've ever been in this kind of environment."

But it's getting to be old hat for Dolan, who wasn't in his baseline seat last night. Meanwhile, the prime target of the fans' recent wrath did not take up his usual position in the tunnel. Thomas was said to be off scouting college games, unquestionably his smartest move in weeks.

"I think he's doing a fine job," said Dolan, boggling minds in Memphis. "I think to look for results right now probably isn't fair, but it doesn't mean our fans don't want to win games. I want to win games, too. It's unfortunate we're not winning them, but it's not integral to the strategy right now to do that."

When the boss doesn't demand wins, when losing is as acceptable as a cold, windy day in March, it is a sad commentary on the current state of the Garden. But that doesn't figure to change as long as Dolan is in charge.

Perhaps Dolan only will change his ways if there is silence produced from hundreds of empty seats. Maybe that will get him to fire his team president and finally force him to do what has long been needed: Start accumulating short-term contracts, get under the salary cap and rebuild from scratch.

But as bad as things have been this season and during the four before it, the fans have not been staying away. There is not a groundswell for a "boycott the Knicks" campaign.

Going into last night, the Knicks ranked eighth in home attendance. They've been getting 18,678 fans per game, about 3,400 off Detroit's No. 1 pace.

Last night, the sellout crowd saw two up-and-comers, Gordon and Hinrich, outplay their older, more famous counterparts, Marbury and Francis. And not by a little. Brown had to be pained by what he saw, but as he quipped beforehand, "I have chest pains after every bad game. Nothing's changed there."
Nothing is changing at the Garden, either. The fans will boo on deaf ears belonging to an owner who refers to himself as possibly "brain dead" - and who isn't doing anything to dispel that notion.