NEW YORK -- Contrary to popular perception, Tuesday's Knicks-Pacers game at Conseco Field House was not the first time Isiah Thomas and Larry Bird were under the same roof since Indiana's president elected to fire his shocked coach and replace him with Rick Carlisle.

Fact is, they sat next to each other for about an hour at the Legend's Brunch during All-Star Weekend.

Midway into the standing-room-only commemorative event, Thomas stunned nearby observers by switching to Bird's table in an apparent effort to defuse the smoldering tension between them.

At one point, Isiah was overheard to say, "We're going to be in rooms together for the next 20 years. There's no reason we should be uncomfortable. We shouldn't be above putting our situation to rest."

It was their first communication since late August, when Thomas was recalled from Puerto Rico, where he was working as a special assistant under Olympic coach Larry Brown, and Bird delivered the staggering news in team CEO Donnie Walsh's office.

On Monday, I asked Bird to supply additional content concerning his chat with Thomas.

"He told me how much he's enjoying New York and we talked about our teams, what we're trying to do, stuff like that," he said via phone. "He told me he would be coming to this game, and I offered to help him out with some tickets if he needed any."

"That's it?" I replied incredulously. "Come on, Larry, you mean to tell me that's as heavy as it got? I can't believe he didn't tell you what a good move you made by dumping him? He didn't say how overrated you were as a player?"

"He already said that, the (bleepity bleep)," Bird snickered. "Naw, it was no big deal," he continued, refusing to give up the goods.

"Hey, blame my mother. I don't know if I would have had the guts to fire Isiah if she were still alive. She wouldn't have liked it, that's for sure. Or liked me for doing it."

Georgia Bird definitely was a huge Isiah Thomas fan.

And why not?

She loved basketball (collecting everything humanly possible written about her son), lived in French Lick, Ind., and Isiah played for Indiana University. . . . the school Larry left during his freshman year because his meager means made him feel like a misfit.

Bird once told me his mother corresponded with Isiah; she wrote him fan letters and he answered them. "After a while it began to tick me off," he grumbled. I don't think he was kidding.

"She didn't talk much to me about Isiah," Bird said yesterday. "I would hear about it mostly from my brothers. If both our games were on TV at the same time her dilemma was which one to watch. She'd wind up switching back and forth.

"She liked (Notre Dame's) Kelly Tripucka, too. Ironically, he and Isiah wound up playing together with the Pistons. She followed both their careers. My mother was a strange woman," he said, chuckling.

Had Bird, of course, not evolved into Larry Legend, people still would have remembered his name, because he's strange. That, and his brutal honesty and a warped sense of humor are what make him so endearing.

And, guess what?

Georgia Bird would be proud of her strange son these days; he has nothing but positive things to say about Thomas' assembly with the Knicks.

"Obviously, you have to love the deal for Stephon Marbury. And I like Tim Thomas, always have. Keith Van Horn was probably having his best year as a pro, but you have to get guys who fit into your team and he probably fits better because he's a pure small forward.

"I also like Nazr Mohammed; he's got size and he bangs. I love Kurt Thomas. Penny Hardaway beat us in New York. And their rookie (Michael) Sweetney is proving he belongs in the pros. If Allan Houston gets healthy the Knicks are dangerous."

Yes, Larry likes Isiah's team very much.

"Tell Larry I like his team very much, too." Thomas said by cellular phone from Indy.

This just in: What do Isiah, Bobby Knight and daylight savings time all have in common?

They've all been thrown out of Indiana.