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 At this point, you can only hope the Knicks are tanking to get a better draft pick, because the play off picture is lost for the Knicks.

Last night Al Harrington finished with 38 points and Wilson Chandler scored 22 for the Knicks, who matched a season high with their sixth straight loss.

New York raced to a 19-point lead in the first 6:01, heard boos after blowing all of it before halftime, and ended up with another embarrassing loss against one of the NBA’s worst teams as it limps to the finish of its eighth straight losing season.

“We didn’t guard anybody, that’s pretty obvious,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Somehow, somewhere the game’s got to be a little more important than just going out there and playing. We’re just not there.”

The Knicks know Randolph well, having traded him to the Clippers in November in a deal that helped them clear salary-cap space for the summer of 2010 but weakened them for now. He was their leading scorer at the time and had helped New York get off to a promising start, fitting in better than expected under D’Antoni.

The Knicks beat the Houston Rockets last night by a score of 104 - 98 last night at Madison Square Garden.  It was a dramatic win that saw the lead changes hands back and forth throughout the game.   The Knicks started the game by developing a 6 point lead in the 1st quarter, but then gave it up in the second quarter by finishing the first half down by 5.

Houston held the lead until the 4th quarter when the Knicks outscored them by 12 points.  The Knicks strong play was fronted by David Lee once again, who had 17 pts and 13 rebounds.   The bench was also huge once again, with strong play from Nate Robinson and Wilson Chandler.  Chandler came off the bench today, after usually being in the starting lineup.  He was replaced in yesterdays game by Al Harrington who was injected back into the starting lineup.  This move was most likely only based on match up as the Knicks were playing Houston, who has 2 great defensive forwards in Artest and Battier, as well as Tracy McGrady at guard.  Expect to see Chandler back into the starting lineup next game.

This was a nice rebound game after a tough loss to the 76ers last game.  Let’s hope the Knicks can keep rolling.

That’s my 2 cents… I’d love to hear yours!

He has been big off the bench lately! NATE DOG!

In some sad news, Eddy Curry’s X Girlfriend, Nova Henry, and her daughter were murdered last night in their Chicago apartment.  Curry’s 3 year old sun was also present in the apartment, but was unharmed.  The Knicks Center, who was a former Chicago Bull, was sad and distraught upon receiving the news. 

This is truly sad news, and my thoughts and hopes go out to both the Henry and Curry families for their loss.

He’s an exciting player who has really jump started the Knicks lately!

Well, I would officially call it a streak at this point.  The Knicks are on a roll, winning their last 3 straight games, and winning 5 of their last 7 games.  The Knicks out scored the terrible Memphis Grizzlies by 20 points, with a final score of 108 to 88.  Ironically, Memphis started the game with a 20 to 7 run, before the Knicks were able to turn it around and pull ahead.

David Lee made another strong case to be named to the All Start Game, with another double-double, scoring 19 and rebounding 14.  One of the stats that I really like is the +/- stat.  The high of the night for that stat goes to Al Harrington, who was +36.  That means they out scored the other team by 36 when he was on the floor. 

The Bench also provided a nice boost with 11 points from Gallinari and 16 from Nate Robinson, who also had a +32.

Once again, the Knicks were dominated by the other team when Jared Jefferies was on the floor.  He had a -14, in only 18 minutes of play.  He also contributed only 2 points and 1 Rebound.  At this point, I am not sure why either Harrington or Lee isn’t playing Center, and the other one at PF.  I’d like to see them both in the starting lineup at the same time, with Jefferies coming off the bench.

It’s an exciting time for NYC Basketball right now, as the Knicks are definitely showing signs of life, and if this play continues, they could compete for the 8th playoff spot.

On a side note, David Lee is in contention for an All Star Game, and right now is 2nd in the league with double-doubles.  I’d love to see him make the team.  If he does, it will be the first time in 8 years that a Knick has made the team.  The last Knicks named to the team were Latrell Sprewell and Allen Houston.

Going into yesterdays game the Knicks were 5 point under dogs against a veteran Phoenix lineup.  So far this month the Knicks have been really inconsistant, losing to teams like the Thunder and Wizards, but beating teams like the Suns, 76ers and Celtics.  One has to question why the Knicks can perform at a high level with high level teams, but then deliever upsetting loses to bottom tier teams like the Grizzles, Timberwolves, Thunder, etc.

One side of this shows that the potential the Knicks have with their current roster to be a playoff team.  On the other hand, this leads you to wonder what are the components that are leading to the inconsistant play.  What are the bad parts that the Knicks need to switch out?

Needless to say, the over performing Knicks showed up last night lead by a tremendous performance from David Lee who had 25 points and 16 rebounds.  Let’s not forget, he was matched up against Shaq all night, which means he was completely undersized against the bigger advisary.

Nate Robinson also added 20 points to lead the Knicks to victory.   Additionally, one of the most notable stats of the night was the plus/minus factor for Robinson, which was +21 and also the rookie Danilo Gallinari, who had +24.   What that stat means exactly is that when he was on the floor, the Knicks out scored the Suns by 24 points.   Obviously, Robinson and Gallinari spent time on the floor together, as the Knicks didn’t win by 40 points. :-)   Keep an eye on that stat however.  If the combination of those 2 on the floor together gives the Knicks a strong offense, you could see them paired up together more.

That’s my 2 cents… I’d love to hear yours!

Marbury, Curry, Mobley, Richardson…. the list goes on.  The Knicks STILL have too many players who are more harm than good.  If you look at the Knicks schedule so far in Janurary, they could easily be 6-3 for the month.  Instead, the team is continuing their poor play, with a 3 - 6 start for the month of March.

Part of the reason the Knicks are playing badly is they have too many bad attitudes and poor performers on the team.  Here are some things the Knicks need to do personel wise to get back on track.

1.   Buy out Marbury already.  Even if they pay him his entire contract just to get the distraction and the media off of this story and away from the team.  This needs to be done sooner rather than later.

 2.  Get Curry back into shape FAST.   With his contract, they are going to have a hard time trading him coming right off an injury.  He can probably actually help this team if he can get into shape and work mostly on his defense (which has never been his strong suit).

3.  The Mobley situation was unfortunate, there is nothing they can do here, but at least the money came back to them.  As a replacement, I’d like to see them bring Patrick Ewing Jr. back.

4.  Richardson.  He needs to go.  I was a big fan of him for a while, and I really thought that bringing D’Antoni in would help his offense, but it hasn’t.  I’m not sure if he is, but he always looks out of shape to me.  There is a market out there for him, even though he is paid a lot.  I’d love to see them package him with David Lee (I don’t want Lee to go, but a trade is probably going to happen… see my other article under Knicks for why) and get some guys that are young or that have expiring contracts.

Until the bad apples are gone, this bunch is going to be only slightly less rotten than last season.

That’s my 2 cents… I’d love to hear yours!

I hate for them to go, but I love to watch them leave!