Despite last night’s stumble in Houston, the Knicks are playing pretty good basketball these days and they have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs in a diminished Eastern Conference. With David Lee playing like an All-Star, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari continuing to develop, the Knicks aren’t that far from becoming respectable again. But there is one disturbing trend that has become clear this year, the coach has a problem with his communication skills.
Making The Call: A Failure To Communicate
Last Night's Action: Knicks Double Win Total
- Knicks 110, Pacers 103: What's this? A Knicks win? Al Harrington handed it to his former team, scoring 26 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks snap a six-game losing streak. He wasn't the only one to fill up the stat sheet. Larry Hughes had 22 points, Wilson Chandler had 18 and David Lee had 17. Even Eddy Curry, playing for the first time this season after a calf injury, had 10 points in 12 minutes. The Knicks outscored the Pacers 56-34 in the second half. That kind of performance will end a lot of losing streaks.
Last Night's Action: Same Formula, Same Result
What's a good sign your team isn't going to win? Larry Hughes tallies the most minutes. He did that Monday with 41, and his the Knicks lost, 95-93, to Utah. The Knicks continued their 2009 trend of falling behind early (by nine after one quarter and 17 at the half) before rallying furiously only to come up short. Does anyone see a pattern forming here? Toney Douglas (pictured) surprised with 21 off the bench for the Knicks, who also got 17 from Wilson Chandler. New York checked Deron Williams' scoring -- the point guard had only five points -- but not his passing. He had 16 assists.
Last Night's Action: A Quality Win
Last Night's Action: Larry+Nate=Great
The Knicks Keep Dealing
The Knicks continued the reshaping of their roster on Thursday with two trades. In the bigger deal, they acquired Larry Hughes from Chicago for Jerome James, Tim Thomas and Anthony Roberson. In the smaller deal they acquired Chris Wilcox from Oklahoma City in exchange for Malik Rose. Hughes gives the Knicks a solid scorer who can also play defense. Wilcox gives the Knicks a true big man. The trades should improve the team this season and shipping Jerome James off to the Bulls ends one of the worst free agent signings ever — 700 minutes on the court with the Knicks for $24 million.

