The Knicks might not be the most talented team in the world, but they do play hard: If they didn’t, they’d be 2–29 like the Nets. Oh, we’re sorry: 3–29. The Nets are 3–29 now because they beat the Knicks last night, because the Knicks did not play hard. “We came out soft,” coach Mike D’Antoni said, so you know we’re not just making that up.
The Knicks lost to the Nets 104–95, ending the Nets’ ten-game losing streak. You could say that the Nets finally had their starting lineup healthy and together for the first time since October, and that would be true, but who are you trying to kid now, really?
The good news is that D’Antoni is mean now. This is good news. The Knicks play tomorrow night in Atlanta, against a Hawks team that just had to play (and lose to) the Cavaliers twice in two days. That is not good.
So we say good-bye to the Knicks of 2009. They’re a little better, we guess, but not all that different than they were at the beginning of the year. On January 2, 2009, eight men saw the floor in a 105–100 loss to the Indiana Pacers: David Lee, Chris Duhon, Wilson Chandler, Jared Jeffries, Quentin Richardson, Nate Robinson, Al Harrington, and Anthony Roberson. Replace Richardson, Robinson, and Roberson with Danilo Gallinari, Larry Hughes, Toney Douglas, and Jonathan Bender. What a year!