"For Knicks, The Worst Brings Out The Worst"
"Ignominy has come in many shapes and packages, yet the Knicks occasionally still find new reasons to hang their heads in shame.
They figured to have bottomed out Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers routed them by 25 points on national television. But there are always new lows to explore and last night, the Knicks found another.
They lost to the worst team in the N.B.A. at Madison Square Garden without taking a lead in the final 30 minutes 37 seconds of play. They surrendered, 88-82, giving the New Orleans Hornets their first two-game winning streak.
Allan Houston and Stephon Marbury both had late chances to turn the game around, but they went 2 for 9 in the fourth quarter. Houston missed his final four attempts.
Two days after righting themselves, the Knicks slipped below .500 again, to 17-18. Coach Lenny Wilkens's recent quip, that perhaps the Knicks were not a .500 team, but worse, looked oddly prophetic. ''We've got to establish who we're going to be for the remainder of the season at some point,'' Marbury said.
That point does not appear imminent, and after weeks of telling themselves not to use injuries as an excuse, the Knicks are pining for healthy bodies.
Wilkens used just seven players, and he was down to six by the final four minutes after Trevor Ariza was poked in the eye. The others on the bench were too banged up to play, too inexperienced or just lacking Wilkens's confidence.
Mike Sweetney and Tim Thomas could be back this weekend.
''We definitely need guys back,'' Marbury said.
To a man, the Knicks said they did not take the Hornets (4-29) for granted, or at least not consciously. New Orleans is probably not quite as awful as its record would suggest, given that the Hornets played most of November and December without their stars, Baron Davis and Jamal Magloire, as well as Rodney Rogers.
They arrived in New York having lost 15 straight road games, a streak that dates to a Nov. 22 victory in Utah.
But Davis and Rogers are back, and on Saturday the Hornets snapped a 10-game losing streak with an overtime victory over Sacramento.
Davis punished the Knicks early and finished with 21 points and 10 assists. Lee Nailon added 18 points. Dan Dickau and P.J. Brown had 17 points each, with Dickau scoring 8 points in the fourth quarter.
''They're a different team,'' the Knicks' Jerome Williams said.
Houston led the Knicks with 17 points. Marbury and Kurt Thomas scored 15 points each.
After trailing by as many as 11 points, the Knicks tied the score at 80-80 with 1:32 to play. But Nailon knocked down a 17-footer and Brown made a pair of free throws. Houston missed a 3-pointer that would have given the Knicks the lead with 56.9 seconds left.
''It's disappointing for me, personally, because I take pride in those moments where we need baskets and I can get them for us,'' Houston said. ''And tonight I didn't. It's disappointing. But I know it's not going to be like that all the time.''
The Jerome Williams Show entered its second night of engagement. Williams started his second straight game for Thomas, infusing the lineup with his uniquely frantic energy. He finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds but was ineffective in the second half. Even his mistakes made for great theater, and sometimes even good basketball.
Midway through the second quarter, Williams converted an unusual 4-point possession -- making 1 of 2 free throws, then going back to the line after an offensive rebound. He made the first of two free throws again, then bounded into the lane to catch his miss and convert it into an easy dunk.
Seconds later, Williams dived for a loose ball on the sideline and slid out of bounds. He had no chance at keeping the ball in play, but no one cared. Spike Lee rose from his seat, smiled and clapped as he walked toward Williams, who got a standing ovation as he went back to the bench.
It was the last time the fans would have anything to cheer.
REBOUNDS
A magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed that Tim Thomas has a muscle strain in his right calf. A second M.R.I. confirmed a bruise in his left knee. Both Mike Sweetney (ankle sprain) and Thomas were available only for emergency duty. Trevor Ariza was poked in the right eye by Rodney Rogers and left the game with 4 minutes 16 seconds to go. Ariza said his vision was blurry. The Knicks activated Jamison Brewer. With Jamal Crawford out for at least another couple weeks and Penny Hardaway out indefinitely, team officials are looking for a spare guard to sign to a 10-day contract. ''I don't want to bring someone in who I don't think can do anything for us,'' Coach Lenny Wilkens said.
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