Except for one problem, it didn’t happen. When the Golden State Warriors, choosing at number seven, picked Curry to replace their recently traded shooting guard, ironically the former Knick, Jamal Crawford, a huge collective sigh of disappointment came from all the Knick fans gathered at Madison Square Garden’s WAMU Theatre yesterday.

Even more telling was Curry’s reaction, dropping his head into his hands upon hearing his name called by Commissioner David Stern as if to mutter, “Oh, crap, missed the Knicks by one pick.”

With the very next choice, the Knicks selected a 6’10” power forward, Jordan Hill from the University of Arizona.

“Jordan was one of the best big men in this year’s draft. He can score, rebound and block shots,” President, Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh said. “He can run the floor. He’s improved each year.”

Hill, 6-10, 235-pounds, averaged 18.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in his junior year with the Wildcats, setting a school record for boards in a single season (375). The Newberry, SC-native finished as the Pac-10 leader in point-rebound double-doubles (20), ranked second in rebounding and blocked shots (1.71) and third in scoring.

“I’m excited to get Jordan here. Players like him are hard to find,” Head Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He is going to help us defensively right away and it is an added bonus that he is a good shooter.”

Forget all the nice quotes and statistics compiled by the young man, Hill. This is not the guy the Knicks wanted nor is he the type of impact player this franchise needed to excite Knick fans. He may be a good player, a very nice guy, and even a useful piece of the puzzle that goes behind building a championship contender. Or, he may turn out to be like past highly-rated power forwards who recently came out of the University of Arizona. People like Channing Frye, whom the Knicks picked at number eight in the 2004 draft and who never panned out. Or, Sean Rooks, an acclaimed forward from the early nineties who evolved into a bench player most of his NBA career.

Suffice to say, Knicks fans in the building expressed their dissatisfaction with the choice of Hill with vociferous booing.

“I’ve been through that in Indiana,” Walsh said. “They booed Chuck Person. They booed Reggie Miller. I can go on and on.”

Walsh seemed bent on improving the Knicks defensive disposition in this draft as he also acquired Florida State guard Toney Douglas from the Lakers for $3 million and a 2011 second-round pick. Douglas, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, was selected at No.29 by the Lakers and was the eighth point guard taken in a draft that saw the Timberwolves take three themselves. The Knicks also finalized their trade for 7-footer Darko Milicic, who like Richardson is in the final year of his contract, will be used as a center and power forward.

Milicic was the No.2 pick of the 2003 draft, selected after LeBron James and before Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But Milicic has yet to find a niche in the NBA. He’s averaged 5.5 points for three teams and has made just 98 starts.

A tough week for Mike D'Antoni. (Jim Leary/NYSD)

The second quarter was kinder to the Knicks as it saw them get back into the game. Al Harrington was particularly impressive as he went on an eight-point scoring streak, the last basket coming at 5:21 left in the first half, bringing the deficit down to one point. While James killed New York in the first quarter, the Knicks defense held him to just eight points in the second. The first half came to a close as Chris Duhon nailed a three-pointer with 3.7 seconds left to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 55-52. Unfortunately, Ben Wallace grabbed two of those points right back posting up a lay-up as time expired.

Harrington tied his season-high mark of 39 points in the game to lead the Knicks. He also brought down 13 rebounds. David Lee had a quiet game, yet still recorded his twelfth straight double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. This feat made him the first Knick since Patrick Ewing in 1995 to record at least 12 consecutive double-doubles (Ewing went on to have 17 straight).

The Knicks had the right gameplan. They know what LeBron does, so why try and foolishly stop him? As Harrington said, what they tried to do was “keep the other guys down.” That, however, didn’t work as it seemed every teammate James dished the ball to hit their shots. This was evident with his 15 assists.

“It would be nice to double him, but LeBron is also one of the best passers in the league,” Head Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I would rather play him hard, but you can’t leave Mo Williams just sitting there and go double him, Mo Williams is an All-Star.”

The Knicks took the lead for the first time in the game with 1:27 left in the third quarter. That’s how impressive the Cavaliers are. You can’t just double-team James every time and expect to get away with it. In addition to Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Wally Szczerbiak are dangerous weapons and they exhibited that last night. Ilgauskas netted 15 points, while Szczerbiak posted a double-double (12 points, 13 rebounds).

When asked which performance was more impressive, Kobe Bryant’s record-setting 61 points at the Garden on Monday night or LeBron’s triple-double last night, Harrington picked James, stating “not only did he have 52, he had 15 assists and that’s actually 30 points. So he affected the game with eighty points.”

With 5:14 left in the fourth quarter, Harrington drained a three-pointer, which was followed by a Nate Robinson jumper to shrivel the Cavs’ lead to 96-95. It was as close as 102-100 with 1:06 remaining in regulation with Cleveland leading. The Knicks just simply couldn’t hit anything in the clutch. In a span of 27 seconds, Harrington, Wilson Chandler and Duhon all missed three-pointers. The Cavaliers made the free throws when it mattered, and held on for the 107-102 victory.

“This is one of those games that you can say is a feel good loss. The last two times we played them they blew us out of the building in the first half,” Harrington said. “I think we are showing our growth. Obviously they got to a big lead tonight and we could of went the other way, but we fought back and ended up getting the lead.”

Which was the bigger story: LeBron showcasing his limitless talent by posting a triple-double or the Knicks battling with a division leader and nearly pulling it out at the end? Whatever you think the answer is, one thing is for certain: if the Knicks can play like this against Cleveland, the second best team in the NBA, they’re good enough to sneak into the playoffs as the eighth seed.