They had a terrific opportunity to get back on the winning track tonight. All of the winds were blowing in the right direction. They were at home, in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden, with a struggling, defensively-challenged Golden State Warriors coming in with a 2-5 record.

So, what happened? More of the same play that has seen the Knicks spiraling into the NBA abyss. Uninspired, unintelligent basketball is what the Knicks gave their fans tonight as the Warriors handily defeated the hapless home team, 121-107. The New Yorkers fell to 1-9, the absolute worst start in the history of this franchise. That’s a mouthful….the worst start to a season in the 63-year history of the New York Knickerbockers.

The Warriors played only seven guys any significant minutes tonight and five of those scored in double figures. They had four players with 22 or more -  Steven Jackson with 23, Kelenna Azubuike had 22, Monta Ellis with 22, and Corey Maggette had 22.  C.J. Watson came off the bench to hit for 19 as the Knicks looked like stationary characters on the court next to the higher-flying, more athletic Warriors, who are probably one of the worst teams in the NBA.

This theme of the Knicks being out of their class athletically is becoming a nightly event but there was a different wrinkle to the beating they took tonight.

In his most damaging comments of his team’s lack of heart, a character assassination if there was one, Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t hold back.

“I thought our lack of fight was the most disappointing thing,” he said. “It’s bad, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve got three days off. We’ll practice hard and we’ll try to figure out something better, and let’s see who wants to come forward.”

D’Antoni is beginning to take on that look of bewilderment we’ve often seen here in New York City from other Knicks players and coaches over the many years of losing this franchise has encountered. He doesn’t seem to have an answer.

“The thing is, we are small but that doesn’t excuse us for people going by us,” he said. “We can’t be slow and small and also, not have fight. Those are not good combinations and that’s where we are now.”

Indeed, this roster, as currently comprised, appears not to be a good combination.

Danilo Gallinari had 19 points and 10 rebounds in his first career double-double for the Knicks, who dropped their sixth straight and fell to 1-9. David Lee scored 17 points and former Warriors forward Al Harrington had 16.

This was a matchup of teams that not only aren’t known for their defensive prowess, they actually live up to their reputations of playing undisciplined, playground-style basketball.

“The game was two teams that actually matched up pretty well against each other, played the same style,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “Probably the team that was going to shoot the basketball was going to win and that was us.”

The Knicks continued to display no resistance on the defensive end of the court.

“We knew there was no shot blockers in there,” Ellis said. “Our game plan was to attack the basket, move the ball two times and we would have open shots, and that’s what we did.”

They did it with such ease, one Knick fan was heard screaming, “Bring back Eddy Curry.” Obviously, that fan hasn’t seen Curry play defense.

On the Knicks lack of defensive prowess, even the rookie guard, Toney Douglas could chime in like an old veteran who’s lost too many games in his career. It’s getting scary how he’s learned the rhythm and tenor of a losing team’s post-game locker room in this, after just 10 games.

“Problem is communication,” voiced Douglas. “At the end of the day, they just played harder than us. We didn’t rotate and we weren’t in the right spots at times. Miscommunication and that type of stuff comes back to haunt you at the end of the day.”

One of the biggest culprits in this streak of terrible basketball has been Chris Duhon, the point guard D’Antoni had been counting on to be a leader and the glue to help his young team through the early stages of this season.

“It’s not where we expected or envisioned we’d be,” said Duhon. “We know we’re a much better team than that. It just comes down to us competing and fighting, myself included. I’m probably the main culprit. I try not to worry about it. We just need to go out there and compete and see what happens. And, we’re not doing that right now.”

Another comment from a team veteran about his team not competing. It can’t get any worse than that for a professional sports club, and this is Duhon’s second attack of this still-young season on the character of this roster.

David Lee, usually a calm and collected post-game interview, is feeling the anger.

“This is not good at all, it is very frustrating for us,” he said. “Like Toney just said, we need to continue to play harder and get better and at this point, we’re not where we need to be. We need to figure out where we are going wrong and fix it. If we continue playing the way we’re playing now, it is obviously just not working. Today, Golden State at home, is a game we should win.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Read more of Scott at Sportsreporters.com.

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.