“Then, I was at the University of South Carolina, as an assistant to Frank McGuire,” said the Riverside [Bronx] native, who is now in his second year as president of basketball operations.  “But, I don’t think Legends Night is limited to New Yorkers.  I know it was really felt here, but throughout the history of basketball, that team exemplified what you’d want if you were a coach.  They were smart and talented –more talented than, perhaps, they were given credit for- and played that way.”

On Monday evening, during halftime of their game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the organization and its loyal fans celebrated the 40th anniversary of that championship squad. The event, formally billed as the Second Annual Knicks Legends Night, also honored Cal Ramsey with the newly-named Dick McGuire Knickerbocker Legacy Award, which is emblematic of the team’s pride and tradition.  McGuire, who had turned 84 just eight days before his death on February 3, was affiliated with the organization for more than a half century.

The on-court festivities occurred six months to the day that another local team was honored for a similar milestone.  But, unlike the Amazin’ Mets ascension to the top of the baseball world in 1969, the older Knicks didn’t surprise anymore.  After all, New York had posted the fourth best record in the 14-team NBA during the previous season, although they somehow finished in third place, three games behind the 57-25 Baltimore Bullets, in the very competitive Eastern Division.  By contrast, the 1968 Mets had finished ninth in a ten-team division, a robust 24 games off the pace.

William ‘Red’ Holzman, the wily coach who posted a franchise-best 613 victories, led the Knicks to a 23-1 start, including a team-high 18 consecutive wins.  A nine-game winning streak, from January 23-February 3, 1970 bumped the record to a whopping 47-11.  New York would win the division by a slim four games over the Bucks, who featured future Hall-of-Fame center Lew Alcindor [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] and Flynn Robinson, a journeyman guard.

The Knicks placed Dave DeBusschere, Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier and Willis Reed on the All-Defensive Team, and Reed was the first player to capture the MVP trifecta [All-Star, Finals, and Regular Season] in the same season.

Reed’s upper thigh injury in Game 5, and subsequent dramatic entrance during warm-ups before Game 7, remain a signature moment in NBA history.  Though his surprise return to the court inspired his teammates and further juiced the capacity crowd, it was Frazier who sealed the victory with 36 points, 19 assists, and seven rebounds in the 113-99 clincher.  Clyde’s performance is perhaps both the greatest, and most unheralded, in any championship series finale.

All but two of the surviving members appeared.  The first was forward Dave Stallworth, who returned from a heart attack to become a vital contributor.  The other was Phil Jackson, who won a record 10th title when the Los Angeles Lakers bested the Orlando Magic in 2009, was in Memphis as his team prepared for its game against the Grizzlies on Tuesday.  Jackson, who deliberated coaching this season due to “health issues,” ultimately declined an invitation.

Ironically, the 6’8” forward, a noted defensive specialist, did not play any games for New York that season, as he was confined to the injured reserve list with a back injury; Jackson, however, remained close to the squad while assisting George Kalinsky, the famed Garden photographer, throughout his rehabilitation.

Holzman, GM Eddie Donovan and trainer Danny Whelan are deceased, as is DeBusschere and reserve center Nate Bowman.  Debusschere, who had earlier pitched a shutout for the Chicago White Sox in 1963, is best remembered by younger fans for his exuberance after winning the Patrick Ewing-lottery in 1985 while serving as general manager.

Each of the five decedents was represented by family members.

[ John J. Buro is the author of the “Open Court: A Year with the New York Knicks”. The book is only available at www.opencourtbook.com. ]

For now, however, it’s all about Tracy McGrady –or, more specifically, his surgically-repaired left knee- and how much he can actually contribute over the Knicks final 29 games of the season.

Whatever the 6’8” swingman can give the New York for the duration will certainly be much more than he added to the Houston Rockets.  In a grand total of six games, none of which McGrady started, he averaged 3.2 points and 1 assist in less than eight minutes.  Clearly, the Rockets’ loss instantly turned into the Knicks’ gain.  Nineteen first-half points [and 26 overall] against the Oklahoma City Thunder during Saturday night’s 121-118 overtime loss, were enough to convince observers that, while not quite 100%, T-Mac still has considerable game left.

“With Tracy coming in, we knew there was going to be a lot of energy in the building,” Kevin Durant said after scoring 36 points to extend his consecutive game streak of 25-plus points to 27.  “He was phenomenal.  He’s back.  But, I’ll take the win.”

So, while Sergio Rodriguez, formerly of Sacramento, and Eddie House, who arrived from Boston in the Nate Robinson deal, could be nice fits to the puzzle, the trade for McGrady is looked upon as New York’s most significant in quite some time.

“Tracy has been one of the premier players in our league over the past decade,” Donnie Walsh, the Knicks president, said.  “We have every indication that he is healthy and committed to re-establishing himself as one of the best in our game.”

Walsh and head coach Mike D’Antoni haven’t been here that much longer.  As Walsh continues to rebuild, D’Antoni attempts to mix and match whatever assorted pieces are given to him.  By virtue of Walsh’s success to move the bloated contracts of Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph last year, and Jerome James and Jared Jefferies this season, New York is very much in play for a lively off-season.

“Mike’s losses [which now number 84 in 135 games] don’t just count against him,” Walsh clarified.  “They count against my record, too.”

McGrady, 30, who has career averages of 21.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists with three teams, is on the books for $23 million.  There’s also the question of his expiring contract, which he wouldn’t mind converting into one that is more team-friendly.

“I’ve made a lot of money in my career,” he confirmed.  “I could retire right now, and be fine financially. So, money is not an issue. [If] they want to bring in LeBron and D-Wade, along with Chris Bosh or Amar’e Stoudemire, I’d be a damn fool not to want to stay here.

“I would definitely embrace the opportunity where money is not an issue.”

Thus, it would not be a stretch for him to accept a midlevel [$5.9 million] or, perhaps, a biannual [$1.9 million] exception for the privilege to play alongside any combination of the two.

After the 29 games are over and, assuming the Knicks’ season ends at that point, July 1 will represent the next important date on the team calendar.  But, that is then; this is now.

In other words, any thoughts of James or Wade and, to a lesser extent, Bosh will have to wait.  The present team, which also comprises All-Star David Lee, among others, may need some time to become acquainted.  In fact, because of trade deadline activity, there were just eight of 15 player photos on the wall outside the New York lockerroom.

But, while the wall suggested an empty feeling, the Knicks’ cup, at the moment, is very, very fill.

This year, New York Knicks’ guard Nate Robinson needed only to be Fortu-Nate.

Unlike past editions, this year’s NBA all-star slam dunk contest left much to be desired at American Airlines Center in Dallas, on Saturday night.

That was enough though, to help Robinson, the diminutive 5-foot-9 guard with the major hops, defend his slam dunk title from last year and become the first three-time winner in the 27-year history of the event.

In winning the title for as many times as he had game dunks this season, Robinson luckily didn’t need to do much to beat a very uninspired and uncreative field that included Toronto Raptors’ rookie Demar DeRozan, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Shannon Brown, and Gerald Wallace, of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Following one of the most imaginative and entertaining NBA slam dunk contests ever, in Phoenix last year, Robinson became the Dunk King for the second straight year if mostly, by default.

In fact, Robinson didn’t even have the best dunk of the night.

That belonged to the 6-foot-7 DeRozan, whose catch off of the left side of the backboard and finish with a powerful windmill dunk on his second attempt of the opening round, earned a score that matched his uniform number of 10 from all five judges, for the contest’s only perfect score of 50.

Unfortu-Nate-ly this year, there was no need for Robinson to duplicate being Nate The Great, as he did a year ago, when he donned a special green Knick uniform, green arm sleeve, and green sneakers, to leap over Orlando’s 6-foot-11 Dwight Howard, a self-proclaimed stuffing Superman, in an enjoyable spectacle of showmanship.

Instead, lacking star-power names like Lebron James, the rest of this year’s slate failed to demonstrate or operate in a creative state, thus helping to facilitate a victory for last year’s Krypto-Nate that was second-rate.

At any rate, it’s another slam dunk title that this year’s Fortu-Nate appreciates.

And, although his competition didn’t push him this year, we shouldn’t hate on Nate.

Early on, TNT commentator Kenny Smith, feeling that Robinson’s challengers were holding back, said that after last year, only “Robinson understands what the contest is all about” and that the rest of the field had “not taken their bungee chords off.”

That seemed to be the case after Brown and Wallace each made two rather routine dunks, earning each competitor a combined score of 78 and early, first-round exits, setting the stage for the final-round showdown between DeRozan and Robinson.

Lacking last year’s theatrics, Robinson reached the finals matter-of-factly with a fairly nice two-handed windmill dunk off a bounce for a score of 44, and slightly a nicer, mid-air, twisting throw-down off a bounce pass from teammate Danilo Gallinari, who fell just two points shy of advancing past the first round while competing in the first three-point shooting contest of his career, earlier in the night. That second dunk netted a score of 45 for Robinson, giving him a total of 89, three points less than DeRozan’s 92, after the first round.

Robinson tried to show a little more once the finals began, but he gave up after failing to convert on a between-the-legs attempt coming from behind the backboard and under the basket. He instead settled for an ordinary, two-hand dunk off a bounce (though, at Robinson’s height, any dunk of such average degree of difficulty seems to resonate with the crowd more than someone of DeRozan’s height).

DeRozan countered with a copy of the former Krypto-Nate’s winning dunk from last year, leaping over 6-foot-6 teammate Sonny Weems. Not bad, but Weems is nearly a half-foot shorter than Howard and unlike last year, there were no costumes nor any “show” to go with it.

Robinson then sealed the victory in his final attempt, throwing the ball off of the backboard, catching it, and finishing with a power reverse slam. Not to be completely devoid of flair, Robinson took pom-poms from a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and waved them over his head. Amusing, but certainly not taking down a dunking Superman.

The biggest reason that dunk clinched Robinson’s victory was that DeRozan fittingly closed the weak contest with an anti-climactic ending. Rather than copying Julius Erving’s famous foul-line dunk (in the first-ever NBA slam dunk contest in 1984), DeRozan ran the length of the court only to take off from the semi-circle below the foul line, for a simple two-handed windmill dunk which left the crowd yawning rather yearning for more.

Smith’s colleague, Charles Barkley, a former NBA power dunker himself, at times, said before the deciding cell phone text vote from the television audience was announced, “Maybe nobody will win.”

That statement pretty much summed up the event.

Someone had to win though, and it was Robinson, by a narrow margin, garnering 51 percent of the fans’ vote.

Like DeRozan, Brown was competing in the event for the first time, while it was the second time Wallace (who lost in 2002) participated in the contest. For Robinson, it was his fourth trip, losing only in 2007, in Las Vegas.

Robinson’s victory gave the Knicks twice as many slam dunk titles (four) as NBA championships, tying the Atlanta Hawks for most by an NBA franchise. Atlanta and New York are the only teams to win more than two slam dunk titles.

That’s about as heartening to Knick fans as Robinson’s lackluster defense of his contrastingly compelling 2009 slam dunk title.

For now, that’ll have to do as Robinson’s Knicks prepare for their post-all-star break portion of the season at 19-32, six games out of the final playoff spot in the eastern conference.

Things could change by next year, but as of now, Robinson has no plans to go for a three-peat or even for a fourth overall title at any time in the future. “No more titles,” he said. “I’m finished. It’s the last one.”

Then again, Gallinari told Robinson after a Martin Luther King Day win over Detroit that he wasn’t interested in participating in this year’s three-point shootout before Robinson convinced the sharpshooter to make the trip to Dallas. Maybe next year, it’ll be Gallinari’s turn to change Robinson’s mind.

McGuire was born in the Bronx on January 25, 1926. The family moved to Rockaway to be near the bar and grill owned by McGuire’s father. It was on the playgrounds in Queens and at St. John’s University where McGuire honed his considerable basketball skills.  Serving in the armed forces and graduating from St. John’s in 1949, McGuire was drafted by the New York Knicks. After his first two seasons with the Knicks, Dick’s younger brother, Al, became his backcourt teammate. They played beside one another for three seasons until Al was traded to Baltimore.

The slick ball handler led his team in assists in his first seven seasons with the club. He was elected an All-Star in five of his eight years with the Knicks. Only Walt Frazier and Mark Jackson surpassed McGuire’s total of assists as a Knick. Interestingly, both offered gracious words of praise yo a man they considered as a mentor. McGuire was Frazier’s coach when the latter joined the Knicks in 1965. Jackson, a fellow St. John’s grad, was scouted by McGuire. Both attested to the integral influence McGuire had upon their success in professional basketball and to McGuire’s innate decency.

McGuire was traded to the Detroit Pistons after the end of the 1956-57 season. He returned to the Knicks organization as coach for the 1965-66 season. He remained until his death. After his coaching duties ended, McGuire held a variety of positions, assistant coach, chief scout, director of scouting services. He was named senior basketball adviser in 2004. His son, Scott, joined the Knicks as a scout in 1988.

McGuire was the recipient of a number of well-deserved honors during his lifetime. He was one of the rare athletes whose uniform number hangs in the rafter of Madison Square Garden. The number 15 that he and Earl Monroe wore as Knicks was retired in 1992. In the following year, McGuire was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, where he joined his younger brother, Al, the former NCAA champion coach of Marquette and esteemed basketball broadcaster. They are the only pair of brothers in the Naismith Hall. In the spring of 2009, McGuire received the first Knickerbocker Legacy award.

This award is given in recognition of Knickerbocker Pride, Tradition and Class. It was announced at the ceremony that the award would be renamed the Dick McGuire Award to further honor its first recipient. The newly named honor will be awarded at MSG on February 22, Legends Night.

My final personal memory of McGuire was a long chat we had in the perss room at MSG on Janury 13. McGuire was scouting at a college doubleheader involving his Alma Mater against the Cincinnati Bearcats and Fordham against the Dayton Flyers. McGuire, self-effacing and soft-spoken as always, reminisced of his past experiences and shared his opinions of current players including the Bearcats highly touted freshman Lance Stephenson. McGuire was very positive in his personal outlook and thankful to still be a regular at MSG. He was, of course, extremely pleasant, courteous and friendly.

McGuire has left behind his wife of 54 years, four children, seven grandchildren and a multitude of admirers. One of those admirers was Knicks president Donnie Walsh, who commented, “He’s been a part of this, almost like the bricks, and so I don’t know of anybody in the league that I can say that about in the same way. So, it’s a terrible loss for us.” Each member of the team will be wearing the number 15 on his jersey for the remainder of the season.

Don’t drop the ball, James Dolan warned.

Thomas, the Hall-of-Fame guard who -once upon a time- led the Detroit Pistons to consecutive titles, just didn’t drop the ball.  He booted it all around the Garden hardwood.

Dolan, the owner who is loyal to a fault, didn’t seem to mind.  Thomas, who was hired in 2004 to rescue a franchise, thanked his boss by trading away numerous first-round picks, spending millions on unqualified free agents, and dragging MSG, Incorporated into a sexual harassment trial which would last three weeks.  Actually, Thomas’ first significant move was the trade for Stephon Marbury which, for Marbury, turned out to be just another stop on the way to China.

I began to write at length about these Knicks and, after more than 300 pages about the franchise’s very worst era -known in some circles as the ‘Isiah Thomas Error’-, I returned to watch the 2009-10 incarnation.

Aside from the faces, not a whole lot has changed since my last game story was filed in 2008 -which, ironically, coincided with Thomas’ last game.

On the morning of January 24, Mike D’Antoni’s team was 10^th in the Eastern Conference, a mere three games behind the Chicago Bulls for the eighth, and final, playoff berth.  The Knicks had opened with just one win over the first ten games, but rebounded nicely to advance in the standings.

However, after a discouraging loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday evening and an historic 50-point defeat [the worst ever at any of the four Madison Square Gardens] to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, New York has now dropped six of the last eight.  Surely, there will be other stops and starts during the second half, but in the East, the Knicks will always have a fighter’s chance.  Even when Thomas coached his squad to a 33-49 record in 2006-07, there were numerous opportunities to gain ground within the conference.

David Lee, once an untried rookie in Brown’s rotation, has emerged into a legitimate All-Star candidate.

Without question, the 6’9” forward/center from the University of Florida was Thomas’ greatest find –a pearl plucked with the final pick of the 2005 Draft.  The organization, looking for any glimmer of positive news, has routinely touted his double-digit games of points and rebounds.

“A complete player,” D’Antoni noted during a recent pre-game conference.

Even if Lee doesn’t make this elite squad, D’Antoni’s approach was refreshing when compared to his predecessor.

During one of my last visits inside the MultiPurpose Room, Thomas had spoken of “leaving a championship legacy”, which was quite an audacious statement to make en route to 108 losses in 164 games.

Yet, for Thomas, this was par for the course.

Nothing will ever, ever top this classic line, said shortly after he became coach.  “If I have to tell you [the media] the truth, I’m gonna lie to you.”

I miss that honesty.

He hopes that Nate Robinson can keep playing the way his coach needs his diminutive but quick and energy-filled guard to play in order for the Knicks to win games.

So, in the spirit of that vision, it was somewhat fitting that Robinson continued to give the Knicks exactly what D’Antoni has been seeking from him lately, during this year’s edition of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day matinee at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Though Dr. King’s legacy is of course far more important than basketball, Knick fans nonetheless, thoroughly enjoyed watching Robinson score a game-high 27 points to lead the Knicks (17-24) to a 99-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons (14-26) in the second game of a home-and-home set.

After weathering an extended visit to D’Antoni’s doghouse that benched him for all but 10 minutes in the month of December, including the final 14 games of the month, Robinson has returned in January to average 15.9 points per game.

“I thought he played well,” D’Antoni said of Robinson, who shot 11 of 18 from the floor, including 5 of 9 from three-point range in 33 minutes off the bench. “There are times that he’s not a natural point guard, and we’re trying to throw him over into that role, so it’s not easy for him, but as long as he keeps his energy up and focus, we can kind of work around it.”

Though it was Robinson’s offense which carried the Knicks, it’s the less noticeable things that show up in the boxscore, and even the intangibles that don’t, which are keeping Robinson in the lineup of late, and the Knicks’ biggest spark off the bench is well aware of that fact.

“I’m just trying to show everybody that I can do more than just score,” Robinson said. “I’m hustling and doing everything I can to help this team win.”

Robinson knows his increased playing time is for now, conditional upon things such as the solid defense he played while dishing out four assists and committing just one turnover against the Pistons, and he seems to have received the message.

“If I wait another 14 games,” Robinson said, “I’m going to have to wait until my number’s called again… you gotta be patient and wait your turn.”

D’Antoni however, also recognizes Robinson’s value when he’s playing the brand of basketball that the coach has preached to his point guard.

“He gives us something we need and that’s athleticism,” D’Antoni said. “We have to have everything else. We have to have the defense [from him] and the sound play, but he does give us something that we need.”

And, Robinson provided just that, beginning in the second quarter, after the Knicks fell behind at the start, caught up, and then had trouble pulling away against the short-handed Pistons, who were without leading scorer Richard Hamilton as well as three of their next five leading scorers (Ben Gordon, Wil Bynum, and Tayshaun Prince).

Detroit opened with a 9-1 lead as it took the Knicks 3:35 to score (on a free throw by forward Jared Jeffries) and 4:07 before New York made its first field goal, on a jumper by Wilson Chandler.

That shot ignited a 12-0 run during which Chandler scored nine points, to give the Knicks a 13-9 lead. He finished the period with 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the floor, but he went just 2-for-6 from the field the rest of the game, failing to score in the second half, while finishing with 17 points (although he contributed defensively, as the only player with multiple blocked shots, with four).

Detroit’s three leading scorers (Rodney Stuckey, Ben Wallace, and Austin Day) were the only players to score for the Pistons in the opening quarter, which ended in a 23-all tie.

Stuckey and Wallace each had 10 first-quarter points, with Wallace scoring his 10 points consecutively, after the Knicks’ 12-0 run, to keep the game tied at 19.

Forward Charlie Villanueva scored 10 of his 16 points off the bench in second quarter, but that was half of his team’s total in a period in which New York outscored Detroit 34-20, to take a 53-47 halftime lead, thanks mostly, to 13 second-quarter points from Robinson, who didn’t hesitate when shots were available.

“My teammates and my coach told me I have to be aggressive,” Robinson said. “That’s just who I am. They [felt] the last couple games, I hadn’t been that aggressive. They told me, just be yourself.”

Robinson, who on Sunday, agreed to return to defend last year’s slam dunk title at this year’s NBA all-star weekend in Dallas on February 13th, electrified the crowd, when he moved along the left baseline unguarded, and took a long lob pass from guard Chris Duhon for a nice alley oop dunk with 54.8 seconds left in the half.

The high-flying guard considers it an honor to be mentioned as a slam dunk title winner after admitting he marveled at past winners such as Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins.

Still, he tempers his excitement to compete for an unprecedented third slam dunk title while realizing that such flashiness isn’t what will help him become a more complete player.

“The dunk contest, it’s all fun and games,” he said. “Hopefully, I can be the first one to win three… [but] if I don’t win it, it’ll be good, I [won’t] have to go back no more. I’m an all-around player… but it’s pretty cool to be labeled as one of the best dunkers ever.”

After the game, Robinson yelled across the Knicks’ locker room to forward Danilo Gallinari, who despite being one of the league’s best three-point shooter, will not participate in the all-star weekend’s three-point shootout.

Robinson asked Gallinari to help him with his dunks in Dallas, but Gallinari plans to go nowhere near the all-star festivities. Gallinari responded to the request with a nervous, wide smile while quickly shaking his head ‘no,’ prompting laughs from reporters.

That won’t stop Robinson from trying though. “He don’t wanna go,” Robinson said. “He wants to on vacation and relax with his family. I don’t blame him… I’m gonna make him go.”

All of the good that the Knicks did in the first half was undone in an awful third quarter, as New York scored a season low while being outscored 27-11.

A nice stutter-step dribble drive by Robinson, who double clutched in the lane with two seconds left in the quarter prevented the Knicks from being held to single digits in the period just after Detroit matched its largest lead of the game, 70-66.

Forward David Lee (who was held eight points below his average of 19 points per game) grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, 11 in the first half, as the Knicks outrebounded the Pistons 27-19 in the opening two quarters.

The rebounding battle was a completely different story in the second half, and especially the third quarter however, as the Pistons simply began to outwork the Knicks to seemingly every loose ball while beating New York to a lot of rebounds on the Knicks’ backboard.

Detroit outrebounded New York 12-3 in the third quarter and 46-39 for the game, including 19-7 on the offensive glass.

Wallace had five (three offensive) of his team-high 14 rebounds to go along with four points in the period. Meanwhile, Stuckey and Daye added six points and forward Jason Maxiell led all scorers in the quarter, scoring 7 of his 13 in the quarter.

With so many key players out of the lineup, a lot of Piston players scored more than they had in a while.

Stuckey led Detroit with 22 points, the most he’s scored this month, since scoring the same amount in a new year’s eve loss to Chicago.

Wallace scored a season-high 16 points, the most he scored since he had 19 in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on March 20, 2007.

Detroit’s pair of 2005 first-round draft picks also had much bigger days than normal. Daye, who entered the game averaging just 13 minutes and 4.8 points per game, played 32 minutes and made the most of his opportunity with a career-high 16 points, while Maxiell scored the most since scoring the same amount in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on November 17th.

The Knicks rallied back in the final quarter though, led by Robinson, who scored eight points in the fourth period.

Robinson started the quarter by making a steal and finishing with a layup at the other end to tie the game, 70-70.

On the next possession, Robinson made a beautiful pass under the basket to forward Al Harrington (17 points, one of five players on each team who scored in double figures), who made two free throws after a flagrant foul, to put the Knicks up for good, 72-70, with 11:06 left in the game.

After a Harrington three-pointer put the Knicks ahead 78-74, Gallinari scored New York’s next seven points, making a left corner three-pointer, a step back right corner jumper off the dribble, and a driving dunk from the left corner after faking a three, to give the Knicks an 85-76 lead, forcing a Detroit timeout with 6:47 left.

With 5:46 remaining, Robinson buried a 26-foot three-pointer, to put the Knicks up 88-78, and the Pistons would get no closer than 92-87 on a Maxiell jumper with 1:10 left.

“I think we were a little sluggish,” Robinson said. “We went back to being tense instead of just being relaxed. I think the fourth quarter, we just relaxed and we just found a way to have fun and play together.”

The Knicks have hosted afternoon games on Martin Luther King Day ever since 1986, when they lost to Philadelphia. They won the next nine (1987-1995) and 13 of 14, before losing three of five. However, the win on Monday was their third MLK Day win in four years, improving the Knicks to 18-6 all-time on the holiday, and it also avenged a 94-90 loss in Detroit on Saturday.

More importantly, the Knicks have gone 14-10 since a 3-14 start, to pull within two games of Chicago (18-21) for the Eastern conference’s final playoff spot, at the season’s halfway point.

D’Antoni is happy with the Knicks’ recent progress, but knows his team still has much work to do to improve further.

“Since we settled down a little bit, we’re kind of in the mode that we should be,” he said. “We’re playing well, [but] a little uneven in the last five games, not great mental energy… whether it’s humanly possible or not to be up all the time, I don’t know, but we need to be able to do that, especially.”

In terms of providing that energy and more, as long as Robinson does the other things which D’Antoni and the rest of the Knicks’ coaching staff asks of him, he should remain a very welcome piece of the Knicks’ lineup during the second half of the season.

In Open Court: A Year With the New York Knicks, John J. Buro recounts one particular forgettable season in the life of Isiah Thomas -Knight’s point guard on the 1981 championship team-, who was now both the general manager and head coach of this storied franchise.

The year is 2006.  Larry Brown has just walked away from his dream job after fulfilling one year of a five-year deal, and Thomas is instructed by James Dolan, the Cablevision scion and team owner, to replace ‘Downtown’ Brown.

Predictably, the season goes south, as Thomas follows Brown’s 59 losses with a 33-49 record.  Then, amazingly, the organization sinks even deeper when Dolan and Thomas are named co-defendants in Anucha Browne Sanders’ sexual harassment lawsuit.

The season, itself, wasn’t about any one thing that went wrong.  It was, clearly, a group effort.

Stephon Marbury, who was earlier brought back to New York in a trade which would subsequently cost New York its top pick in the 2010 Draft, did not fulfill expectations.  But, neither did many other players, who pocketed multi-million dollar contracts for token appearances.

The Knicks won 19 of 41 games at Madison Square Garden, and 14 of 41 elsewhere.

Thomas had misread the value of many players, and had put the Knicks in position to fail -even in the stunted Eastern Conference.  The coach was regularly crucified in print and, after one particular loss, Thomas’ post-game conference began so quickly, only one radio reporter was present.

Unlike the sexual harassment trial, which was played out for 12 ‘juror days’ in front of a packed courtroom.

Thomas’ latest defeat was met more with disdain than Sanders’ victory was with approval.  Fans had hoped this was the final straw, and that Thomas would soon be exiled.

They’d have to wait one more season for that wish to come true.

Buy the e-book now for a special low price of $7.99. Available only at the Open Court website.

It might have been a harbinger of things to come when the Garden public address announcer introduced Bargnani as being from Spain, a country a little bit to the north and east of Italy but as disjointed and unfortunate as the misplacing of Bargnani’s homeland might have been, it didn’t compare to the first half of basketball the Knicks played.

Toronto shot 53 percent and opened a 28-point lead that was eventually cut down to eight early in the fourth quarter before Calderon made consecutive jumpers and Hedo Turkoglu knocked down another to push it back to 14.

“First, you have to give them credit, they shot the living daylights out of us,” said Knicks coach, Mike D’Antoni. “Bargnani had an unbelievable first half. Having said that, we started off cold. We’re missing open shots, lay-ups, and everything. It took us awhile to get into it.

The game was televised live at 2 a.m. in Italy, home of the 2004 Olympic basketball silver medalists. Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni was a star player and championship-winning coach in Italy.

“I’m just really happy to see a lot of Italian players playing in the league and I think there will be more,” D’Antoni said before the game. “It’s fun and obviously it conjures a lot of great memories that I had.”

Andrea Bargnani had 24 points and 12 rebounds, helping the Toronto Raptors get off to a sizzling start in a 112-104 victory over the New York Knicks on Friday night.

Jose Calderon matched a season high with 21 points, rookie DeMar DeRozan scored 19 and Chris Bosh had 18 for the Raptors, who bounced back from consecutive losses and got back to .500 at 20-20. Bargnani hurt the Knicks inside and out, making five 3-pointers and shooting 9 of 13 from the field.

Al Harrington scored 31 points, Danilo Gallinari had 26 and David Lee finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists for the Knicks.

The Raptors made six of their first eight shots, then extended the lead to 24-8 after Bargnani drove down the lane for a powerful dunk that brought Toronto’s bench players leaping to their feet in celebration. Apparently annoyed, Lee threw one down about a minute later and jumped up and down right in Bargnani’s face, bumping into him and drawing a technical foul.

Toronto led 39-20 after one and kept right on rolling in the second, making 17 of its first 27 shots. The lead ballooned to 56-28 on Calderon’s 3-pointer with 5:57 left in the half and the Raptors were up 67-43 at the break after shooting 59 percent.

The Knicks got back into it in the third behind 12 points from Harrington, whose 3-pointer cut it to 89-80 with 32 seconds remaining before DeRozan scored the final four points of the period.

Read more of Scott at www.sportsreporters.com.

Yup, after starting the year well on pace to miss the NBA playoffs for a sixth straight year, including a 1-9 beginning (the worst ten-game start in their 64 seasons of existence), en route to a miserable 3-14 record through November, the Knicks, for the time being, have turned things around.

New York has gone 4-1 in December, including its first three-game win streak of the season after defeating the Portland Trailblazers, 93-84, at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

Notice that final score.

Yes, that’s Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks, not Pat Riley’s, winning that way.

Remember when the ultra-intense Tom Coughlin first came to New York to coach the Giants, and that style seemed to rub his players the wrong way, and Coughlin remade himself? A sort of kinder, gentler, more coaxing, rather than the lashing out until-his-players-got-it-right style was much more effective. It kept Coughlin’s players loose enough to battle back from the brink of playoff elimination to winning a championship in a matter of weeks.

Maybe D’Antoni, in a different way, has also realized that he too, needed a departure from the philosophy which he had been used to for years, in order to get his own team to respond.

Let’s first add, that at 7-15, certainly no one is going to argue that this current good stretch of basketball that the Knicks are in, might even lead to playoff contention this season, let alone anything along the lines that Coughlin accomplished with the Giants. D’Antoni simply doesn’t have that type of talent, at least not until next year’s free agent bonanza hits.

But, D’Antoni has realized that his usual style of the successful running and gunning in Phoenix wasn’t going to work with his Knicks in New York. During their early struggles this year, D’Antoni and his staff recognized that the Knicks were playing too fast offensively, and they needed to slow everything down, move the ball, find good shots, and they have. That’s also led the team to refocus its energy and effort defensively of late, and slow other teams down.

All of that combined, has so far paid huge dividends during the Knicks’ mini turnaround. Ever since the Knicks started taking their time, they’ve taken off.

Their recent resurgence all started when they throttled the Phoenix Suns, who came to New York with an NBA-best 14-3 record, only to leave 126-99 losers to their former coach.

The Knicks are truly hustling, and dare we say it, playing solid defense, while executing nicely on offense, since they decided to settle down a bit and play in a lower gear.

They’ve also shown some nice poise and composure for one of the youngest teams in the NBA. After beating the Suns and losing in Orlando, they traveled to Atlanta, one of the better teams In the Eastern conference, a team that at 8-2 thus far, has rarely lost at home this season. But, they have, to the Knicks.

After starting awfully, trailing 11-0 in an instant, the Knicks rebounded to lead 35-34 after the opening quarter, extending that margin to a 13-point halftime lead. And, when the Hawks rallied with a big third quarter to regain the lead by one, the Knicks closed strong for a 114-107 upset victory.

Knicks’ forward Al Harrington said Atlanta’s 11-0 run made him think, “Man, we better do something or we’re getting blown out of the building.” They definitely did, and not just in Atlanta.

Trailing 61-53 at halftime to New Jersey at home on Sunday, D’Antoni had his team again slow it all down and play at a pace they could handle, outscoring the Nets 53-36 in a more defensive-minded second half, in a 106-97 win.

On Monday night, the Knicks broke open an 18-all tie after the first quarter, outscoring Portland 60-37 in the middle two periods.

And, even after the Trailblazers started on the comeback trail with a 17-2 fourth-quarter run to pull to within 80-71, forward Danilo Galinari ignited a 6-0 Knicks’ run with a three-pointer from the top of the arc before grabbing an easy steal and assisting on a fast break, conventional three-point play by forward Larry Hughes, to push the New York lead back to a comfortable 86-71, on the way to yet another win.

While the Trailblazers shot 47 percent (31-66) from the field, they were held to just 1 of 8 from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Knicks were a scorching 50 percent (13-26) from behind the arc, while notching a ball-sharing 20 assists on 32 field goals.

Hughes, who led five Knicks in double figures with 21 points against Portland, hit on some of Knicks’ keys to success lately. “Ball movement, we’re more aggressive, we’re playing better defense, just playing better on both ends of the court,” he said.

After the game, D’Antoni said, “A lot of it is psychological. They’re feeling better about themselves and they’re just having a lot of confidence.”

That self-assurance is leading to a lot of good things for the Knicks.

Defensively, they’ve been active, while forcing turnovers, blocking shots, and drawing charges.  And, offensively, they’ve been getting into the paint, finding each other, knocking down shots, drawing fouls, and mostly… slowing the game down a little, just as D’Antoni and his staff have wanted.

That last one has been the biggest key. D’Antoni and the Knicks might finally be realizing that an NBA season is a marathon, and at least offensively for them, they’re having new found success living by the old adage “steady wins the race” — or least lately, basketball games — for the Knicks… four of them so far, in the first five games of December.

But, according to Nate Robinson, there was reason to believe the Knicks would not lose its sixth straight.

“[The Phoenix Suns] run the same stuff we run,” he told MSG’s Tina Cervasio during a pre-game chat.

Except the results are usually different.

Three hours later, after New York’s 126-99 surprise victory before a sellout crowd, Robinson was vindicated.

The Knicks, which led by double-digits at intermission, used a 29-18 third quarter to claim their fourth win of the season.  Danilo Gallinari led the assault with 27 points and 10 rebounds.  David Lee contributed 24 points, eight boards and four steals.  Al Harrington added another 22 and eight.  Larry Hughes shined with 12 assists, 11 points [including the 10,000^th of his career] and four steals, and Jared Jeffries boasted a team-high +30 rating and four blocked shots.

Mike D’Antoni, who entered with a 35-64 record [.354] in one-plus seasons in New York after a very successful run in the desert [253-136/.650], knew all too well how good the Suns are.  Not too long ago, D’Antoni was the architect of the vaunted ‘:07 Seconds or Less’ offense, an attack that was engineered by Steve Nash, twice an NBA MVP.

In return, Nash helped D’Antoni win Coach of the Year following the 2004-05 season.  Nash, the league’s assist leader at 12.1, already has six games of 16 assists or better, after just five such outbursts in 2008-09.  Consequently, Phoenix missed the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“After last year’s disappointment, the strong start was really important to all of us,” the 14-year veteran stated before the game.  “It has been a lot of fun for us to turn it around, but we have a lot of work to do.”

It looked so simple on paper.  The defensive-poor Knicks had yielded 117.7 points on 50.8 percent shooting over the last three games, and Sunday’s loss to the Orlando Magic was its 11^th in 13 games.

However, New York opened with a season-high 39 point quarter, without the benefit of Robinson, who had sparkled with 22 fourth-quarter points against Orlando; in fact, Robinson remained scoreless during his 10-minute stint.  In his place, Wilson Chandler tallied 12 of his 14 points and Hughes had eight assists, as the Knicks hit nearly 61% of its shots.

With 9:33 remaining in the second, the New York produced its largest lead of the season, at 48-32 on Gallinari’s bank shot.  By that point, Hughes had 10 assists and the Knicks had four players in double-figure points.

After Phoenix used a 10-1 run to get within six, D’Antoni used a timeout to show his displeasure.

“Do you want this?” he bellowed to his team.  “We’re three and fourteen.  You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“New York -led by Gallinari’s 20 points [four-of-five from beyond the arc] and seven boards- regained control of the game, and walked off the court with a 71-58 halftime lead.  It was the first time they had a 71-point half since the third and fourth quarters of this season’s home opening-loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on October 31.  The franchise record for most first-half points at the current Garden was established on November 29, 2008 with 82 against the Golden State Warriors.

The last half-minute of the third quarter provided the most excitement, as Lee stole Jared Dudley’s crosscourt pass and subsequently converted Chris Duhon’s smart left-handed pass for an easy jam.  Then, Gallinari swatted Louis Amundson’s attempted dunk, leading to Harrington’s buzzer-beater, which lifted the home team to the century mark and a 24-point cushion entering the fourth.

Alvin Gentry, the Suns’ coach, also knew the score.  Phoenix had arrived in New York after Sunday’s victory against the Toronto Raptors, which proved to be far too much free time.

Thus, in consideration of moving on to Cleveland for Wednesday’s clash with LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and the rest of the Cavaliers, Gentry benched all his starters [supersub Leandro Barbosa was already nursing an injured left ankle] before the first minute of the final stanza was over.

Nash did finish with 20 points and eight assists, but was not a factor after the first few minutes of the third quarter.