Off the court, the Knicks are a circus. On the court, they are hanging in as a legitimate basketball team.
In their season’s first victory trailing after three quarters, the Knicks put together a raging fourth quarter, rallied from nine points down in the final eight minutes and beat the Yao Ming-less Rockets, 104-98, at the Garden.
They closed to one game behind the eighth-place Bucks, who have lost Michael Redd for the season. After all Mike D’Antoni’s club has been through, the playoffs are a realistic thought.
Eddy Curry is embroiled in more tragedy – the mother of his 3-year-old son the victim of a sensational murder. Stephon Marbury is ripping the organization for not letting him sign with Boston.
But the Knicks (19-25) are stabilized on the hardwood, winning four of their last five games, owning a four-game home winning streak. The Knicks were 0-21 trailing after three quarters before last night’s comeback.
“It’s a baby step,” D’Antoni said of breaking the fourth-quarter streak. “We just have to keep climbing out of our hole.”
Wilson Chandler lost his starting job to Al Harrington last night but helped win the game. Chandler, in a massive four-game slump, finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds, hitting the key 3-pointer with 2:12 left that gave the Knicks the lead for good, 97-96 with 2:13 left.
Chandler is expected to be named to the All-Star weekend’s Rookie-Sophomore Game today.
“Coach makes a lot of changes and I stand behind him,” said Chandler, who’s been a starter since the season’s first week.
With Harrington on the bench down the stretch, Chandler defended Tracy McGrady and harassed him into a 7-of-20 evening.
“Wil really responded,” D’Antoni said. [McGrady] is a tough cover. He did an outstanding job just trying to deny the ball.”
Nate Robinson was also a terror, scoring 19 points with 6 boards. Chris Duhon finished with 12 points and 11 assists.
Robinson had the clinching play – a steal with 20 seconds left after Houston’s Luis Scola grabbed an offensive rebound down three. Robinson got fouled, roared in delight, wildly slapped hands with the courtside fans and calmly made both free throws with 18.5 seconds left to ice the game.
The Knicks got a Chinese New Year’s present when Ming sat out with a bruised knee. And the Knicks did it without needing a spark from rookie Danilo Gallinari, who played just 13 minutes, missed both his shots and finished with 4 points. Gallinari’s most noteworthy play came when he committed a charge on Aaron Brooks, accidentally kneeing him in the teeth, nearly dislodging one of them. But that’s the Knicks this season. They’re kicking their critics in the teeth every night.
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Donnie Walsh said he was OK with Marbury’s explosive remarks in The Post that accused Knicks brass of not accepting his latest buyout because they don’t want him in Boston.
“We gave him permission to talk to other teams,” Walsh said. “I’m not upset. If we’re going to buy him out, it probably would help out to have teams interested.”
Knicks 104 Rockets 98
