KNICK NOTES

He’s not feeling any better, but Allan Houston plans on suiting up tonight against the Nets.

Houston strained his right hamstring in the first quarter of Wednesday’s 101-95 loss at the Meadowlands, and even though he continued to play, the Knicks were initially worried that the injury was serious.

“It’s not as severe as we had thought,” Don Chaney said. “It’s sore, but it’s not a tear. There’s no bleeding or anything like that. It’s more of a strain.”

“[Trainer] Mike [Saunders] was like, ‘It shouldn’t get any worse,’ ” Houston said. “So it should be fine. We’ve got to get into the playoffs and I’m not really concerned about if it’s sore the next day. I just want to help us win. It’s not like we’ve got 40 games left.”

Kurt Thomas, meanwhile, underwent an MRI yesterday for his sore right elbow (the Knicks won’t know the result until today).

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Mike Malone, a Knick coaching associate and the son of former assistant Brendan Malone, said he has applied for Columbia’s vacant head coaching job.