It’s another must-lose game for the Knicks tonight at the Garden. More losses mean more ping-pong balls and a better chance to win the lottery.

So any knowledgeable Knick fan will do tonight what once was unthinkable – root for the Bulls at the Garden.

Knick coach Don Chaney isn’t conceding anything. In fact, in his team’s last real practice of the season yesterday, he ran his guys hard.

For Chaney the work is just beginning, because after the season concludes next Wednesday night against the Nets, Chaney plans to lock himself and his coaches in a room to watch film after film.

“I’ll have time to look at tapes,” said Chaney, who as a Knick assistant was accustomed to being in the playoffs. “I’ll have time to get a feel for what I want to do next year. I hopefully will get a feel of what the team is going to look like and what the team is going to need. I’ll get an opportunity to dissect.”

Chaney said he won’t take one day off. A week from today, he’ll watch more videos than your average teenager.

GM Scott Layden’s attention is already squarely focused on trying to beat the salary cap problems, while acquiring better talent.

Chaney’s mind has been occupied with resuscitating his current Knicks into a more competitive team. Chaney hopes to catch up to Layden as they try to figure out the future.

The Bulls with teenagers Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry don’t seem as if they are the model the Knicks will follow because drafting high schoolers calls for a drawn out rebuilding process.

But Allan Houston disagreed with this logic. He thinks that this might be the time for the Knicks to go young.

“If there is anytime to take a chance on that type of player, it would be now,” Houston said. “In the past, the Knicks have gone toward more veteran guys, guys that have been around, not really the athletic or the youth. We have veteran players who could help that process of someone like that.”

Houston seemed to be trumpeting the exploits of Memphis’ Dajuan Wagner, who only has spent one-year in college.

“If you are looking at a guard or another guy, it is not a guy you are going to build a team around,” Houston said. “It depends what position you are looking for.”

Does it sound like Wagner, a guard out of Camden, N.J., could learn from Houston and Latrell Sprewell?

“Not really,” Houston said. “If Dajuan were seven-feet, it would be a little different.”

That sounds like Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5 Chinese center.

A Knicks loss tonight would move them into a tie with the Cavs for the league’s sixth-worst record.

With this said, if you are going to the Garden tonight and are going to root for the Knicks, wear red and black.