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Winning is good no matter who you beat, especially after you're accustomed to losing to anybody and everybody for any reason or every reason under the rim.   Winning is the reason it is difficult to fault Mike D'Antoni for his desire not to play Eddy Curry (7'0," weight a mystery), who he admits has looked good on occasion in practice.  EC, aka "ECity", aka "Expiring Contract," says he is ready to contribute to the winning atmosphere.  Coach D says Eddie is not ready to play long stretches.  D'Antoni adds that he is not ready to disrupt chemistry just to accommodate an unknown quantity. The problem is that Eddy is not an entirely unknown quantity and it takes very little foresight (or fan-sight for that matter) to know that his recognizable bulk will be very useful when the Knicks schedule becomes more difficult.

D'Antoni admittedly coaches by feel and he is trying to keep his job.  He is not feeling Curry like he was not totally feeling Shawne Williams.  That is understandable.  However, if Curry is able to play, it would behoove D'Antoni to put Curry in the rotation now, for however small a period of time, to help work him into the system, improve his conditioning and have him as an added weapon when the Knicks face the likes of Boston, Denver, Miami, Orlando, L.A. Lakers, Portland, Houston and San Antonio in the next month or so.  Eddy Curry could save his job.

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Of course it's Jamal Crawford who comes into the Garden, once his home, and leads the Hawks in their victorious quest to end our five game winning streak.  Not only does he come here and beat his old team, but he continues to look more comfortable at Madison Square Garden than the person who was said to replace him.  Remember two years ago when the common wisdom was that Crawford, who never played for a playoff team, was not as good as Gallo, who was said to have one of the purest shots ever.  Gallo was supposed to be better than Crawford the loser. What happened with that?

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Was Amar'e just being honest, setting a new Knicks' standard or trying to diss Mike D'Antoni when he suggested to the press that prior to Alvin Gentry no one taught him defense and now he realizes that endgames are won by effort on the defensive end?  Some would want you to focus on the comment as a slap at D'Antoni, during  a five game winning streak, as opposed to an honest assessment of where his game is at and how he got there.

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The Suns have gone up 2-0 against the hated Spurs in their Western Conference semi-finals series.  Although the Suns have done no more than hold home court advantage, Coach Gentry and Nash agree that the team has done so with the type of total team effort which had not been prevalent even during the successful years of Coach Mike D'Antoni.  The current play of the Suns, if they should finally beat the Spurs in a playoff series, will emphasize the importance of defense in winning in the playoffs.   Gone, with Coach D, are the days of "a great offense is a good defense, where the run and run and gun style of the Suns and short rotations had the team too exhausted to play hard on both sides of the court.

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If the Suns win hopefully Coach D'Antoni will continue his forced progression to a more defensive minded approach to the game.  In a Photoshop essay series , Artists of Coaching I and Artists of Coaching II  was compared to the artist Jackson Pollock, who painted in quick energetic gestures and strokes with paint flying every where to create his action painting masterpieces.  But Pollock was well versed in classic training and learned to combine the classical with the innovation.  D'Antoni was forced to be more defensive oriented because he did not have Seven Seconds or Less players.  But, his comments after the season ended indicates that he still believes he doesn't need to change his defensive philosophy if he has players that fit his offense.

We can only hope that the Suns' success changes his position.

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I am looking forward to attending the draft on Thursday.  It is going to be a long and fun night, but I will come prepared -- prepared with two lists.  I will be there with my "Best Player on the Board" List and my "Best Player for the Knicks List" and I will pray that when the 8th pick comes there is very little conflict between the two.  I just finished a series of pre-draft reports and these are my lists.  I reserve the right to change my mind every time I look at tapes of Brandon Jennings and Ricky Rubio.

Best Player Available

Blake Griffin

James Harden

Jordan Hill

Hasheem Thabeet

James Harden

Brandon Jennings

Ricky Rubio

Stephen Curry

Best Player for Knicks

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Ricky Rubio

Stephen Curry

Hasheem Thabeet

Jrue Holiday

Brandon Jennings

Jonny Flynn

Ty Lawson

The choices are tough but in one blog poll (your vote is encouraged), fans are sure that they would pick Rubio over Curry.  I would too even if it meant he would be a bust, because it would at least be fun too watch and that is all I am expecting since Donnie has decided to toss another season away.