The Knicks are neither as bad as they were losing by 50 to an excellent Dallas team, nor as good as they appeared two days later jumping up 15-0 and rolling over awful Minnesota.
Mike D’Antoni coaches a bunch of tweeners, players talented enough to stay in most games but not big enough to impose their will in fourth quarters. They have matured enough in a year probably to stay in the postseason race but likely not enough to close the deal for what would be just a second playoff berth in 10 seasons.
The Knicks are trying to get through an interim season with players they have no intention of marrying so that the organization can divorce itself from the ruinous M.O. of the past. They find themselves in a place even harder than a Jared Jeffries brick, sellers to their fans of a blueprint without a foundation, and unable to go shopping for it.
The No. 1 priority is cap space, the second priority is development of the few pieces — principally Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler — that are within their control, the third is getting those two players an initial postseason experience and the Garden two more spring gates.
They went into last night four games in the loss column behind the eighth-place Bullls. It seems like a little in the big picture, with 38 games to go, and yet it represents the highest mountain — with Chris Duhon matching up at point guard against Chicago’s Derrick Rose and seventh-place Charlotte’s Raymond Felton.
The next stretch — two with Washington, another with Minnesota and one with ninth-place Milwaukee follow sixth-place Toronto tonight — cannot put the Knicks in the driver’s seat, but it could tell GM Donnie Walsh if it makes any sense to tinker under the hood. If the players required to carry the team — David Lee, Gallinari and Chandler — want help, they are going to have to earn it with wins before the Feb. 18 trade deadline.
Tracy McGrady hasn’t played since Dec. 23. It’s a reach to expect him to come in and key a postseason drive or do anything but keep the ball from Wilson’s, Gallinari’s and Lee’s hands. There are plenty of back-up-level guards available, practically all better than Duhon if he keeps drowning in self-doubt. So expiring contract-for-expiring contract, Walsh probably can make a move, but he is unlikely to make a great one.
The Nets, suffering what could be an NBA-record losing season and without a brand until they get to Brooklyn, probably have to make their big play in the trade market and have been discussing Amare Stoudemire. The Knicks can’t afford to tie themselves down in case Nike decides to make it worthwhile to LeBron James to be in New York.
Thus, they plug on with what they have, just trying to get to meaningful April games for the first time since 2004.
A five-game March swing — which visits San Antonio, Memphis, Dallas, Philadelphia and Boston — looks daunting. But the final western trip through Phoenix, Utah and Portland has no back-to-backs and concludes with winnable contests at the Warriors and the Clippers.
The 39 victories that earned Detroit the eighth spot a year ago will require a 22-16 Knicks record the rest of the way.
That’s a slightly better pace than the the Knicks have kept since starting 3-14. Whether that’s possible, they will resume showing themselves and their GM tonight.
jay.greenberg@nypost.com