David Lee admitted the Knicks were not in great spirits.
“After that Houston game,” he said yesterday of his team’s loss last Saturday, “I think all of us were sort of down.”
But then Lee added, “To this team’s credit, we didn’t give up.”
Instead, the Knicks knocked off the Hornets in New Orleans, a win Lee now calls one of the most significant this season. And then they beat the Wizards at the Garden to improve to 15-22.
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Tonight, they go for another important W.
They’re in Washington for the second of a home-and-home, and they’ll be shooting for their second three-game winning streak of the season and first since early November.
There’s reason for confidence, considering the Knicks have beaten Washington all three times they’ve played this year.
The most recent victory came Wednesday night, with Lee’s 30 points pacing the attack. The 7-31 Wizards are horrendous, and as Washington’s Nick Young said after Wednesday’s loss, “We are targets now. Everybody thinks they can get a win against us.”
Tonight also is an opportunity for the Knicks to push toward a longer run.
The Sixers and Bulls are next when the Knicks return home tomorrow, and with both teams under .500, the Knicks have a shot to win five straight.
“This is an important month,” said coach Mike D’Antoni. “The schedule was really tough in December for us. Then we got over that. Now you’ve got to take advantage of what’s there.”
The Knicks have racked up 30 and 27 assists the last two games – indications that their familiarity with and understanding of D’Antoni’s speedball offense is increasing.
“I think all year we’re going to have games where we shoot it well and where we don’t shoot it well,” said Lee.
“That’s every NBA team. But these last couple, it’s just been, he sat us down game after game and tried to tell us, ‘Look, we need to pass the ball more, we need to continue to move. We need to keep the spacing.’ And I think it’s finally started to set in.”
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D’Antoni had figured Eddy Curry (sore left knee) would be able to return to practice yesterday or today, but the center didn’t practice yesterday.
Neither did Tim Thomas, out with flu-like symptoms.
Nate Robinson is shooting 31 percent (39-for-127) in his last 10 games.