On the court, the Knicks and the Clippers, who both ostensibly had things to play for, turned in 48 minutes that looked like a study in tanking, tankage, tankology. The Clips still could have earned a homecourt edge in Round 1, yet kept Chris Paul nailed to the bench.
The Knicks started the night still harboring the possibility of a 6 seed, still have the chance to earn the 7, yet played the fourth quarter as if the last thing in the world they want is to spend the weekend in South Beach, the likely reward the 7 seed delivers. It wasn’t enough. The Knicks still won, 99-93.
The tanks move south to Charlotte tonight, against a team with a chance to finish with the worst winning percentage (or is that the best losing percentage?) in league history. There might not be a big enough armored corps to provide enough tanks to lose to the woeful Bobcats. And so it goes, a shortened season that somehow already has lasted a few games to long.
And despite the disgraceful basketball littering the Garden last night, providing a fitting, yawning contrast to what surely will be an electric atmosphere for tonight’s Rangers-Senators Game 7, the Knicks did manage to have a pretty good day. Maybe an hour before tip-off, they plucked Glen Grunwald from his secret hiding space, allowed him to formally celebrate the removal of the word “interim” from his GM title.
And for the first time in a long, long time have the look of a franchise embracing stability. And maybe even a little prosperity.
“The playoffs are on,” Grunwald said. “We have an opportunity as a team. Who knows the next opportunity will be to do something good? Let’s do as well as we can and let’s evaluate after it’s all done.”
It does seem that coach Mike Woodson’s “interim” tag probably will be the next to dissolve, and given the way the Knicks have turned their season around on his watch, it’s hard to imagine anything short of a Montana epiphany striking Phil Jackson that could change that.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of change being a catalyst for waking people up,” Grunwald said. “Woody came in and had a great approach and was very positive. He’s a likeable guy at the same time. He will do what’s necessary to get guys to play right.”
One of those things, Woodson revealed last night, was a frank exchange of ideas with his stars when he first took the job in the middle of last month. He told Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, directly, they “weren’t playing hard enough.”
Lately, they have, even if the starters spent the fourth quarter last night on the bench channeling the Knicks City Dancers, watching an 18-point lead melt to one without either team much breaking a sweat. If what the Knicks want is to avoid Miami and play Chicago, J.R. Smith foiled it by playing great down the stretch. Tonight, they may well try to give Charlotte fans something to cheer about on Fan Appreciation Night, but it won’t matter of the Sixers tank to the Pistons, too.
So, yes, the Knicks are knee-deep in the silliness and the sloppiness of late-season basketball but also embracing the stable-ness of quality bosses. Donnie Walsh left Grunwald a solid foundation, and Grunwald augmented it — importing Smith and Steve Novak and Jeremy Lin, signing Tyson Chandler, jettisoning Chauncey Billups, giving the Knicks a puncher’s chance against whichever team the roulette wheel spits out.
He deserved the job permanently, and so does Woodson, and when that happens the Knicks finally will have security in those key spots for the first time since Ernie Grunfeld and Jeff Van Gundy were on speaking terms. That was two lockouts ago.
In some ways, Grunwald is the perfect face for this franchise, since it’s usually an invisible one, and the perfect voice since it’s so often silent. He had his ego surgically removed somewhere along the way. Maybe that occurred during a humbling college career at Indiana, or during an extended run in Isiah Thomas’ professional shadow. For now, listen close and listen quick. You aren’t likely to hear him again anytime soon.
Just as the Garden likes it.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com