Who knew that the missing ingredient to Knicks success was curry. Actually, make that Curry, as in Eddy Curry. The center, looking slimmer and trimmer than at any point since his eighth grade Christmas pageant scored 10 points in 12 minutes during his return to the NBA on Wednesday night and the Knicks came from 19 points down to beat the Pacers 110-103.
It was a good night for the Knicks, even if it meant that Fake Mike D'Antoni was quieter than usual. This winning thing is obviously new to them because, according to the Post, they celebrated by "munching jubilantly on Chinese food." In Indiana.
Hopefully they'll check out some of Flushing's hotspots when they're back in New York, especially if it means that winning becomes a slightly more common occurance.
Will it? Curry certainly gave the team a different dimension offensively. He got the ball inside, demanded attention and drew several fouls to help keep the comeback rolling early in the fourth quarter. That helped foul out Pacers star Danny Granger, who had 30 points in the first half, and limit the home team's ability to come up with points down the stretch. It was an encouraging performance, even if he made sure to turn the ball over three times to temper expectations about the future.
The 0-12 Nets are next on the schedule, which is why we either smell a winning streak or the remnants of Indy's finest Kung Pao in the air. Either way, it's sounding more like the Knicks will have Allen Iverson with them when they next take the court. Multiple reports have the Knicks convinced that he'd help them once he officially becomes a free agent on Thursday evening. And even though the Knicks won, they eliminated the major reason to dislike the A.I. signing.
Toney Douglas, Danilo Gallinari and Jordan Hill, the players everyone is worried will lose chances if Iverson is on the team, played 32 minutes combined on Wednesday night. None of the three, nor Wilson Chandler for that matter, were on the court during the deciding minutes of the game. It's a nice bit of lip service to say that you need to develop younger players, but the Knicks aren't showing any signs that they actually plan to do that without Iverson on the team.
Whatever happened Wednesday night, you have to ask if you'd rather have Iverson taking those minutes or Chris Duhon. The answer is The Answer.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
