Mike D Antoni

The New York Knicks have experienced a minor resurgence since the 76ers handed them loss No. 5 in a six-game losing stretch on March 11. After the Sixers beat them by 12 at Madison Square Garden, Chicago beat them the next day and Mike D'Antoni, who couldn't coax the Knicks into playing any defense, resigned. D'Antoni was replaced in an interim role by assistant coach Mike Woodson, and he has led the Knicks to four consecutive wins. The Sixers host the Knicks on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Mike D'Antoni said he wants to remain as coach of the New York Knicks, according to a report. "I love what I do. I like my guys so it's all good," D'Antoni told ESPNNewYork.com yesterday, a day after the Knicks clinched a playoff spot. "Again, I'm not focused on that per se [but] hypothetically . . . I'd love to. " The website reported that D'Antoni's agent Warren LeGaries was at practice yesterday and was seen talking with team president and general manager Donnie Walsh. D'Antoni has 1 year remaining on a 4-year, $24 million deal.

NEW YORK - Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni's old team, the Knicks, used his run 'n gun style to beat his new one. Of course, many have used this tactic in beating the Lakers. New York ran away from L.A. in a 116-107 victory Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks (17-5) have the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Lakers (9-14) have lost four in a row. This one was seemingly over at halftime, with the Knicks leading, 68-49. The Knicks led by 41-27 after the first quarter.

MIKE D'ANTONI circled the court 2 feet at a time, moving smoothly on crutches while his Los Angeles Lakers went through drills orchestrated by his assistant coach and brother, Dan. Although D'Antoni's surgically replaced knee is slowing him down a bit, he couldn't wait any longer to get the Lakers rolling. D'Antoni formally took over the Lakers on Thursday, 4 days after the slow-starting club hired him to replace Mike Brown. The former Knicks and Suns coach is still on crutches and pain medication after surgery earlier this month, but thinks he'll soon be back to normal while he attempts to transform the Lakers into his vision of an up-tempo, high-scoring team.

THREE-TIME NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant is determined to become known as more than a one-dimensional player. He took a big step in that direction Sunday. Durant notched his first career triple-double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat visiting Golden State, 119-109. "I really didn't care, to be honest. If it came, then that's cool. If it didn't, then just keep playing," Durant said. "It feels good to get one. Now, I guess I've got a little monkey off my back.

LOS ANGELES - Sometimes when they leave a team and land somewhere else, NBA players don't speak fondly about their old club. Not so with Jodie Meeks, now a backup guard with the Los Angeles Lakers. Meeks spent almost three seasons in Philadelphia and started 114 games before the 76ers allowed him to walk as a free agent last summer. Meeks wanted to stay in Philadelphia, but he knew that the Sixers wanted to free up more playing time for Evan Turner, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft.

The American Olympic team may be the world's best basketball team and possibly one for the ages. Last night, the U.S. team finally drained some three-point shots and forced defending world-champion Spain into an embarrassing stream of turnovers. The United States, showing all kinds of moves, increased its lead in every quarter before walking out of the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium with a 119-82 victory. Asked what kind of message the team is sending, Kobe Bryant said, "That we're here to play.

Thursday, Steve Nash did something you might think very un-Nashian. He got all up in Boris Diaw's grill. "I had to yell a couple of times at Boris tonight," he said. "I don't like to be a screamer, but I think it's important this time of year, when we haven't played well, to be a little more self-critical of our team. I'm always supportive, but sometimes I think you've got to be a little more determined. " See, you all think that Nash is this pacifist/granola guy who would never hurt a fly, because he's soft-spoken and thoughtful.

Frank Johnson was fired yesterday as coach of the Phoenix Suns, a young team with high expectations that is off to an 8-13 start and has lost six of its last seven games. The Suns promoted lead assistant Mike D'Antoni, a star player and highly successful coach in Italy who coached the Denver Nuggets to a 14-36 record in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. "There's been something amiss all year, in my opinion," owner Jerry Colangelo said. "The more I saw on the floor, the more I disliked what I saw as it related to body language, communication or lack of same.

NEW YORK - Here is a good sign for when an overhyped, underachieving team has believed too many stories about how good it should be. After the New York Knicks dropped their fourth straight on Saturday night, center Tyson Chandler described the Knicks' issues like this: "If we play the way we finished the last two games, we'll beat teams by 15 to 20 points. I don't see a team in this league that can sustain that kind of effort. I feel like we may have the deepest team in the league.