Mike D Antoni

THE WORST season in NBA history is over for the Charlotte Bobcats. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are looking ahead to the playoffs. The Bobcats couldn't even beat a Knicks team resting most of its starters, finishing with the lowest winning percentage in league history after a 104-84 loss Thursday. J.R. Smith scored 22 points for the Knicks, who pulled away in the second half to clinch the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed and a first-round playoff matchup against No. 2 Miami beginning Saturday.

Late Thursday night, Juan Fernandez said he was thankful for his opportunity to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Understandably so. The Temple senior point guard signed a multiyear agreement Friday morning in Portsmouth, Va., to play professional basketball for EA7 Olimpia Milano, a top-level Italian team. He is expected to receive a high six-figure salary. "I'm obviously really, really happy," said the 22-year-old Argentine, who is on pace to graduate from Temple this summer.

YOU HAVE to give credit to New York Knicks fans. Rarely is mediocrity celebrated with such gusto. With gas in the Big Apple running around $4 a gallon, it's probably a $40 to $50 car ride down the Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia and back. You're looking at up to $20 in tolls and parking at the Wells Fargo Center runs at least $15. Then you still actually had to purchase tickets for Wednesday night's Sixers-Knicks game, and I doubt a lot of the $12 seats in the upper level were available.

THE RECENT resurgence of the New York Knicks, winners of five in a row after Wednesday night's 82-79 win over the 76ers, has been directly attributed to the resignation of coach Mike D'Antoni on March 14 and the promotion of assistant Mike Woodson to head coach. But how can a team, almost two-thirds of a way through a season, immediately become so much better because of a coaching change? The Knicks were wildly inconsistent under D'Antoni this season, having put together a seven-game winning streak to go with two six-game losing streaks, the last of which precipitated the resignation.

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.

  Tyson Chandler scored 16 points, Jeremy Lin had 13, and the New York Knicks rolled to their second straight dominant victory under Mike Woodson, beating the visiting Indiana Pacers 115-100 on Friday night in the opener of a home-and-home series. Two nights after beating Portland by 42 on the day Mike D'Antoni resigned, New York shut down Pacers star Danny Granger, who had angered them by saying Friday and Saturday were two "very winnable games. "   Hornets to stay in Big Easy The Hornets and State of Louisiana announced an agreement in principle that would keep the team, which is currently owned by the league, in the New Orleans Arena through 2024 and pump in about $50 million in improvements.

MIKE D'ANTONI resigned yesterday as coach of the New York Knicks, whose brief resurgence in a wave of Linsanity quickly gave way to a late-season skid that puts them in danger of even making the NBA playoffs. Assistant coach Mike Woodson served as interim head coach for last night's 121-79 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers. Carmelo Anthony, who denied wanting a trade or having friction with D'Antoni earlier yesterday, had 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting and tied a season high with seven assists.

Amar'e Stoudemire made all seven shots in the first half, Carmelo Anthony passed and shot well, and the New York Knicks shook off the surprising departure of coach Mike D'Antoni to rout the Portland Trail Blazers, 121-79, on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, snapping a six-game losing streak. Anthony, who denied wanting a trade or having friction with D'Antoni earlier in the day, had 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and tied a season high with seven assists. Stoudemire finished with 17 points and shot 8 of 10 before both stars sat out the fourth quarter while the Knicks rang up their highest point total of the season.

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 Friday 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.

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.