After the “feel-good” play of Hell week came and went, the Knicks went on a road trip that turned into a nightmare – excruciating loss to Portland (broken down in good detail at Knickerblogger), eventual blowout loss to the Warriors, and most recently before the All-Star break, a most painful loss to the Clippers in overtime after the Knicks appeared to have the game in hand in the closing seconds.

The road trip in retrospect doesn’t look completely awful when you consider that Duhon hurt his ankle in the Blazer game and shouldn’t have even played the Warrior game. Duhon is, in my opinion, the most valuable player and the Knick who can least afford to be injured for the team to be competitive. Additionally, the Warriors have been a very hot team at home and it wasn’t a disgrace to lose to them, even though the defensive effort left a lot to be desired.  Even the Clippers have played better lately.

But the reality is that the Knicks could have won two out of three even with Duhon’s injury and the road games, and the poor execution and numerous mental mistakes continue to be maddening for a team trying (with increasingly faint hope) to make the playoffs. Six straight losses is six straight, and playoff teams find ways to win even when they're overmatched or snakebit for a game or two.

You Can Call Me Al

At the eye of the storm on the road trip was Al Harrington. Al is a talented scorer and very agreeable guy who had a good week during “hell week”, even with the flak he caught for calling the Cleveland loss a “feel-good loss”.  He was productive, his shot selection was generally good (by his standards) and balanced well between inside and outside play, and he put good pressure on the opponents with his offense.  D’Antoni has grown comfortable enough with Harrington’s play recently to give him increasing minutes.

On the most recent road trip, however, things started to turn for the worse. Al was OK against the Blazers (though the real firepower came from Robinson and Thomas), and had a big three pointer in the final two minutes against the Blazers that prompted Gus Johnson’s immortal “My name is Al Harrington and I get buckets” call. But the game against the Warriors featured an angrier, more defiant Al, due to the bad blood that went down with his departure – this seemed to work alright in the first half when he scored 20, but there’s a thin line between driven scorer and ballhog (especially with Harrington’s inability to pass with any effectiveness). In the second half, Al was consumed only with frustration as the Warriors threw two and three players at him and limited him to one FG in six attempts,  all while the crowd continued to taunt him for the rest of the game.

The negative energy from the Warrior game seemed to produce a carryover in the Clipper game, as Harrington went 8 for 24, and anyone watching the game could be forgiven for thinking it was *much* worse than that. Al’s tendency to force shots was exacerbated by Duhon’s absence, and he forced too many outside jumpers, as well as having trouble with Al Thornton on the defensive end for the first 3 quarters.

Despite one of his worst games, the Knicks had an opportunity to take the game from the Clippers, thanks to outstanding play from Chandler, Jeffries and especially Nate. But Harrington’s most infamous moment came when he got a clutch offensive rebound with 0:25 left off a missed Lee jumper and dunked it to give the Knicks a three point lead. Harringon, understandably excited about the gift that came his way, hung onto the rim after the dunk, did a chin up, then slapped the board with two hands hard. Automatic technical from the ref, which gave the Clippers one free throw and possession, which they then used to tie the game and force overtime.

When I first saw the play, I was as excited as any Knick fan and frankly, slightly ticked off that a ref would call the technical for an understandable emotional moment at a key time of the game.  When I caught subsequent replays, I realized I missed the board slap, which was so demonstrative that the ref couldn’t ignore it…and had I been under the basket, I’m guessing the sound as well as the display would have been even harder to miss . D’Antoni was furious, and the play has since been referred to as one of the dumbest plays in sports this year. (I wouldn't go that far, and there's a part of me that still thinks the ref overreacted...but yeah, not smart and horrible timing)

My Name is Al And I Get Abuse

So is Al a bad guy that is on the team only because the Knicks are stockpiling mercenaries with expiring contracts? The latter may be true, but Knick fans who see Isaiah-era malevolence and self-absorption in Harrington’s play (and concomitantly, the play of the team lately) are overreacting wildly. As I pointed out on another forum, Harrington is who he is – a tunnel vision scorer with limited awareness of his teammates given to maddening streaks on the scoring end (good and bad), a passable to poor defender whose best asset is his active hands, and for all his faults, a matchup problem for many teams and a very active scorer.

I’ve never felt that Harrington was D’Antoni’s kind of player, and D’Antoni has hinted as much – the ball simply stops moving once Al gets it, as his first move is almost invariably to measure the space in front of him for a drive, or to launch a three. Al’s tendency to hold the ball has also made it more difficult for Gallinari in the starting lineup, as Gallo ends up with sloppy thirds or fourths in terms of shots, as the primary offensive options remain the Duhon-Lee pick and roll and what Harrington generates within the offense. Gallo’s gift for playmaking and scoring seems better suited to the more wide open play of the second unit as long as Harrington is starting.

I could see a future where Gallinari starts and Harrington goes back to coming off the bench, but Gallo needs more seasoning and more strength before that can happen – like it or not, Harrington will be a fixture in the starting lineup in the short term if the Knicks want to make a credible playoff push. You don’t have to look back so far to imagine scenarios where Harrington is a very positive contributor – look back two weeks and you’ll see stretches of very positive play against the best teams in the league. And though we have him for his contract, I definitely consider Harrington an upgrade over Crawford (dazzling crossover moves and sweet jumper aside), who was even more indifferent on defense and just as lacking in conscience on offense. (Bitter Warrior fans might disagree, but when they take a hard look at Jamal's play to date for their team, there isn't much force behind their argument)

The road trip wasn’t good, but let’s assume the emotion got to Al, and that he’s been subsequently straightened out (as much as a 10 year veteran with bad habits can be) by the coaching staff. Like it or not, the Knicks will need him for the final 30 games, and he's one of the best you can get when you're playing the expiring contract, get-ready-for-2010 game.