There are so many other fun, worthwhile things to be doing than recapping this train wreck, where the Knicks blew two nineteen point leads and lost to the Clippers for a second time in heartbreaking and excruciating fashion.

It's 60 degrees here in New England and sunny, a genuinely nice day.

March Madness is in full swing with the Sweet Sixteen...OK, so the first day of games was a bust, but there are more promising games for Friday and especially the weekend.

Other NBA games, especially those involving the playoff chase for the West 8th seed and the resurgent Suns, are proving to be exciting, even if lost in the shadow of the NCAA tournament.

But the Knicks, even at 28-43 and now finally looking like they're given up the playoff chase, at least produce entertaining train wrecks. They ran off to those huge leads in the first quarter thanks to the most efficient scoring they've achieved in a while, running up 44 points in the first quarter on over 60 percent shooting.

Then Mike Taylor happened. The Clipper draft pick from the D-League looked like the second coming of Allen Iverson when he came in with the second unit, completely taking advantage of two of the biggest Knick liabilities: the Knick transition defense, and Nate Robinson's individual defense. He scored 17 points in the second quarter, mostly by blowing by Knick defenders in transition, and almost singlehandedly wiping out the Knick lead on his own.

The Knicks maintained a 66-65 halftime lead, and the second half and most of the overtime featured more entertaining (as long as you're not a fan of defense) back and forth exchange of buckets and momentum. Which then brings us to Knucklehead Moment: The Sequel.

Unbelievably, Al Harrington got another technical foul on a key dunk with 27 seconds left for hanging on the rim. The first time it happened against the Clippers, Al was justifiably criticized and mocked around the Internet, and he had to take the heat -- there was a demonstrative backboard slap that made the call impossible for the referee to ignore.

In this instance, however, the call was dubious -- the way Harrington made the move for the dunk, and the fact that several Clippers walked away (including Thornton most notably underneath him) meant he was justified in hanging onto the rim for a second in order to avoid falling awkwardly. At worst, Harrington could be excused of pulling himself up with a little too much zip (it was a very important play)...but even then, it was a poor decision on the part of the referee to make the call at that time of the game.

It seems the only people who agree with me are Gus Johnson (who defended Harrington on the MSG broadcast, while Clyde took the opposite position and thought Al could have restrained himself), and Tommy Dee of the Knicks Blog, who has been the most vocal critic of the call. I agree with Tommy that the referee likely allowed himself to be goaded into making the call by the protests of Davis and Dunleavy on the Clipper sideline.

The press has been eager to pile on Harrington, though, because the symmetry was too delicious -- losing twice to the Clippers in the same exact way, on the same type of call. Harrington was understandably bewildered and crestfallen, because he took a great deal of heat the first time it happened -- his pleas to D'Antoni on the sideline after it happened bordered on the pitiful (for what it's worth, D'Antoni didn't go out of his way to defend Harrington).

Lost in all this is the reality that since that incident in Los Angeles before the All-Star break, Al has been more restrained and more consistent as a member of the offense, and has been less prone to wild outbursts of ball-hogging behavior -- the evidence is anecdotal, but on a team full of flawed and frequently infuriating players, Al seemed to genuinely take the criticism he received to heart, and he's largely reined in his bad tendencies. In this game, prior to Dunkgate 2, Harrington was having a superb game with 38 points on 13 of 21 shooting (including 4 of 8 on 3 pointers) -- but the tech took all the wind out of him and the Knicks, as he went scoreless in the overtime.

Whether you think Harrington should have found a way to get off the rim sooner or not, the piling on his character has been over the top. Al is who he is: a very capable scorer who presents matchup problems, a poor passer and ball handler, a so-so defender (though on this Knick team, he is above average, alarmingly); overall, as I've written before, he's been a positive contributor to this year's Knicks.  References to his acrimonious departure at Golden State (as part of the piling on) ignore the emerging reality that Harrington was likely vilified by the same dysfunctional management that is currently driving the Warriors into the ground.

Also lost in the dismal display of composure and defense by the Knicks was Larry Hughes' solid effort on both ends of the floor -- after a rough start (missing his first 3 shots, being part of the lineup that went -10 in the second quarter as the Knicks started to relinquish their lead), he drew the assignment of Eric Gordon for most of the second half and shut him down, and did the same with Taylor when D'Antoni got tired of watching Taylor torch all the other Knick defenders. Hughes did not allow any of his assignments to score the entire second half, and was only scored on directly on a one-on-one move when Taylor made a circus shot on him in overtime.

Hughes also scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including seven points in the last five minutes, and would have been a secondary hero had the Knicks pulled it out in regulation. But instead, Mike Taylor and Zach Randolph walked off the Garden floor jubilant.

Hughes blocks Mike Taylor's shot on a drive, part of an excellent effort on defense

Now the Knicks face the most brutal part of their end of year schedule -- four games in five days against the Hornets, Bobcats, Jazz and Nuggets, with all those teams playing for something while the Knicks are left to contemplate their draft position as they play out the string. It won't be fun watching a six game losing streak possibly extend to as much as ten, but seeing some different players and lineups, and even seeing Eddy Curry back in action, should be at least interesting. Be prepared for more entertaining train wrecks to come if Curry gets extended playing time.