Add to those two losses last night's meltdown at the Garden, which effectively gutted this year's playoff chase, and you wonder whether D'Antoni angered some spirits around Arco Arena to produce such soul stealing losses. The coach did make his usual reference to the lack of that something extra plaguing the team since mid-January, in saying "our spirit is messed up".  In last night's case, it may have just been the biggest and baddest soul stealer, Tyreke Evans, deciding to take over the game after the Knicks built a seemingly safe 15 point fourth quarter lead.

Of course, there really is no such thing as a safe fourth quarter lead for these Knicks, not with their heads and their confidence trapped in some nether zone where neither sound decisions nor grace under pressure reside.

Lowlights:

*  The coaching staff has vaguely referred to David Lee being "hurt" a few games ago, but no specifics have emerged in news stories since then. Whatever is ailing Lee, mental or physical, is becoming a significant concern. He still gets his double doubles, but he's been much less of a force in recent games, and the team rebounding has suffered as a result. When Lee is doing well, he will get from 15 to 20 percent of available rebounds; in 5 of the last 7 games, he's gotten 12% or less of available rebounds. He only got 2 rebounds total in the final period and OT, and both were offensive boards. Every key rebound on the Sacramento side was essentially grabbed by a King (most glaringly a Greene tip of his own short jumper, right over Lee's back). Lee has been victimized in recent games by the scrappy likes of Brockman, Kevin Love, Jason Thompson, and Antawn Jamison.

*  Chris Duhon was at his schizophrenic best/worst last night, and all the pre-game wrangling over his benching, his reinstatement, his communication with other players as an "assistant coach" etc etc didn't really change the dynamic I described in a previous post -- that he usually starts well, and ends poorly. He's been the focal point of ire directed at the Knicks' troubles all season, though slump or no slump, I've been willing to live with mediocre offensive production if he maintains an awareness of his limits and does well as a playmaker. On the latter end, he was fine (9 assists, 1 turnover), but this may have been his worst game this season in terms of understanding the distinction between making the opponents respect your ability to take a shot, and simply taking bad shots. His shooting issues have had a toxic effect on his confidence, which spills over into the playmaking necessary to keep the offense going, creating a mobius strip of toxicity that renders him ineffective and eye-avertingly uncomfortable to watch in endgame situations.

Duhon's teammates share the blame for the failure of that final possession in regulation by not moving or setting any screens, but the Duhon of last year would have found a way to get off a better shot, get a pass off to a cutter, or find a shooter on the wing. This year's Duhon dribbled around for most of the 24 seconds and forced up an awful 3 pointer that never had a chance of touching the rim.

*  Which brings up the issue of the alternative, Nate Robinson, who was unfortunately no better. In his defense, he played with a strained groin that clearly inhibited his ability to move on offense and defense. Nate did not have his jumper going, wasn't much more successful driving the basket, and his limited movement made him more of a liability than usual on defense, where Kevin Martin shot over and around him all game. He did contribute to the run in the fourth quarter that built the 15 point lead, but he also made it possible for the Kings to come back with rushed shots and turnovers. In overtime, he gave up most of Martin's 9 points that allowed the Kings to pull away for good.

*  The Kings deserve credit for staying in the game every time it threatened to get out of hand -- even before the lead built up to 15 points, there were several opportunities for the Knicks to build a big lead earlier in the game, and the Kings always had a way of producing a timely basket. And their zone defense in the fourth quarter was especially effective with Gallinari out of the game. Which begs the question of why the Knicks didn't attempt a similar zone when Evans started getting more penetration, given their experience with the zone. Perhaps the coaching staff feared the outside shooting of Martin, Casspi and Greene, or feared the very potent offensive rebounding of the Kings, but it would have been worth a try as a means of crossing them up and halting their momentum.

*  Not enough can be said about how good Tyreke Evans was (10-16 at the rim); it's one thing to watch his highlights, it's another to see him victimize your team's defense in real time -- he splits weak double teams and tucks the ball in for his explosion on drives like the best NFL running backs finding a split-second hole. (I half-expected to see him stiff-arm Jeffries into the stands on a couple of his drives, they blended strength, speed, and the slightest hint of misdirection so immaculately).  It's always easier said than done to say "lay off him and let him take the jumpshot!", though in this particular game, he missed 9 of 10 jumpers (many of the misses extremely unsightly), and there were some questionable decisions by Jeffries to play him tighter than he needed to be played in the final minutes. Again, the temporary use of a zone might have helped focus the Knicks on bringing help toward stopping Reke and funneling the ball to other options.

* Losing results in some ugly plays and momentary pointing of fingers, produces loss of composure at the most untimely moments. Even though the Knicks were the ones imploding down the stretch, you could see the stress of losing on both sides -- when Casspi failed to retrieve a pass he called for, Evans raised his hands in disgust as demonstratively as a pitcher glaring at his shortstop for not fielding a grounder. And when Jeffries (who generally had a good game) chose to take a poor 3 pointer after receiving a kick out from Nate (rather than probe for a better shot or pass) you could see Nate and Jared talking quite animatedly and not all that pleasantly at the next break in play.

*  Wilson Chandler deserved better. So did Gallo, who was strong on the boards, even when his shot wasn't falling. When Gallo left the game, the Knicks never had a chance to keep up on the glass.

*  The problematic guard play has been such that even the coaches can't seem to manage momentum and when the best time to have Duhon and/or Robinson in the game should be in the fourth quarter. D'Antoni chose to go with Duhon down the stretch after a few poor decisions by Nate when the Kings rallied, then in overtime, he made a peculiar decision to go with Nate after Duhon had played a minute of OT. Perhaps he felt the Knicks needed offense to keep up with the resurgent Kings (and he was rewarded with one Nate layup), but the substitution allowed Martin to go off. D'Antoni ended up putting Duhon back in for the final Kings possession, but the damage was done by then.

*  Back to the rebounding. The Kings killed on the boards, 59-39, making this the 5th game in the last 13 that the Knicks have been outrebounded by a double digit margin. In the 20 games before that, such double digit rebounding deficits only happened three times. It's also the 4th time in the last 6 games the team has been outrebounded by more than 15; prior to those six games, the Knicks had been outrebounded by that much only once since Thanksgiving. Tired legs? Bad spirits? Reality setting in? Though the team has never been a strong rebounding team -- relying most heavily on efficient shooting and taking care of the ball to stay competitive -- this is a major trouble spot to address if the team doesn't want to sink all the way down to the depths of lottery-land...with no lottery pick.

*  McGrady as a stopgap fix? Maybe, but I don't see much value if salaries aren't shed...and want nothing to do with shipping out Jordan Hill or anyone else of value on the Knick roster.