KNICK NOTES
Gritting his teeth, Jeff Van Gundy followed the newly instituted NBA edict by allowing reporters to watch the final 30 minutes of practice yesterday at Purchase College.
“I hope you guys got a lot out of it,” Van Gundy said, sopping with sarcasm.
Actually, Van Gundy made sure reporters would be watching the mundane part of practice: shooting drills.
Usually, the coach said, the Knicks play a five-on-five scrimmage during the latter stages of practice. But since reporters would see the team running its secret plays in preparation for tomorrow’s home game against the mighty Wizards, Van Gundy said he moved the scrimmage toward the beginning of practice and the shooting drills at the end.
“It just flip-flopped,” Van Gundy said after the first day of the new access for reporters. “We usually shoot to warm up. Now we’ll shoot to cool down.”
Coming off the Knicks’ 37.4-percent performance in the 106-82 loss to the Lakers Sunday, perhaps this new practice order will only help.
Following their 3-2 road trip, Van Gundy said the next four games (Washington, at Orlando, at Miami and Indiana) in five nights are crucial. The Knicks are 5-7 against those teams this season.
“This is as big a challenge as the road trip was,” he said. “Everybody says the first game back from a West Coast trip is hard. That seems like a cop-out to me.”
Following his 11-point outing on 5-of-13 shooting Sunday, Allan Houston said he’s been trying to aggressively drive to the basket, which he did so successfully during the playoffs last season.
“I’ve been driving and trying to get to the [free-throw] line,” he said. “I’m going to play to my strengths. I’m thinking drive first and if I have a shot open I’m going to take it.”
Asked if Patrick Ewing’s presence suffocates the lane, Houston said, “Sometimes you can still get in there. It actually makes it better sometimes when he’s in there because he can pop out for that baseline jump shot if his man comes and converges. So sometimes it’s better when he’s in there.”
Chris Dudley (sore back) didn’t practice yesterday and is listed as day-to-day.
The Knicks hosted their annual fund-raiser, Knicks Bowl 2000, to benefit the Red Holzman Knicks Kids Foundation last night at Chelsea Piers. All of the Knicks were expected to attend and bowl.