KNICK NOTES
With Dikembe Mutombo, it’s always about the minutes. Mutombo, who played the entire second half in Friday’s loss to the Bulls, posted his first double-double since Nov. 29 – a 15-point, 16-rebound, 7-of-8 from-the-field domination.
Mutombo, who faces his old club tonight, logged a season-high 43 minutes. Mutombo hadn’t played more than 33 minutes since Dec. 1 – when Antonio McDyess returned. On the three-game Southern trip, Mutombo played 13 minutes in Memphis, 16 in Miami and 22 in Orlando.
“I think I got an opportunity to play more, which I haven’t had in a long time,” Mutombo said of Friday’s monster game. “It gave me a chance to lift my confidence up and be more aggressive. When you know you’re going to play the first five minutes, then go sit on the bench and you don’t know when you’re coming in again, I’m not going to be [as] effective.”
In his first meeting against the Nets since they bought out his contract Nov. 14, Mutombo sat out all but the first four minutes with a sore groin.
“I’m disappointed in myself I didn’t get a chance to show them what I have left in the last game,” Mutombo said.
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Ex-Net Keith Van Horn is facing his old club at the perfect time. He’s led the Knicks in scoring five straight games, hitting for 28, 28, 19, 22 and 25.
Commenting on the Nets’ second-worst attendance, Van Horn said, “I don’t think in New York City anything is bigger than the Knicks. As a basketball team, coming from Jersey, you can’t get more support than the Knicks get from New Yorkers. Having gone to the Finals, the talk of selling the team and moving it has hurt. You’re from Jersey looking to buy tickets and here the team might be moving to Brooklyn or Long Island, it may make you think twice.”