Knicks Travel to the Hornets' New Hive

If the New York Knicks have mastered anything in this abysmal season, it has been their two separate and distinct ways of losing.

In the first version, illustrated in two recent home games, against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets, the Knicks have shown signs of life and even a smattering of potential before falling short at the end of the game.

In the second version (see Wednesday night's scorching by the Nets and more of the same last week in Toronto), the team's effort has been barely visible.

By the end of those two games, few of the Knicks looked like they deserved to be gainfully employed in professional basketball. Or that they even wanted to be.

It is a vexing situation for Coach Larry Brown, although it is not exactly leaving him speechless.

He said on Thursday that in his long coaching career, which spans three decades in the professional and college ranks, he had never encountered anything comparable to the lack of effort his current team was prone to display. Moreover, Brown said he was not sure what the solution is, or if there is one.

''We're all getting paid a lot of money,'' he said. ''We've got the greatest job in the world.''

Thus, he added, ''you would assume'' that the Knicks would play hard every night, which they do not. ''I thought that was something I thought I'd never have to deal with,'' he said.

Brown said he and Isiah Thomas, the team president, talked frequently about what the team needed.

''My wish list is Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Rasheed Wallace, Tim Duncan,'' he said, smiling. ''But realistically, it's not going to happen. My job is to make these guys better.''

Come game time, the New York Knicks will certainly NEED to play better. The New Orleans Hornets is certainly a team they're suppose to beat but if the Knicks are not careful, Chris Paul can certainly snatch this one away from Larry Brown.