As the Knicks regroup for practice Wednesday and host Minnesota in their first post-All-Star break contest Friday, here are five items that bear watching in the season’s unofficial second half. And, yes, gearing up for May 14’s lottery in Chicago is part of it.
1. First-year Knicks coach David Fizdale came to New York with a reputation as a defense-first coach out of Miami’s Pat Riley University. Some evenings the defensive breakdowns would have Riley’s formerly slicked hair stand on end. But there are signs of improvement, and it needs to continue. The Knicks snapped their record 18-game losing streak in their last game before the break, holding Atlanta to 36.