DALLAS - I bumped into Ronnie Nunn, the chief of NBA referees, at LaGuardia Airport this afternoon on my way to Dallas. Nunn happened to be at the Garden Monday night and witnessed the non-call on the clear goaltending by Orlando center Dwight Howard. Today, he was on his way to Las Vegas to scout referees in a pro-am tournament.

Nunn felt badly too about what transpired. But what made Nunn feel good was how classily Isiah Thomas handled it after the game and the next day. Thomas hit all the right chords of sportsmanship, despite the call possibly costing the Knicks a playoff berth.

"Nobody is perfect,'' Isiah said Monday night. "We are not perfect and they are not perfect. Sometimes they miss. I don't think it's anything intentional. It's a game of human error.'' Thomas repeated that theme in different ways the next afternoon.

Indeed, Isiah probably scored points with referees across the league with his handling of the situation. I've run into a handful of referees on the road this season and they genuinely like Isiah. Does that effect how they call the game? Who knows. But the Knicks lead the league in free throws attempted. Isiah's Knicks have 450 more attempts than Jeff Van Gundy's Rockets.

- By MARC BERMAN

Great, now all they have to do is hit their Free Throws.

Wow, we lead the league in Free throws attempted and aren't even in the playoffs right now. That is a huge advantage that this team needs to learn on capitalizing.

no we don't