http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/2008/10/deja_hou_copyright_howard_beck.html

Deja Hou (copyright Howard Beck, 2008)
All were present and accounted for at the Knicks shoot-around this morning, including Jerome James, who missed yesterday's practice with a strained left quad. Jerome was warming up this morning by taking three pointers from straightaway top-of-the-key so good to see he's back to his old self again.

Sigh.

What also falls into the category of business as usual is news that Allan Houston won't be playing in tonight's preseason opener here against the Raptors. He is still dealing with a sore right quad that started bothering him before training camp opened. Houston has to work through the muscle pains, which are expected to come after taking two years off from playing at this level. Bad timing, of course.

Mike D'Antoni said Eddy Curry will play some minutes, despite having participated in only two practices so far. "We don't practice today so it's going to be a practice for him," D'Antoni said.

Stephon Marbury will play, as well. Off the bench, of course.

D'Antoni wouldn't reveal his starters but it's probably safe to assume the Knicks first-five will look like this:
PG - Duhon
SG - Crawford
SF - Richardson
PF - Randolph
C - Lee

First players off the bench will be Nate Robinson, Marbury, Wilson Chandler, Curry and perhaps Mardy Collins and Malik Rose, as well. D'Antoni will keep it to a tight rotation and said he wants to get certain groups extended minutes together to allow chemistry to develop.

The Raptors played last night in Cleveland and took a 104-84 win. Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal played 20 minutes each and scored 11 points each. For those scoring at home, LeBron only played 8:25, took three shots and had one point.

We've got a live chat happening here at 1 p.m., so I'll be back then to take your questions. Off to the fitness center for now. See you then!

The thing about Jerome bothers me more than ANYTHING. Our players are NOT PROFESSIONAL. You do not warm up by shooting 3s if your a center, you do not shoot lefthanded half court shots like Nate used to do (hopefully does not) Our layup line before games is the most unorganized playgroundish bull**** embaressment I've ever seen from an NBA team. I really hope D'Antoni doesnt stand for it. Preperation is everything.

Did anyone see how the guys were warming up on NBA TV practice? Like a bunch of amature high school kids goofing around. God I'd like to see what Oakley would have had to say in the 90s at that. I honestly wouldnt mind bringing Oakley back as some sort of coach/enforcer role