NBA Commissioner David Stern says "playing our third regular-season game in the city in three years and having historic franchises like the Knicks and Pistons serve as our ambassadors provide extraordinary opportunities to further the game's growth and development in the UK and throughout Europe."

The Pistons and Knicks play Jan. 17 at the O2 Arena, the site of this year's Olympic gold-medal game. Between Jan 13 and Jan 21 the Knicks have only one game. That is either an opportunity for more team bonding on the road, or a significant loss of domestic rhythm and groove. The entire week can be a distracting photo op, or a mini-vacation for Iman Shumpert to test his explosion and landing gear in some strange gyms.

The first game back in the states is the 21st against the Nets at 3:30 for the annual MLK Day game. If SuperMelo's knee and Tyson Chandler's ankle do not implode, we could be looking at the return of Rasheed Wallace and/ or (possibly) Raymond Felton... and a roster at near capacity.

Then again, things never go as planned.

Strange things have happened during that game. In 1990, it led to the Trent Tucker rule. Nice shot. Eleven years ago, 2001, Marcus Camby threw a punch at Danny Ferry and Jeff Van Gundy got in the way. Van Gundy ended up needing 12-15 stitches to close a cut above his left eye after his head collided with Camby's late in the fourth quarter of New York's 104-82 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Camby, who had been poked in the eye by Ferry, was ejected for throwing a punch, while Van Gundy was led bloodied and dazed back to the locker room for treatment. "He got the shot in that everyone of our players would like to do to me. He just got a free one," Van Gundy said afterward.

After the game, Camby stood outside the San Antonio locker room for 10 minutes until Knicks officials -- including president Dave Checketts, general manager Scott Layden, forward Larry Johnson and several security officers -- persuaded him to leave. Camby then went downstairs to the area where the Spurs' bus was idling and spent another 20 minutes waiting for Ferry as team officials continued to try to calm him down.

Camby was finally persuaded to leave, and nearly a dozen security officers then escorted Ferry to the team bus.

"We were banging around the whole game," Ferry said. "I don't remember doing anything to lead to something like that."

"I thought that was our best game of the year," Van Gundy said. "Our guys were really ready and that's what the focus should be on."

That year, the Knicks swept the Spurs season series.

Can I say I hate the fact that Boris the WonderOwnerTallerThanOurLittleMan has found himself a Bosnian sharpshooter? Hopefully Teletovic doesn't have a career afternoon.