Good enough to win the East. Soft enough to get booted out of the playoffs in the first round.

	Like his team, Latrell Sprewell has had some great performances, and some that weren't.

Just which Knicks show up for the upcoming playoffs is anyone's guess, including Madison Square Garden CEO Dave Checketts, who has no idea what this team can do, even at this late stage of the season.

"I don't know how much they can accomplish," he said. "I'd just like to see how much they can do if they play well. I'm not talking about seeding or matchups or anything else. I'd just like to see what this team can do if it plays well over a long stretch of time. That's what happened in '99 to that group of guys. I actually think this group has more talent."

Perhaps, but this Knicks team also plays like front-runners. As long as things are going their way on the scoreboard and the court, they're fine. But there have been too many games this season where adversity suddenly strikes and the Knicks quickly collapse.

For good.

It's that soft mental approach that observers saw last week throughout their dismal 2-3 West Coast road trip. They easily could have gone 0-5, if not for Glen Rice hitting a late shot against the Warriors to put the game into OT. In their win against the Lakers, they got a huge break when Kobe Bryant had to leave the game after only 11 minutes because of recurring ankle troubles. So they ended up going against an undermanned L.A. team that had Derek Fisher take the game's final shot.

"We avoided a disaster," Latrell Sprewell said of the trip. "It could have been real ugly."

It still was very ugly, at some points. In an embarrassing loss to Vancouver and a second-half fold-up job at Portland, the Knicks simply couldn't weather a mere drizzle, let along a fullblown storm.

	“	I'd just like to see how much they can do if they play well. I'm not talking about seeding or matchups or anything else. I'd just like to see what this team can do if it plays well over a long stretch of time. That's what happened in '99 to that group of guys. I actually think this group has more talent. ”
		— MSG CEO Dave Checketts

The obvious lack of mental toughness tempered Jeff Van Gundy's enthusiasm after the win over the Lakers gave the Knicks the season sweep.

"It's not about coming out and playing hard," the Knicks coach said. "It's about staying hard through adversity. It's not what happens when you hit the court. It's how you react once you take that first hit. Sometimes, we don't play with conviction and stay with what we're doing."

It seems like Van Gundy has been harping on that theme all season long. Even after wins over Portland and San Antonio, the Knicks showed a soft side in embarrassing defeats to the Bulls, Nets (twice) and Pistons.

Then before the Laker game, he gathered his players to give them a pep talk. The message was, believe in what you're doing and stick with it when things start going south.

"We finally played with conviction against the Lakers," he said. "I could see it from the start in our guys' eyes that they were going to win. They came in with the right demeanor, and when things went bad, they stuck with it. It will show something if we can build off it. But in Portland, we played well for a half. Then when they hit us with that (16-0) third quarter run, we surrendered. In Vancouver, we just never recovered from the first hit."

It's been a recurring theme the entire season. This is where the Knicks miss the old Patrick Ewing from a few seasons back. Except for some of his injury-plagued recent seasons, this will be the first time they don't have their key leader entering the postseason.

"We still miss Patrick because of what he meant to the team," Latrell Sprewell said. "But I know my teammates are all competitors. They all want to win."

	Camby

	Johnson

The challenge for the Knicks is to win despite being undersized up front. For all of Marcus Camby's big stat games, he still never covers the opposing team's best power player because of his propensity for fouling. Larry Johnson, who has to draw the toughest defensive assignments, is constantly limited by injuries. Kurt Thomas is a backup. The Knicks have also been exploited on the perimeter by quicker teams. Yet, they're still ranked No. 1 defensively, a credit to Van Gundy's schemes.

"He's a very intelligent coach," said Phil Jackson, in rare praise for one of his chief rivals from the old New York-Chicago wars. "They are very good defensively and they get you to play at their pace."

It's so slow that the Knicks take only 75 shots a night -- lowest in the league. It's perfect for playoff basketball, as well. The question is, how far can Van Gundy's smoke and mirrors get the Knicks in the postseason.

"I do think the club, as currently constituted, is good enough to get out of the East," Checketts said. "I don't think anybody really questions that. But it is far from an easy ride, at this point."

With soft teams, the rides are never easy.

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