NEW YORK -- Allen Iverson could be out for a month. Derrick Coleman is coming back, possibly to pollute Charlotte's chemistry. Zydrunas Ilgauskas has foot troubles, yet again.

	Glen Rice is one of the Knicks who still is not shooting very well.

Looks like an opening for the Knicks to take command in the Eastern Conference.

Check that. Nobody is good enough to assume control in the East, not even a Knick team that plastered Iverson's 76ers in Philly the other night.

The 20-point win assured the Knicks a very merry Christmas, but even their most ardent fans can't predict a happy 2001. That didn't stop the players, of course.

"I think this could be the turning point of our season," Allan Houston said. "Ever since I've been here, there's always been two or three games a year that we build on."

Latrell Sprewell was equally optimistic, saying, "It makes you wonder why we can't do this every night."

The short answer is, because the Knicks are still just a jump-shooting team.

Most nights, they're literally hit or miss. Too bad, because now's the time to make a move in the NBA's JV Conference.

The Sixers could be without Iverson for about 20 games. With Toni Kukoc looking as lost as ever and the Sixers lacking a formidable second scorer, they may not get to 70 points with Iverson sidelined by a separated shoulder. Keep in mind, with their star, they had lost four straight at home and Larry Brown seriously thought about walking away from Iverson when the two had their latest blowup.

	“	We're perimeter oriented. And some nights we're going to struggle. ”
		— Jeff Van Gundy

"If Allen's out, those are big shoes to fill, but we did it last year for a while and hopefully we can do it again," said Philly's Tyrone Hill. "We have some guys who are going to have to step up."

The truth is, Brown doesn't have a lot of candidates, and the Sixers marched right into the frying pan with a road game Tuesday night in Utah (which the Sixers won) and games in the upcoming month against Sacramento, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Charlotte, Toronto and Dallas.

Charlotte has been the hottest team, winning 15 of its last 18. But Coleman, who played in Tuesday's win over Cleveland, has had a habit of being a deadweight -- no pun intended -- and dragging teams down with him. That's Paul Silas' chief challenge now.

The Cavs, unquestionably the surprise of the season -- entering the week they had a better home record than the defending champion Lakers -- are going to suffer without Ilgauskas. He's missed 127 of 132 games before this season because of assorted foot injuries.

If only the Knicks had a competent offense, to go along with their rock-solid defense, they could make a run. But...

"We're perimeter oriented," Jeff Van Gundy said. "And some nights we're going to struggle."

It could be Wednesday in Washington. Or the next game out, Friday against the Bulls. As Van Gundy is well aware, the Knicks are not equipped to take control of anything until they find some kind of offensive consistency. Until their impressive victory in Philly, they had rung up only one 30-point quarter since Dec. 2, spanning 10 games.

	Houston

	Sprewell

While it's fashionable to knock the coach for failing to find a way to get his Big Three of Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Glen Rice untracked, the fact remains that Van Gundy has three players for two positions and they're all pretty similar when it comes to skills.

Is that Van Gundy's fault, or has GM Scott Layden failed to diversify the Knicks' roster with players who possess different skills?

From this vantage point, Layden's the guilty one.

So far: The Knicks are averaging only 86 ppg -- only the expansion-like Bulls have a worse average -- and shooting just 43 percent from the field. Here's another season when they've failed to bring in a breakdown player who can create his own shots. Again, the Knicks are among the worst teams when it comes to getting points off fastbreaks. This is a team that can't rebound or pass and has been stuck in low gear for a few decades.

Most nights, it seems that their entire inside game was shipped West when Patrick Ewing was traded to Seattle. Why is that a critical shortcoming? Because their best shooters rarely get open looks. Sans Ewing, they lack an interior presence who forces defenses to double down and then make the necessary rotations out of the post.

What's worse, they can't even get to the foul line. Sprewell, Houston and Rice are all excellent free throw shooters. But the Knicks have taken fewer foul shots than any other team in the league (around 20 per game). In about a third of their games, they've attempted less than 15. That's a sure sign of a finesse team that doesn't want to take the ball inside.

And one that can't wrest control of the East, while it's ripe for the taking.

Rim Shots