The Knicks (34-45) will host the Chicago Bulls (47-32) tonight at Madison Square Garden. Gametime is 7:30 PM.

The Knicks were eliminated last night when the Hawks beat the Heat, so in many ways, this game is meaningless.

But Carmelo Anthony is a free agent, and the Bulls are the favorite to sign him if he leaves the Knicks. The Bulls have a great coach, a great team, and players willing to do the things Melo is usually not (pass, play defense, etc). The Bulls play in a big city. The Bulls can clear enough cap room for Melo pretty easily. So the Knicks probably don’t want to get embarrassed by Chicago tonight, 4 days before they begin their desperate quest to keep Melo. But anyway, I’ll save all this Melo talk for another post…

Watch the Bulls tonight. Watch what a well-coached team with unselfish players can do, even when they have lost key players to trade or injury. Let’s hope the Knicks can become that kind of team: a team that does what it takes to win. They did it last year, and their failure to get gritty and do the little things this year caused this season to be a failure. 

It is unclear who will play today. For the Knicks, the usual starting lineup is Raymond Felton, JR Smith, Melo, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler. But with the Knicks out of the playoff race and Melo battling a shoulder injury, Mike Woodson might sit his star instead of continuing his tradition of running Anthony into the ground for 45 minutes. 

Beating the Bulls tonight gives the Bulls a better chance of falling into 4th place and meeting the Nets in the first round. The Nets would much rather play the Raptors. So let’s win tonight, and try to screw over the Nets. We owe them one. 

-Tommy Rothman