Patrick still the Man!

A lot has been made of the resurgennce of Latrell Sprewell. Over the course of the season, everyone has wondered whether Spree and and Allan Houston could play together.

During the Miami series, they proved they could and during the Atlanta series they seemed to flourish--with the big man on the bench.

So now the question seems to be "Are the Knicks a better team with Patrick on the bench?"

Of course not. And I'll tell you why.

First of all, Patrick is the leader of the team, especially on the floor. They need his playoff experience. When it comes down to it I still trust Patrick with the ball in Game 7 with 3 seconds left. He has earned that.

Second, despite the fact that he has no knees, a sore achilles, sore ribs and a million other ailments, Patrick is still a force defensively and offensively. He can still score, rebound and block shots. And don't forget that the man is 7-feet tall. He is still an intimidating force.

He may not be able to do all the things as well as he used to but a 75% healthy Ewing is still better than 75% of the league.

During the Hawks series, they didn't need Patrick. Spree, Houston, Camby and even Dudley were scoring. But you can't expect Dudley to drop 14 every game. In fact I'd be surprised if he got double figures again, 14 is his all-time playoff high.

With 5 days off, Patrick will get some much needed rest, which is very good because they can't beat the Pacers without him. The Pacers are a big, bruising team with tons of playoff experience. The Knicks still need Patrick because he can still bang inside and he brings that experience that Spree and Camby don't have. But mostly the Knicks still need Patrick because he is still the man.

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