Walsh elated about reaching playoffs

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Close to three dozen reporters were at a regular-season practice, Spike Lee was courtside yelling encouragement to the players and nearly everyone at the Knicks' practice facility was smiling Monday.

Yes, playoff basketball is back in New York. And probably no one is happier about that than Knicks president Donnie Walsh.

Walsh, who was hired three years ago this month to help right a franchise that had fallen on hard times, sat courtside taking it all in. He had a three-year plan to get the Knicks back in the playoffs when he came here, a painful one that involved fielding an almost unwatchable team last season as cap room was cleared to sign two superstars. But now that the Knicks have Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony and have returned to the postseason, it's beginning to seem as though it was worth it.

"There's just an elation," Walsh said when asked if he has a feeling of validation now that the team is in the playoffs. "I thought we could get it to a competitive level and then taking it to a contending level. In my mind, we had to make the playoffs in the third year. And it would validate that."

The Knicks clinched their first playoff berth since 2004 on Sunday night, ending a drought that was tied with the Timberwolves for the longest in the NBA. With six games left, they are 38-38 and have a chance to finish with their first winning season since going 48-34 in 2000-01.

In some ways, the hardest part of the whole journey may have been the last two months. After signing Stoudemire over the summer and adding Anthony and Chauncey Billups in February, it looked as though Walsh had pulled off the impossible, especially after the Knicks went 6-3 immediately after the trade. But they lost nine of their next 10 before rebounding with three straight victories.

Walsh was asked if it ever bothered him as a competitor that people were "mocking the Knicks" during his first two years here, even though he felt he knew what he was doing.

"Everyone wants to mock the Knicks because they don't really want to see them get good," Walsh said. "I didn't when I was in Indiana. I did not want to see the Knicks get good, because they could be good for a long time."

The question that remains unclear is whether Walsh will be there to enjoy that time. The Knicks have until April 30 to pick up an option in his contract for next season. Walsh has declined to talk about his contract status.

His coach did address his own job status Monday. "I love what I do," Mike D'Antoni said when asked if he wants to stay with the team when his contract is up at the end of next season. "I love my guys, so it's all good."

D'Antoni's agent, Warren LeGarie, was at practice Monday, though he said not to read anything into it because he happened to be in town on other business.

D'Antoni said he is not that worried about the situation. "From an early age, you do the best you can do,'' he said, "and it usually works out some way. I'm 60 years old, so it's not like I have to live and die by it . . . I'm at an age now where thank God, I can live for today and try to get this team right."

The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.