For the first time since 2001, when Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston repped the Garden, someone in a Knicks uniform will be playing in an All-Star game. Thanks to Allen Iverson sitting the game out to be with his ill daughter, David Lee is heading to Dallas. Kelly Dwyer thinks Josh Smith was a better choice, and he’s probably right, but whatever! The Knicks have an All-Star!
It’s actually going to be a Knick-heavy weekend in Dallas. In addition to Lee playing in the game itself:
• Danilo Gallinari will be playing in the Rookies versus Sophomores game.
• Gallinari will be in the three-point contest, along with Paul Pierce, Stephen Curry, Chauncey Billips, and former Knick Channing Frye. That’s an unusually good three-point contest lineup.
• Nate Robinson, if just to annoy Mike D’Antoni, will be in the dunk contest. His foes are Gerald Wallace, Shannon Brown, and a “Dunk-In winner” (DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon). That is not an unusually good slam-dunk lineup.
Oh, and Doctor Oz will be in the celebrity game tonight. Magic Johnson is coaching that, because Magic Johnson never says no to anything.
But yes: The Knicks have someone in the All-Star game, and it’s David Lee. We never thought we’d see it. At least something lasting will come out of this season. Here’s hoping it’s not eight years until the next one.