Well all-star weekend is over and the Knicks find themselves 10 games under .500, but in the perennially abysmal Eastern Conference, they are still very much in the playoff hunt (just 3.5 games back from the eight seed).

The week before the break not only lived up to it’s nickname (the local broadcast kept referring to it as “Hell Week” for the Knicks) but also put a huge damper on the team’s confidence going into the second half of the season. Going into the last two weeks before the all-star break, the Knicks had won 6 out of 7 and were playing better than they had at any other time of the year. Everyone knew their streak would not last long going up against the Lakers, Cavaliers, Celtics, and B

lazers consecutively but it would be a great test for the team that was finally coming together.

They failed.

But not horridly. The Knicks gave the three top teams in the NBA pretty competitive games (and Boston, Cleveland, and LA are in another stratosphere than the other 27 teams). Then having to go out West to play the very tough Blazers, I expected the Knicks to be blown out; but the Knicks ended up being the ones who blew the game! The last two games before the break were where the Knicks truly disappointed their fans – or at least this one.

To lose those first four games is excusable if only because they should have definitely won one of them and were very much in contention to win the others. But to follow up those promising performances by losses to the Warriors and Clippers is … there are no words to describe it. If you’ve ever seen Requiem for a Dream, you may get a sense of how I felt after those two losses. (Has there ever been a more depressing movie than that? I actually don’t think humans can make such things without having people actually off themselves during the movie.)

But the future is bright for the Knicks. Of the top three teams, they only have to play Cleveland once more. They face Orlando four times, which may have trouble adjusting to life without Jameer Nelson. Other than that they play Detroit a coupl e of times, the Hornets and Jazz once each, and a handful of other teams with winning records. The bottom line: the Knicks still have a chance at the playoffs. If they can get back to the way they were playing before “Hell Week” started, they should be able to have a much better second half of the season.

It will be interesting to see how Donnie Walsh handles the rest of this year: will he make trades to clear up space for 2010 or work to keep the team competitive? One trade that I’ve seen thrown around is for Brad Miller, the center from the Kings. I’ve seen two separate deals; one involving D. Lee and one that would send Nate and Jared Jeffries to Sacramento. Miller would give the Knicks a big man and more cap space for 2010 (his contract expires after next season) but I don’t know if I’m too crazy about the deal. Miller does give the Knicks a 7-footer with a nice shooting touch but I don’t think he improves the Knicks rebounding or defense at all. I do trust in Donnie, though, so we’ll see what happens.

The Knicks second half of the season starts tonight against San Antonio at 7:30 EST.