Nick Collison swears he never dissed the Knicks, made fun of New York or alleged that Willis Reed was faking that Game 7 injury. No matter; he still became the target of Garden boo birds yesterday - sort of a walking tribute to Charles Smith.

"They just wanted to see me do something good," said Collison, the SuperSonics rookie. "I struggled early, got caught by surprise on a pass low and I screwed that up and turned one over and they gave me that Bronx cheer. They got me good."

Collison eventually won over the crowd with a nice hustle play, saving a rebound and possession by bouncing it off an opponent. "It was not the type of cheer you wanted," he conceded, smiling. "That was more the, 'Hey, he finally did something' cheer.' "

So did Collison say something to offend New York around draft time? "I don't think so. The Knicks didn't draft me at nine - but that's not my fault."