Knicks guard Tracy McGrady sat out the second half of the team's game against the Grizzlies on Saturday night with a sore left knee.

McGrady played for 15 minutes in the first half in the second game of a back-to-back. New York coach Mike D'Antoni said before the game that he hoped the guard would be able to go 25-30 minutes.

"I just don't want to have any setbacks," McGrady said afterward.

Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni has taken a big shot at young forward Danilo Gallinari.

D'Antoni says that Gallinari has become too detached and must "turn his motor up."

In the three games since New York landed Tracy McGrady, Gallinari has scored 6, 5 and 7 points and has taken no more than eight shots.

On his Twitter page, Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Cavs have drawn up a couple of new plays to incorporate Antawn Jamison into their offense.

He then says that the Knicks -- whom the Cavs play next -- will not know about the new plays because coach Mike D'Antoni "can't be bothered with advance scouting."

Bill Walker didn't get a lot of playing time in Boston, but he's getting an opportunity to play in New York.

"He's definitely going to play, somebody we want to look at here on out. And he impressed the heck out of me," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "[He's] 22 years old and we just want to keep working with him, and hopefully he can be a good contributor ... going forward."

Walker scored seven points in 13 minutes of action in his New York debut on Tuesday night.

Meeting the media for the first time as a Knick last Friday, Tracy McGrady said that he would want to re-sign in New York ? regardless of salary ? if the team is able to lure two maximum-salary free-agents this summer.

"I've made a lot of money over my career," McGrady said.  "I can retire right now and I can be fine financially ?.  If these guys were to bring in a LeBron [James] or a [Dwyane] Wade, along with a Chris Bosh or a [Amare] Stoudemire, I'd be a damn fool to not want to stay here ?.  Money will not be an issue."

Whether or not McGrady?s statement is sincere is up for debate.  But there may be a viable path for the team and player to achieve a mutually beneficial result under the rules of the NBA?s salary cap.

If the Knicks do manage to sign two max players this summer, they may have little or no cap space remaining to sign anybody else to a contract above the veteran minimum salary which tops out at about $1.4 million per season (and is available to teams without regard to their cap position).

Assuming McGrady took this veteran minimum in 2010-2011, the Knicks would still hold McGrady's full Bird Rights the following summer and, using his Bird exception, could sign McGrady to a large new contract starting in the 2011-2012 season (up to and including the maximum salary).

And this scenario could hold an additional and greater benefit for the Knicks.  Coming off a veteran minimum contract, McGrady would have a cap hold in July 2011 of less than $1 million.  With such a small cap hold, the Knicks would not need to renounce McGrady?s rights in order to use most all of the cap room the team is slated to have when Eddy Curry?s five-year contract expires in 2011 with a final-season salary of $11.3 million.  The Knicks would be able to sign one or more free-agents using their cap room first, then use McGrady?s Bird exception to sign him to a new contract that far exceeds the NBA?s soft cap.

This summer, the Knicks could not provide McGrady any promises or assurances about what they will, won?t, might or might not do the following summer.  The team also could not negotiate a new contract with McGrady in 2011 but wait to finalize the deal until after first using its cap room on one or more other free-agents ? essentially reaching an agreement that is not actually executed until after the Knicks spend their available cap space.  As long as there are none of these illicit communications between the team and player, all of the above is perfectly acceptable under NBA rules.

For a detailed CBA analysis of this and related issues surrounding the Knicks? plans, read this in-depth post on the RealGM forums from kosmovitelli.

The Knicks have yet to pick up a victory with Tracy McGrady, but the franchise has been buoyed by increased interest from their fan base.

In three games with McGrady, the Knicks? average viewership is 79 percent higher than their season average, according to MSG.

?Clearly, the bell has been rung,?? said Scott O?Neil, the president of MSG Sports. ?I would say the market?s alert and awake and excited.??

According to O?Neil, the Knicks sold more than 750 new season tickets for 2010-11 during a presale that began, fortuitously, last Thursday. It took the Knicks two months to sell the same number last year.

Knicks star Tracy McGrady has been dealing with knee soreness as of late, but says it has nothing to do with his recent microfracture surgery.

After banging knees on Monday, McGrady slugged through Tuesday's game against the Celtics.

"I tried to push through it," McGrady said. "I really wanted to test it. It was nothing that had to do with my surgery. I banged knees [Monday]. It's just playing through the bruise."

"It was on my mind," he said. "I thought about it. I told coach because I played 30 minutes the last two games and this was a back-to-back, I didn't want to push it. I thought we'd be cautious with it, play 20, 25 minutes."

Prior to his arrival in New York, McGrady hadn't played in a game since Dec. 23 and his time with the Rockets was very limited when he did take the court.

"I found out in these three games, my legs are just fatigued," McGrady said. "The first half I'm fine. When I come out at halftime, I find out my legs are just gone. When the legs are fatigued, it creates a little soreness. I just got to fight through it. I didn't labor like I did [Monday] night."

Nate Robinson expressed his frustration at Mike D'Antoni by taking a few shots at his former coach while talking to the New York media before his Celtic debut Tuesday.

"Doc [Rivers], he's honest, he's straightforward, and as a player that's what you like, for a coach to always be honest with you and explain exactly what he wants you to do," said Robinson. "And he's all about winning."

Robinson said he is happy to be in Boston.

"I believe Doc and the Celtics were saying, 'Well if he's sitting, we could use him,'" Robinson said. "So they made the trade happen."

Responding to a question on why he and D'Antoni didn't see eye to eye, Robinson said: "I honestly don't know. I did everything coach asked and I guess that wasn't good enough."

Nate Robinson dressed as a member of the Celtics for the first time on Tuesday, ironically against his former team.

"This is a great opportunity for [me] to be a part of a great, historic team," Robinson said. "There's a lot of pride [in Boston] and there's a lot of history. It's overwhelming to be a part of a franchise that's accustomed to winning."

Robinson averaged 13.2 points per game off the bench for New York.

"[The Knicks] gave me my first opportunity to showcase my talent and be a part of the National Basketball Association," Robinson said. "They gave me my first chance so I'm always going to respect the organization and everything they did for me.

"It's going to be different now wearing green and I'm used to wearing orange and blue but now this is a great opportunity...to learn from some of NBA's greats."

Tracy McGrady limped off the court in the final minutes of just his second game with the Knicks.

New York scored a season-low in their 83-67 loss to Milwaukee on Monday night.

McGrady said he knocked knees twice and wouldn't guarantee he'll be healthy enough to face the Celtics on Tuesday night.

"Hopefully it's not sore [Tuesday]," McGrady said. "Maybe I'll lace them up and play, but we'll see. We'll see how it feels before the game."

He scored 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting and left with a little more than three minutes remaining.

"In the first half, I knocked knees with somebody. I didn't really feel it until I came in here and sat 15-20 minutes and went out," McGrady said. "Toward the end, I banged knees again. Coach saw me limping, so he pulled me out."