TOUGH TIMES like these require a strong leader, a commanding presence, a forceful figure with courage and ability to make difficult decisions and creative changes.

For the Knicks, that person is ... exactly who? As the team flops and staggers with no real sense of direction or purpose, the situation begs for intervention from above.

And please, not from Scott Layden, the embattled general manager who gave his state-of-a-mess address last night. No, aim higher. We saw how Layden and the team dealt with a bad stretch. Now, what about the boss? There will be no action taken or words spoken today or tomorrow by MSG chairman Jim Dolan, however. He did have a good excuse to distance himself from Monday's accident: He was honeymooning. But in the coming weeks and months, if the married Dolan is anything like the single guy, he'll remain in the shadows while keeping his fingerprints off the daily operation. In every way, Dolan is an unabashed delegator, leaving his people to stand out front to catch bouquets or direct hits.

That makes sense. The close target is the most convenient one.

When things go wrong, the abuse is usually heaped on the player, or the coach, sometimes the GM. But behind all the missed shots and faulty game strategy and awful trades is an executive who's indirectly responsible for what you see. Ultimately, it's his call. He sets the tone and the organization follows. He makes the choices that impact the present and future. That said, three major decisions that couldn't pass without the blessing of Dolan are haunting the Knicks today and threatening them tomorrow:

The Patrick Ewing trade.

The hiring of Layden.

The $100-million contract for Allan Houston.

None could happen unless Dolan signed off, believing they were in the best interest of the franchise. Well, there's only a one-word reaction to that: Oops.

A sports team should always fall in one of two categories: contending for a title or building toward one. The Knicks are neither.

They're stuck in the middle with no sign of relief. They have players who can't be moved and others who won't fetch equal value. And as much responsibility as Layden should bear for this, the plight of the Knicks is due to Dolan more than you think.

When Dolan gave Dave Checketts the boot a year ago, the knee-jerk reaction by many (guilty right here) was that Dolan craved the spotlight. He was anxious to assume control, make waves, be a Steinbrenner. As we see, this couldn't be further from the truth. He's generally publicity shy, confessed to being a novice in basketball matters and he puts a lot of faith in those he hires. In one sense, Dolan's approach is refreshing. Lord knows the sports world doesn't need another egomaniac whose self-esteem needs to be fed by constant appearances on ESPN. Why hire someone to run your team, then try to run it yourself? But trading Ewing, hiring Layden and making Houston obscenely rich was all about Dolan, plain and simple.

No team swaps a franchise player, even a fading one, unless the boss wholeheartedly endorses it. And although Dolan said he knows nothing about basketball, it's not as if he arrived yesterday. Three years as Garden chairman should make him smart enough to know you keep a player in the last year of a fat contract and then smile as it melts off your salary cap. That's an easy call, Business 101. Instead, the Knicks got the go-ahead to trade Ewing for spare and expensive parts, and in the case of Glen Rice, a broken-down one.

After Checketts left, Dolan had no real reason to keep Checketts' pal around, either. Had he inspected Layden's resume a little more closely, Dolan would have known Layden did nothing in Utah except live off Karl Malone and John Stockton, players who weren't drafted on his watch.

Yet Dolan gave Layden complete control and watched him stock the roster with dime-a-dozen players bought at inflated prices.

If the salary cap wasn't buckling enough from the weight, Dolan broke the bank to keep Houston when nobody else was prepared to raise the roof for a one-dimensional free agent. Even Houston was shocked. By one rival GM's estimate, Dolan overpaid at least $30 million for a player who'll stress out the cap for years.

So that's Ewing, Layden and Houston, three backfiring decisions that land on the owner's desk.

Has Dolan, the son of a rich cable guy, broken the family toy? As the season chugs onward, maybe it's time for Dolan to break from his usual routine, step to the forefront and start making bold changes that will reshape the franchise.

On second thought, maybe he should leave well enough alone.