It was a bad night to be a Knick fan.

It was a good night to be Pete Babcock.

While the Hawks thoroughly routed the visitors from NYC, 118-89, Babcock should have been congratulated for not allowing his team to go the way of the now atrocious Knicks.

Hopelessly overcapped (well over the cap through 2004-2005) and undertalented (witness their record, which is one game worse than the supposed ?lowly? Hawks), the Knicks are a reminder of the perils of throwing long term and big money at mediocre talent.

It was Babcock who watched the 1999 version of these Knicks run past the aging, sluggish Hawks in four straight games in the second round of the playoffs, often embarrassing Atlanta in the process.

It was Babcock who had the guts to blow it up, knowing that history suggested that, once you?re bad in basketball, you?re bad for a while.