That strong wind out of the East was caused by a collective sigh of relief coming from the New York Knicks.

The trade deadline passed Thursday without Isiah Thomas pulling off any more deals, and the Knicks reported to practice for the first time Friday with a sense of security.

``I think guys will relax a little bit,'' coach Lenny Wilkens said. ``They say they know it's a business, but in the back of their minds they know. They're listening, they're hearing the rumors. Teams talk and names are brought up and agents are calling, so all that goes on.''

After taking over for team president Scott Layden on Dec. 22, Thomas made three trades, fired a coach and two assistants, waived two players and dealt away the rights to another _ along with two No. 1 picks.

The product of his maneuverings is complete for now, and the challenge that awaits the Knicks over the final eight weeks of the season is to try for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and gain homecourt advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Entering the weekend with a 26-29 record, the Knicks were 4{ games behind the fourth-place New Orleans Hornets.

``If we really come together, everything is possible,'' Wilkens said.

Wilkens moved Tim Thomas, who was acquired from Milwaukee last Sunday, into the starting lineup for Friday night's game against Utah.

The Knicks are still not certain when Allan Houston will return from a sore knee, though he said it could be Tuesday night in Sacramento at the start of a four-game road trip.

Once Houston returns, Wilkens plans to use him in the starting lineup along with Stephon Marbury, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas and Dikembe Mutombo. Penny Hardaway, Shandon Anderson, Nazr Mohammed and Othella Harrington will be the key reserves. Frank Williams has beaten out Moochie Norris as the backup to Marbury, and DerMarr Johnson is insurance at shooting guard in case Houston breaks down.

``You look around and look at the guys, and these are the guys you're going to go to battle with,'' Anderson said. ``We have to start getting used to each other.''

Mutombo's feelings were one casualty of Isiah Thomas' many trade talks and the resulting rumors.

Mutombo joined the Knicks after accepting a buyout from the New Jersey Nets during training camp, and he moved into a new apartment in Manhattan on Wednesday.

It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that he was safe to unpack.

``I felt like I was needed, then it got to the point where I was not needed no more. It made me wonder,'' Mutombo said.

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ONE AND DONE:@ Rasheed Wallace spent one game in an Atlanta uniform before being traded to Detroit on Thursday, and he wants the jersey back as a souvenir.

``He called yesterday and asked us to bring it when we play in Detroit,'' Hawks trainer Wally Blase said Friday. ``It's in the laundry now.''

Let the record show that Wallace wore No. 36, becoming the first player in Hawks franchise history (Atlanta era) to wear that number.

``Out of my peripheral vision it just felt like I was in one of them red Blazers jerseys,'' Wallace said.

Knicks assistant coach Herb Williams also was a one-game wonder once, playing 31 minutes and scoring six points for the Raptors on Feb. 22, 1996, after New York dealt him to Toronto along with Doug Christie for Willie Anderson and Victor Alexander.

``I didn't keep my jersey, but I always see my son running around in Raptors stuff, so I must've kept the practice gear,'' Williams said.

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'SHEED RETRO NOTE No. 2:@ Wallace saw it coming on both occasions when he was traded this season. That wasn't the case after his rookie year.

He recalled that on July 15, 1996, his cousin telephoned him and delivered the news that the Washington Bullets had traded him to Portland for Rod Strickland.

``I was upset for the simple fact that they didn't tell me. I was in the barber shop when I found out,'' Wallace said.

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WIGGLING IN:@ Shaquille O'Neal was mobbed by reporters from all over the world at his locker before playing in last weekend's All-Star game, but 10-year-old Alex Toschi somehow wiggled his way through as the correspondent for ``Weekly Reader.''

Alex: ``When you were a kid, who was your favorite team and who did you look up to?''

Shaq: ``I'm still a kid, and my favorite team was Dr. J's team.''

After thanking O'Neal for his time, Alex walked away with a better understanding of what reporters do.

``It was really cool,'' he said. ``I was kind of freaked out at first, but after I got up there and talked to him, it wasn't so bad. It's just like talking to a regular person _ but when you get up really close, it's like, `Oh, God.'''

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CASE CLOSED:@ Nate Huffman, an All-Star in the Euroleague, has won a lot of money from the Toronto Raptors.

An arbitrator ruled the Raptors owe Huffman more than $2.5 million for wrongly terminating the center's three-year guaranteed contract after only six months.

At issue was whether Huffman, signed to a three-year, $4.5 million deal from Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the Israeli league, had misled the Raptors about a knee injury before signing his contract. Huffman was hurt shortly after he arrived in Toronto and appeared in only seven games, averaging 3.3 points and 2.1 rebounds.

The Raptors, who signed Huffman in July 2002, terminated his contract in January 2003. They contended he knew about the severity of his knee injury and did not tell the team when he signed his standard players' contract, which includes a medical history clause.

Huffman has not played since leaving Toronto.