For a few seconds yesterday, Eddy Curry thought he was back on a winning team with a bright future. When Larry Brown had the Knicks practice several new halfcourt sets with Curry ending up with the ball each time, they looked like the same plays he had run with the Bulls. That's because they were.

"I wasn't even expecting it," Curry said after practice. "I was like, 'This play looks familiar. So does this one.' It's starting to look very familiar to me. I've never had this kind of attention before. I think it will help me and help the team."

Figuring out a way to bring in Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich would help even more. Maybe then Brown could start getting this mess turned around. But for now, he will have to continue to use Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford as the Knicks try to find a way to break their three-game slide tonight when they begin their longest trip of the season. When the Knicks meet Portland to start their six-game, 12-day West Coast trek, Brown plans on using the old Chicago plays.

"He realizes that I need to catch the ball on the move," said Curry, who also got some one-on-one instruction from Brown at the team's Greenburgh facility. "He definitely has done his homework. It's a lot of Chicago stuff he's put in for me. There's one play out of transition, two or three halfcourt sets, and we've actually put in an out-of-bounds play, too."