Some teams might suffer a three-game losing streak at home and get fired up. Not the New York Knicks. No, they spent the week getting beat by the NBA's best and couldn't be happier.

While hosting the Lakers, Cavaliers, and Celtics back-to-back-to-back is a tall order for any team, let alone the mediocre-at-best Knicks, one might expect a different response than the one put forth by the Knicks' Al Harrington.

"You've seen us play these guys before and see how we struggled," said Al Harrington, "and if we went down, we put our heads down and go the other way. But we just kept fighting all the way to the end."

So it's an accomplishment that the Knicks are trying now, I suppose. At the end of the season they can all gather at Shoney's and receive their team participation awards. Well, at least they weren't starstruck by their better, more famous opponents, right?

The more tangible consolation prize lay in Harrington's locker: a pair of green, black and white Nikes with Pierce's No. 34 on the heels and his signature across the toes.

Ten bucks says those shoes show up on eBay.

Contact information for this author is not available.