But what Gallinari could not do was help the Knicks win, as they fell to the Philadelphia 76ers, 107-97, for their second loss in the last two nights.

While he got in the game in the first half, it was the second half when Gallinari was really needed as the Knicks were dismal offensively in the third quarter, converting just five of 20 shots and falling behind by 10 points. Gallinari was part of a group that sparked the Knicks back into the game, drawing within one point twice. Included was a stretch in which he hit a three-pointer and then took an outlet pass from Nate Robinson and immediately flipped a pass to Al Harrington trailing him and Harrington buried the three-pointer.

The most surprising part of his performance might have been that he entered with 38.4 seconds left in the third quarter and in a game that was a nail-biter much of the way, stayed in the game until 2:31 remained in the game, and after a minute on the bench was back in the game.

The result was the same though, with him or without him as the clock ticked down and the crowd murmured its disapproval.

Gallinari entered the game to start the second period, the crowd providing an ovation as his name was announced. And he had a chance to drive the home fans into delirium as Robinson fed him cutting to the basket just seconds later. But he passed on the dunk, hesitated and before he could regroup and drop in a layup the officials were signaling a traveling violation.

Gallinari could not be blamed for showing a bit of rust, having not been in a game since the second game of the season. He got another chance two minutes and 27 seconds into his appearance, taking a pass outside the arc from Robinson. This time he cleanly swished a three-point field goal, the first field goal of his career.

The crowd got excited ? and apparently so did Gallinari. He drove along the baseline the next trip downcourt, attempting a reverse layup that didn?t come close and then fired up a three-pointer that just barely skimmed the front of the rim. Mercifully, his run ended after 3 minutes and 42 seconds.

The Knicks were anxious to get his career back on track after seeing the No. 6 overall pick in the draft sit out the past 36 games. Mike D?Antoni came to New York with a reputation as an offensive guru, but with a roster far less talented than what he was accustomed to in Phoenix, the offense has been as erratic as the Knicks? up-and-down performances.

"We haven?t had problems of trying to find wins either," D?Antoni said of his time with the Suns. "It kind of goes hand in hand. We need to go out and play hard. We need to find a way to be more consistent with our shooting. We?re way up and down. We?re trying to find ways to score the Basketball.

"Our defense has picked up a lot. We?ve got to find room for Gallinari, get him back in there and hopefully his shooting can help. That would be a big plus."

Playing on the back end of a back-to-back and coming off a crushing defeat in Washington, the Knicks needed something to provide a lift against the Sixers, who came in with six consecutive wins.