Van Gundy

In the wake of the firing of Ernie Grunfeld as the president/general manager of the New York Knicks, coach Jeff Van Gundy has been quiet. And he has good reason: He realizes he'll be the next to go if the Knicks don't finish strong and make the playoffs.With the highest payroll in the NBA ($69 million), the Knicks figured to contend for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. Instead, they're struggling to stay at .500 (22-21) and enter today's game at Miami tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with Toronto and Charlotte.

BaseballAstros: Signed P Bob Scanlan, former Orioles P Brian Williams, P Jeff McCurry, C Marc Ronan, C Randy Knorr, C Pedro Lopez, IF Casey Candaele, former Orioles OF Brent Bowers, OF Alex Diaz and Ryan Thompson (Chestertown) and invited them to spring training.Cardinals: Named Jose Oquendo bench coach. Named Brian Rupp manager of Single-A Peoria.Diamondbacks: Signed P Stephen Randolph, IF Junior Spivey, OF Jason Conti, OF Dante Powell and OF Rob Ryan.Mets: Signed P Jeff Tam to one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration.

NEW YORK -- Patrick Ewing always promised one day to hoist a championship banner inside Madison Square Garden. Never before has such a moment appeared so remote.Now, the Knicks are praying Ewing will once again have the ability to shoot one of his patented jump shots.The Knicks' title dreams for this season unofficially expired early yesterday morning in a Manhattan hospital when Ewing underwent season-ending surgery to repair torn ligaments and a dislocated bone in his right wrist.Team physician Dr. Norman Scott said Ewing will be in a cast for two months before he can start rehabilitation.

For NBA fans living in Salt Lake City, it's almost become an annual tease. They cheer their hearts out for the Utah Jazz as it wins its usual 50 to 55 games, get excited during the playoffs with the hope this will be the year Karl Malone and John Stockton are able to bring a title home, and suffer when the Jazz gets eliminated short of its goal -- yet another season ending in disappointment.Which is why there is little excitement in the Utah camp these days, even as the Jazz enters tonight's playoff opener as the top seed in the Western Conference, with a team-record 64 wins under its belt, including 19 victories over its last 20 games of the regular season.

After New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said last month that Michael Jordan "cons" younger players into a false sense of security, the league's best player scorched the Knicks for 51 points and gave Van Gundy an earful after several baskets.Van Gundy is not repeating the comments heading into Sunday's game against Chicago at Madison Square Garden, but he recently gave insight why he did what's almost unthinkable -- question Jordan's motives."I finally admitted to myself the other day: I am absolutely obsessed by [the Bulls]

LANDOVER -- For years the Washington Bullets have been bullied by the New York Knicks. The Knicks would start the game with their usual pushing and shoving, and the cowering Bullets would be finished for the rest of the game.Not last night, under new coach Bernie Bickerstaff. The Bullets hit back, and sometimes even hit first. And while they wound up losing the game, 97-92, the Bullets gave an indication that, indeed, there will be a different way about things over the second half of the season.

The search for a men's basketball coach at Loyola College has come down to the Final Four.In the next two days, Loyola athletic director Joe Boylan is expected to name a successor to Skip Prosser.The field has been pared to four assistant coaches: Phil Martelli of St. Joseph's (Pa.), Jerry Dunn of Penn State, Stan Van Gundy of Wisconsin and Brian Ellerbe of Virginia.Van Gundy and Dunn, who interviewed at Loyola yesterday, could not be reached for comment. Martelli,whose St. Joseph's team beat the Greyhounds at Reitz Arena in December, also could not be reached.

Clothing hazardJim Smith wasn't shooting pool, but he still got the ball into a pocket.The pocket was in the shorts of Jim Van Gundy and the ball was sent there Wednesday by Smith's 9-iron shot on the sixth hole at the Fort Dodge (Iowa) Country Club."It was unique. I've never even had a hole-in-one," said Smith."Craziest thing I ever saw," said Dick Metier, a Fort Dodge golfer standing with Van Gundy in the tee box on the seventh hole."There were some people in front of us kind of holding things up, which is why we were all standing there waiting to tee off on 7," Metier said.