"These are the cold, hard facts. A coach's No. 1 job is to win. His No. 2 job is to get the players to play together. On both accounts, Mike D'Antoni has failed.

There must be more nights like last night for D'Antoni.

His Knicks roughed up the woeful Pistons, 113-86, at the Garden to up their record to 8-13 as Carmelo Anthony returned to the lineup after missing two games with assorted injuries. Melo played a complete game, getting his teammates involved instead of being a ball-stopper.

That was the difference.

"We played hard, we played with energy,'' said Anthony (25 points, six assists) of the Knicks, who compiled 25 assists."