The Knicks are making better use of their off days.

Earlier this season, when the Knicks were winning most of the time, Mike Woodson routinely passed on opportunities to make his team scrimmage. It was defensible-- the Knicks were pretty sharp, so off days were better used to rest all those veteran limbs than to work them extra. Recent events, however, call into question the value of rest. The Knicks took a week off for the All-Star break, practiced only on the Tuesday before they returned, then played some of their groggiest ball of the year in Indiana and Toronto. That little stretch of torpor was evidently enough to change Woodson's mind, because last night's win against the Sixers is getting sandwiched between practices.

Though the Knicks didn't win as soundly as we might have hoped last night, there was a palpable verve that had been lacking during that four-game losing streak. The Knicks defended pick-and-rolls more aggressively, fouled harder, and-- when push came to shove-- shoved. Carmelo Anthony and others pointed to rowdier practices like Saturday's as the primer for that sort of effort:

"Guys have been getting after it," he said. "Our practices have been a lot more physical than even the games that we've been playing. If we can beat up on each other like that in practice, and compete against each other, going into games should be easy from a competitive standpoint."

The Knicks have two days off before their next game on Wednesday against the Warriors. Earlier in the year, they'd take at least one of those days to rest, but that won't be the case this time. They're makin' a sandwich out of last night's win with a practice today and presumably tomorrow as well. That is good. More practice seems like a good idea. Practice makes perfect, you see, so the Knicks will shoot 60-60 and beat the Warriors 180-0 on Wednesday.

Update: Okay, maybe not so much.