For Knicks, a lot to like with this Mike

It’s all fun and games for the Knicks now. They have won four in a row under interim coach Mike Woodson. They toyed with the Raptors at the Garden Tuesday night, doing to Toronto what other teams — good and bad — have done all season long. Just when Toronto thought it had a chance, the Knicks extinguished it with smothering defense. They forced 17 turnovers (seven in a crucial stretch of the fourth quarter), making the game a 106-87 rout. All of this renewed energy, commitment to defense and accountability have become more than a mantra for the Knicks under Woodson. It has become applied science. “We know what we have to do to win,” said forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds. “Coach Woodson put that ultimatum on us. We know what we have to do to go out there and win. We know how great we are from a personnel standpoint. We all want to win a championship. We have to take it one step at a time.” Every time someone on the Knicks whispers the “C” word, things tend to crumble. Best to keep that out of the vocabulary. They can erase some doubts about the authenticity of this resurgence on Wednesday when they visit the 76ers, who stand atop the division and are four games ahead of the Knicks (22-24). This will be a good measuring stick for the Knicks. The last time the two teams hooked up, the 76ers emphatically demonstrated they were in another class all together by beating the Knicks, 106-94. “They have a team full of talent ed players that play together, play the right way and get after you defensively,” Woodson said. It is the kind of statement that Woodson would like for Philadelphia coach Doug Collins to utter about the Knicks after Wednesday night’s game. It certainly could be something said about the Knicks after Tuesday night’s rout of Toronto (15-31). When the Raptors cut the Knicks’ lead to eight points with 8:24 to go, the Knicks picked up their defensive pressure. Steve Novak, who had 11 points off the bench, forced a turnover and then hit a three-pointer to make it 87-76. And then Stoudemire came up with a big block of a shot by Raptors center Andrea Bargnani to thwart more thoughts of a comeback. And so it went. The Knicks turning up the defensive pressure, getting steals and turnovers, and the Raptors slowly wilting, until it became a blowout. In the blink of an eye the Knicks went on a 14-3 run and took a 20-point lead with 3:25 to play. “We got a good rest coming out of the third quarter,” said Jeremy Lin, who had 18 points and 10 assists for his seventh double-double of the season. “We all sat at some point in the fourth. When we got out there we just tried to bring as much energy as we could. We knew we just needed one more push to put the game away.” Oh what fun it is for these resurgent Knicks, who have totally bought into Woodson’s system and philosophy. There is nothing Linsane about what’s going on. “The spirit of the team, the energy of the team, we’re sacrificing, we’re buying in,” Lin said. “Using each other and individual shot attempts may be going down for specific people, whether it’s me or Melo or Amar’e. But then everyone else is getting more shots and the shots are easier. We’re able to keep the defense honest by using all five guys all the time.” After Mike D’Antoni resigned one week ago as coach, everyone thought Lin would be taking a seat on the bench. With veteran point guard Baron Davis nursing a sore hamstring, Lin has maintained his spot in the lineup and seems to be settling into the job of running the team. He played much more under control and in the flow of the offense against the Raptors, committing just three turnovers. “I just tried to be aggressive,” Lin said. “I’m not sure how many shots I took but I was trying to put pressure on the defense, and if it was open, it was open. I got some easy ones from other people looking for me. Melo (Carmelo Anthony), Landry (Fields) , those guys hit me with a couple of passes where I was open.” N ow it’s on to Philly , where the Knicks will get a real road test of this new vibe around the team. “We’re a different team right now,” Stoudemire said of the Knicks since they played Philadelphia on March 11. “We’re playing at a high level on both ends of the court. We’re very, very tenacious and (play) kamikaze-style defensively right now. We just have to keep that going.”