Nov 12, 2001 11:13 AM EST

Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell have been in losing situations before. Houston made the playoffs only once in three seasons with Detroit, and Sprewell's Golden State Warriors failed to qualify for the playoffs in five of the six seasons he was there.

But when they joined the Knicks in the prime of their careers, they assumed they had entered some sort of basketball utopia, where talent would always abound and where championship contention would be a given.

Via