MILWAUKEE Sometimes, its the most over-used, over-worked term in sports. Chemistry? You know what the best team chemistry is? Having Babe Ruth hitting third in your lineup, Lou Gehrig fourth. Having Michael Jordan running one side of the floor, Scottie Pippen the other. Terry Bradshaw throwing the football, Lynn Swann catching it.

Thats good enough chemistry that you can slap it on the periodic table.

But sometimes, its the most over-looked, undervalued element in all of sports. Sometimes there really is a delicate balance, a fleeting mixture of talent and tenacity, of star power and selflessness. Weve seen it all across the sporting universe this year: the Cardinals in baseball, the Mavericks in basketball, the Giants in football.

EPA

MIDDLE MAN: Jeremy Lin (center), who had 20 points and 13 assists, goes up for a shot between Beno Udrih and Larry Sanders (right) during the first half of the Knicks 119-114 loss to the Bucks last night.

You know good chemistry in basketball, Amare Stoudemire said last night, when you see it. Its obvious.

And bad chemistry? Thats even more obvious, and in some ways its more damaging than good chemistry is helpful. Bad chemistry is destructive. Its divisive. And in the case of the Knicks, it can be every bit as devastating to the health of the unit as a staph infection.

They sprinkled bad chemistry all over three states, four cities and two time zones across the past six days. They arrived in Boston last Sunday sitting at .500 and talking large about soaring up the Eastern Conference food chain. By the time they take the floor tomorrow at the Garden they will be four games south of sea level, clinging to a one-game loss-column lead over the Cavaliers the Cavaliers! for the eighth and final playoff slot in the East.

The are battered, they are bleeding, they are broken. And they are beaten. They hit their first 11 shots of the game last night against the Bucks and didnt even escape the first quarter with the lead. They performed their nightly self-exhumation, shaving all but one point off a 15-point lead with seven minutes left, twice possessing the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final moments.

Never could.

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