Nuggets 111, Knicks 104

I hardly need to recap this one. In fact, I'd probably do just fine quoting entire blocks of last night's recap.

"The Knicks wasted a great third quarter comeback tonight by squandering meaningful possessions down the stretch. Nothing new. They also wasted a loss by not letting Courtney Sims or Joe Crawford see the court. Also nothing new."

Check. Other points from last night that still ring true with some modification:

- Kyle Korver Kenyon Martin update: Still annoying.

- Jared Jeffries seriously upped his market value with tonight's 11 10 point, 5 8 rebound, 3 assist, 3 1 steal, 2 0 block performance. Jeffries is gradually cementing his place as the LeBron James of lottery-bound teams playing meaningless games. GM's everywhere are saying "when we tank next year, we need this guy to make it look like we're still trying!".

Anyway, the point is that the Knicks did what they've done time and time again this year: mail in half the game, play out of their minds for much of the other half, then bungle meaningful possessions late for a deceptively close final score. It was literally a layup line (well, really a dunk line) for the Nugs in the first half, while the Knicks managed to force turnovers and push Carmelo Anthony around a little in parts of the second. The only thing that appeared to change was effort. Again, nothing new.

Nate Robinson had an uncharacteristically quiet 30 points, while Al Harrington had 23 on 7-17 shooting and played pretty solid defense (four steals). Wilson Chandler's 6 turnovers didn't help, but 13, 8, and 4 blocked shots (including completely pieing Renaldo Balkman, R.I.P.) were nice.

The Knicks don't play again until Saturday against the Raptors, so I guess it's back to scratching our heads for the rest of the week.