Final Score: Rockets 109, Knicks 106

Awwwwwww farts.

The Knicks hung with the Rockets. They kinda handled the Rockets for a while. Both teams played some pretty terrible defense and took turns exploiting one another. The Rockets thrived when they ran pick-and-roll and pushed the ball in transition, which they stopped doing for weird but wonderful stretches. The Knicks thrived when they created pick-and-pop opportunities for Andrea Bargnani and let Carmelo Anthony cook soup from deep position.

Back-and-forth runs of hot shooting and transition buckets gave way to a haphazard boner swap down the stretch. Melo fouled Dwight Howard intentionally off the ball under the 2:00 mark, giving Houston the ball back after Dwight took his free throws. The Rockets committed a few awful turnovers against tightened Knicks defense, allowing New York opportunities to close the gap. The Knicks wasted those opportunities, though their final real possession saw Melo bury an apparent and-one three only to have it waved off with a call on the floor.

Basically, the Knicks couldn't keep track of any Rockets on defense, but the Rockets dilly-dallyed enough and Melo and Bargnani splashed enough that this was a close, exciting game. The Knicks just didn't get the calls or the bounces in the final minutes. And now they're 3-5, which sucks when .500 was so near.

Recap tomorrow. Be kind to one another.