Mavericks 107, Knicks 87: "Noooo don't bring Melo back just give up the game please"

OK let's get started...we've got a lot to cover tonight. Not about Tuesday night's Knicks-Mavericks game -- screw the game -- but about an email I received from P&T's own Christian Baber six hours earlier:

Just met Devin Harris in soho. I asked him to take it easy on the Knicks tonight. He said no :(

His friend was like, "y'all will be alright; y'all got Sam Dalembert!" and Devin smiled.

There you have it, folks -- the kind of hard-hitting, Dalembert-is-a-walking-joke updates you can only get right here at Posting and Toasting! Our man Sammy D played all of six minutes, and the Knicks fell to Harris and the Mavericks, 107-87.

The first half of this contest was essentially a microcosm of every Knicks game. The Mavericks came out on fire, hitting 10 of their first 11 shots and building a 19-point lead in the first quarter. Derek Fisher took the entire starting lineup out of the game, sparking a near immediate turnaround. New York stormed back into the game with a 17-2 run as Pablo Prigioni and Shane Larkin started sneaking everything in sight. With 10:32 remaining in the second quarter the Knicks had drawn to within four, and it was a brand new game.

But a brand new Knicks game is still a Knicks game. New York stopped getting steals, the Mavericks started hitting threes, and Dallas finished the half up by 10. The game was never really in doubt in the second.

Fall behind big, come back strong, fail to recapture the lead, collapse late -- The Knicks packed 60 minutes worth of Knicksing into a tidy 30 minutes. Who says these guys aren't efficient?

Notes:

- This is the second game in a row in which Carmelo Anthony seemed consistently short on his jumpers, even from within 10 feet. He played like a guy with an injured knee, which is interesting...because he has an injured knee. Breen and Clyde harped on this repeatedly, yet Breen also quoted Melo as saying his knee cannot get worse by playing. Now, I'm by no means a knee-ologist, but that seems...umm...inaccurate. Melo played more than 37 minutes tonight, by the way. By the second half I think most of us were echoing the sentiments of abe88 -- let Melo sit!

- Tim Hardaway is freaking weird, man. He shot a ghastly 0-7 from three-point land, yet finished with 14 points thanks to some persistent trekking to the rim. He also grabbed four rebounds. Just when he starts to gain confidence in the paint, he loses his touch from beyond the arc. That baffling lack of consistency is the sign of a true Knick.

- The delightful Emmy Rossum sat courtside and added a hearty "Let's go Knicks!" during her halftime interview with Tina Cervasio. That girl is an absolute treasure, and she deserves a better basketball team. I am officially starting a petition to have Emmy represent the Knicks at this summer's draft lottery.

- Jason Smith played through garbage time. Cole Aldrich did not. That ain't right.

The Knicks will now travel to Chicago to face a Bulls team that spanked them in the season opener. That game will be on TNT, so do you best to avoid Charles Barkley's commentary at all costs.