Cavs 90, Knicks 87: "Knicks out here breaking records!"

New York's record is now 4-16, making them the 27th best team in the entire league, behind only Philadelphia and Detroit. There are a few other teams stuck on four wins, but none as adept in the loss column. The next 62 games are jam packed with winnable land mines. It is imperative that the team continues to buy in to the game plan and maintains the high level of living in basketball tent cities.

Rice2012 commented in the game thread that the Knicks were "breaking records" with this staler performance. Personally I could not be more proud of their approach and effort. I can't wait to see what the future holds! Hopefully more of this record breaking stuff!

- Carmelo Anthony was probably the star of the game. Melo missed from all over the floor, finishing with nine points on 4-19 shooting. Bravo! Perhaps a touch overzealous on the boards grabbing ten total, including five on the offensive end. All told, Melo gave us exactly what we hope for every night. He also sprinkled in five turnovers and was unable to even get to the free throw line. Capped off the night with a pull up wing three in the closing seconds that aggressively clunked off the rim. Hard to argue with. Melo was real and spectacular.

- If anyone holds a candle to Melo on this night, it's probably Amar'e Stoudemire. Despite scoring 18 points and hustling after nine rebounds, Stoudemire had many handfuls of turnovers. His best stretch came early in the third quarter when he got the ball stolen from him by Anderson "Disco Stew" Varejao then traveled twice in a row. Good stuff from the big fella. His rebound-stealing is certain to grate on teammates, and that should only help solidify the team's approach. You know what? There was actually some good stuff here. Maybe Amar'e should get fewer minutes. Or come off the bench.

- Both teams started off the game violently bricking shots from all over the place. The cold start paid dividends, as players on both sides started to just fumble away the ball. As a result, the Knicks were aggressive all game going after the offensive boards, losing that battle 17-6.

- After a few criticisms and witticisms, there was a nice, lighthearted exchange between the TNT announcers:

Greg Anthony (to Mike Fratello): Don't let Marv get under your skin!

Marv Albert: (incredulously) WHY NOT!?

- Pablo Prigioni had the worst eight minutes of his sneaky little NBA career. He ripped Kyrie Irving twice, and got a third steal, leading three composed breaks for a variety of scores. In fairness, he did miss both of the shots he took. Add four assists in the mix for Pablo and it's no wonder he was benched quickly and didn't get back in.

- One of Pablo's favorite assist targets also had a questionable game. Tim Hardaway Jr dropped in 20 points in 22 minutes, and only took 14 shots. At this point in his career you have to start wondering why he can't get his shots-per-minute average above his minutes-per-shot average. Really perplexing stuff. It's probably safe to wonder if he'll ever turn the corner for this team. Whether it was actually showing some effort on defense or having the presence of mind to step in and fill the Triangle's open spaces properly, Hardaway's performance was a little winny.

- Switching gears back, some other notable Knicks were the scoreless Iman Shumpert, the perpetually slow-to-react Jason Smith and Jose Calderon. Special notice should be paid to Calderon for embracing and understanding the tenets of FARTDOG almost as soon as he came back from "injury".

- Take a good long look at this and see if you can't teach your biddie basketball team how to FARTDOG.

- Lastly, a nice pair of DNP's from Derek Fisher keeping the God, Cole Aldrich, on the bench, alongside the Lebron Stopper, Travis Wear.

New York has a great opportunity to notch another loss against a Charlotte Hornets team that they actually beat earlier in the year despite a dubious 5-second violation at the end of the game. With any luck, the Hornets will be rested and the Knicks will have flown from New York and boy will they have tired arms. Right?