Suns 112, Knicks 88: "This team has no heart or confidence."

I guess some tiny part of me hoped the Knicks would seize an opportunity to pull close to the sinking Hawks. I have since excised that tiny part of me with a rusty bayonet because noooooooo sir, the Knicks played this one like it was an exhibition. Worse, even, because even though there wasn't a shred of competition to be found after about the second quarter, Carmelo Anthony played 40 minutes.

I have no things to say about this game. J.R. Smith played some attractive offense early, Amar'e Stoudemire got his buckets in his old home, and Melo shot okay considering how much he isolated against a defense very focused against him. The Knicks offense as a whole still managed to flounder on a night when they would have needed like 70% shooting to outpace the things FARTDOG let the Suns do. Goran Dragic did not encounter a defender. Eric Bledsoe did not encounter a defender. If they missed, it was purely by accident, and another Sun tip-dunked it home anyway.

Some notes, almost none of which will actually pertain to the game:

- Clyde tried to say "ringleader," but it came out as "ling leader" one time and "ling reader" the other time. Or maybe "ring reader." Definitely not "ringleader."

- Dragic had 18 points on 7-8 shooting in the first quarter, so 14 on 4-9 the rest of the way is...kinda not that bad? Way to set the bar high for your opponent, Knicks!

- Knicks radio guy Brendan Brown had a baby. The baby looks like a good baby. Clyde: "I know all about babies."

- Clyde kept referring to an imaginary third Morris brother named Marquis. And by Morris I mean "Mars." Marquis Mars.

- Tyson Chandler's elbow into Dragic's eye probably wasn't intentional, but still looked dumb. Chandler getting tied up with one of those Mars brothers, then getting in his face and giving him a shove looked even more dumb. The Knicks were already down huge at that point. You can play hard and get rowdy or play soft and stay quiet. You can't mix and match. It's a bad look.

- Chandler also got stuffed by Eric Bledsoe at the rim after Raymond Felton hit him with a pass way too late. The Knicks suck, man.

- Iman Shumpert hit a couple jumpers off the catch, which is as positive a thing as you'll find in this Knicks performance.

- I really didn't pay attention in the second half. I zoned out and attended to other things-- working, imagining if whales could vote, looking up the etymology of the surname "Kneebone" (Cornish, apparently) because one of the ladies in that commercial with the Paper Cottage is named that, watching my dog bark and run in her sleep, opening and reopening my cabinet hoping snacks would suddenly appear, eventually flipping over to the college games...so if anything interesting happened at the end there, I missed it.

- I did catch when MSG came back from commercial break by displaying a stats chyron over a shot of the Phoenix dancers doing some dancing. Mike Breen mentioned some numbers and Clyde replied "what numbers, MIke!?", that dog.

On one hand, the Knicks didn't even show up for an opportunity to draw really close to a playoff spot. On the other hand, they reminded us in the process that watching them face a top team in the playoffs would probably be miserable anyhow. Like foiegrastyle said, these Knicks have no heart and no confidence. No business in the postseason, either.

Nine more games. Happy birthday, Clyde.