Trail Blazers 104, Knicks 85: "Every loss is the same."

We are deep in the muck of the losing, and this game was more of that. There was nothing dramatic about it -- the Knicks just plopped their ass on the Garden floor and, after an okay first quarter, let it get more and more kicked until it could be kicked no more. No comebacks, fake or otherwise. They might be past that. Like Ewing's Flat Top said, it's all kinda blending together now.

The Blazers got their bigs easy buckets and put-backs by penetrating, but realized they didn't even have to do that with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in uniform. Those two only needed a pick apiece to get enough air for a pull-up jumper. They took turns stringing those jumpers together for personal scoring flurries, and eventually New York was buried. A few notes:

- I was not at the game, and I have had to miss a couple games in the last month, but I'm pretty sure that was the loudest and longest booing of the season, right? Because the Knicks were getting crushed and novelty-of-the-moment Jimmer Fredette wasn't playing, the boos spanned most of the fourth quarter.

- Kurt Rambis may be a bad coach, but at least he's working very hard to destroy Carmelo Anthony's knees!

- It's funny how Jerian Grant can play 7 minutes in a game and, in that stretch alone, throw more direct entry passes than the rest of the Knicks' backcourt minutes combined.

- (Jimmer did play, by the way. The final 3 minutes. He got that work from Lillard, too. I have no idea why Lillard was still in the game.)

- After Kurt Rambis remarked pre-game on his desire for Kristaps Porzingis to establish position early in possessions, Kristaps did just that on several possessions to open the game. It left in a sweet spot to turn and bank in a couple nice short jumpers. I'd still rather watch him set drag screens, but it's good to mix it up!

- Kristaps got frustrated and just fouled his way out of the game in the second half

- Melo had 23, 10, and 4, hit half his shots, and made up for iffy outside shooting with a lot of really nice two-handed finishes off drives, but all anyone will remember is this ...

Nice try Melo https://t.co/PVMPxgyobC

— Six Second Sports (@sixsecsports) March 2, 2016

... and I can't really blame 'em. It was funny. Melo laughed. The rim laughed.

- So Phil is really *friends* with John Lightow, eh? They've now been seen together multiple times at games. Since we're in Intermville anyway, why not let Lithgow coach a game or two in Cliffhanger character?

- This seemed like it might be a Cool Rotation game, with Langston Galloway and Derrick Williams the first off the bench and Jerian Grant getting early minutes ... but then Rambis decided to end the game in the late third by submitting an all-bench lineup with Sasha Vujacic running point.

- Meyers Leonard slapped the shit out of Jimmer instead of letting him shoot before the final buzzer. The crowd was very upset. Everyone in the previous sentence is a hero.

The game was bad. The Knicks are bad. 20 more of these to go.