Knicks Morning News (2017.01.22)

There are the games you think you shouldn’t lose and the games you can’t bear to lose. On Thursday night, the Knicks were dealt the former. On Saturday night, they experienced the excruciating disappointment of the latter.

Derrick Rose was dribbling in the second quarter at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, and then in a blink of Eric Bledsoe’s eyes, the Knicks point guard was gone. He blew past his Suns counterpart and took the ball down the lane before jamming it through the net.

Carmelo Anthony has been involved in three played-out Melo-dramas this season, and not one was directly created by him.

Carmelo Anthony may not be feeling the love from his own ownership, but opponents lately have done nothing but lavish praise on the Knicks’ much-maligned superstar.

With 2:18 left in the game Saturday night at the Garden, Kristaps Porzingis was walking toward the Knicks’ bench during a timeout when he was bumped by Tyson Chandler. It seemed innocent, but Porzingis took offense to the nudge, stopping to glare and go chest-to-chest with Chandler before players and officials stepped between them. It…

There Carmelo Anthony sat, slumped on the scorer’s table, dejected and dazed in disbelief. Coach Jeff Hornacek threw an arm around Anthony’s shoulder. A few fans also showed the star forward support by patting his back. The potential game-winning 3-pointer already was being replayed in Anthony’s head. Already, he was wondering how the ball that…

It wasn’t what Derrick Rose said. It was more what he didn’t say about his drive to the basket. With 28.5 seconds left, Rose drove after Devin Booker put the Suns up two points with a huge 3-pointer. Rose appeared to draw contact, but there was no call. “I am going to let you all…

Carmelo Anthony took the inbound pass from Ron Baker with 6.3 seconds remaining. With the Knicks down two, Anthony was thinking win. So he came around a screen by Baker, arose from 25 feet on the right side and fired over the Suns’ T.J. Warren. “I was thinking the ball was in,” Anthony said. So…

Knicks rookie Willy Hernangomez, the 22-year-old, 6-foot-11 bundle of potential, has heard the comparison before — many times before, in fact. But it still gets him excited and makes him proud when he is linked to one of his idols, Marc Gasol, the Grizzlies’ two-time All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year. “When I…

Sounds like Knicks management and Carmelo Anthony need to have another conversation about his long-term future in New York. Anthony told Newsday in an article published Friday that if the Knicks want to trade him, he’d be willing to listen to what they have to offer. “I have to consider it,” he told the Long…

Phil Jackson asked Carmelo Anthony if he wanted to remain a Knick. Now Anthony is publicly putting the onus right back on Jackson. The Knicks president and star met Tuesday to clear up the rumblings around the marriage, where Anthony, who has a no-trade clause, told Jackson what he has always said: He wants to be…

With time running out, Carmelo Anthony hoisted a 25-foot 3-point attempt, a shot he thought would go in. It did not, and the Knicks absorbed their 13th loss in 16 games.

James Michael McAdoo may be the last player on the bench for the N.B.A.’s best team, but his work ethic and attitude make him a valued member.

Jackson got what he wanted; he poked Carmelo to the point where Carmelo would consider an amicable divorce.

Jeff Hornacek has tried everything.

The Knicks are angry. But Gregg Popovich is angrier.

Phil Jackson has actually done more for Carmelo Anthony than giving him a mega bucks contract with a no-trade clause.

Carmelo nor Phil will win this time, as the Knicks keep losing.

Wiz, Lowe ‘got off easy’ with fines, coach says

The Knicks continued a string of close losses Saturday, falling 107-105 to the Suns at Madison Square Garden. It was their sixth consecutive loss in a game decided by four points or fewer.

The Knicks look to get back in the win column in a matchup with the Suns at 7:30 p.m.

Knicks center Joakim Noah is available to play in Saturday night’s game against the Suns, the team announced.

Anthony Donahue and Moke Hamilton discuss the future of Carmelo Anthony — the remaining years on his deal and his desire to stay in NYC. Later, Ant and Moke get into the Knicks’ win over Boston and Courtney Lee’s Dumb & Dumber post on Instagram.

Two of the more defensively-challenged teams will clash at Madison Square Garden on Saturday when the Phoenix Suns meet the New York Knicks.