NBA

Bucks beat slumping Knicks, 100-95

MILWAUKEE – The Knicks officially became a losing team with Carmelo Anthony.

With former Knick star Latrell Sprewell sitting courtside in his native city, the Knicks fell behind by an atrocious 32-9 after one quarter, made a strong comeback to cut it to one point late in the third quarter but ultimately suffered another defeat, 100-95 to the Bucks at Bradley Center.

“We dug ourselves too deep of a hole,” Amar’e Stoudemire said. “We couldn’t get out of that 20-point deficit we started out with. We can’t afford starting games that way. Offensively we couldn’t get anything going. We had nothing going offensively.”

Sprewell was no stranger to controversy during his Knick years but he also won a lot here, too. But today, the Knicks fell below .500 since the Anthony trade, dropping to 7-8 after losing five of their last six games.

Having dropped to seventh place, the Knicks (35-34) tomorrow host Boston whom they could well now face in the first round.

All eyes were on Melo after his atrocious game in Detroit when he scored just six points on 2 of 12 shooting, snapped at teammates and had bad body language throughout the game.

Anthony had a much nicer persona on the court but did not have a bust-out game and struggled defensively on sharpshooter Carlos Delfino, who hit the death knell 3-pointer over a late-closing Anthony to put the Bucks up 91-84 with 1:40 left.

Anthony scored 23 points on 7 of 14 shooting, making 7 of 8 free throws.

He committed a tough offensive foul with five minutes left after making a pull-up jumper that was nullified. Anthony shot a glance at Mike D’Antoni in bewilderment. Anthony’s defense on Delfino, who finished with 30 points, was also poor in that horrifying first quarter.

In a last gasp, Anthony hit a corner trey to cut the deficit to 95-92 with 17.4 seconds left. But trailing by four, Anthony’s desperation 3-pointer from the corner was an airball with 12 seconds left.

Anthony heard his share of taunts, with fans . When Anthony went to the free-throw line in the third quarter, the fans chanted “Sprewell’s better.”

Anthony seemed much more animated during the game, slapping hands with teammates, cheering from the bench. Friday, he once didn’t join the huddle during a timeout.

Chauncey Billups finished with 21 points, fouling out late and Amar’e Stoudemire had a rough shooting night, scoring 25 points but making just 11 of 28 shots.

“We’re a ways away from where we need to be,” Billups said. “We have a ways to go on both ends.”

The Bucks began the game with two straight layups by John Salmons and Andrew Bogut. Then Delfino hits two 3-pointers over Anthony, one of them putting Milwaukee up 16-4 after six minutes. Then minutes later, Delfino drove past Anthony and got fouled.

The Bucks led the absurd score of 32-9 after one quarter as the Knicks set their season low for points in the opening quarter. It wasn’t far off the franchise low for points in the first quarter – 5 vs. Fort Wayne in 1956. The lead eventually grew to 23 points early in the second quarter before the Knicks stormed back.

“Obviously scoring nine points in the first quarter, not getting in gear, that hurts,” D’Antoni said.

To make up for his Friday-night blowoff, Anthony met with reporters before the game, which is not his custom. He said he was frustrated after Friday’s Detroit loss and let his oncourt frustration get out of hand. He said the air was cleared between him and his teammates at a team film session and meeting at their Milwaukee hotel Saturday.

D’Antoni decided to start Shelden Williams at center in an odd move, considering he had been a DNP or inactive the past five games. But after the Knicks’ lousy start, Williams was taken out after six minutes and did not return. Ronny Turiaf started the second half and the center issue in in deep flux.

There was hope in the second half as Stoudemire tipped in a missed Anthony jumper and Anthony nailed a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in the third quarter to cut the Bucks lead to 73-72, The Knicks headed into the fourth quarter down just 75-72 but never took the lead in the fourth.

The Knicks second-period rally started when Anthony went to the bench, and the defense and ball movement improved. Chauncey Billups got hot late in the second quarter, finishing with 13 points in the period, eight in the final 2:07. But Billups ultimately fouled out with 2:46 left after going for a offensive rebound and colliding with Bogut.

The Knicks were a plus-8 with Anthony sitting as the Knicks comeback began slowly in the second quarter.. Then when Anthony returned with 5:48 left in the second quarter, he aided the comeback, hitting a tough jumper to cut it to 43-32 with 3:40 left.

Billups’ 3-pointer made it 43-35 and he finished with 13 points in the second quarter.. It was 43-37. Melo made a steal and scored on a fastbreak layup and the Knicks were within 47-41 at intermission, lucky to be breathing.

The Knicks outscored the Bucks 32-15 in the second-quarter reversal. Stoudemire shot 4 of 13 in the half but had three buckets during the surge and picked up his game on the boards. Toney Douglas, after two straight gems, shot 1 of 8 in the first half.