My League Pass problems have finally been resolved -- hurrah! Not in time for me to catch this game live or record it on the DVR, though, so I ended up catching this game archived oniine. (I like the trend of League Pass Broadband not blacking out Knick games online -- I can only pray it continues)

Before the season, I would have assumed the Bulls would have been big favorites whenever they played the Knicks, what with a future All-Star like Derrick Rose, good height and athleticism at the forward position (Deng and Thomas most notably), and guards like Hinrich and Gordon that can give the Knicks matchup problems. But the Bulls this year have been a dysfunctional, underachieving mess, so this ended up a fascinating matchup between teams with differing degrees of dysfunction.

I have to say I was extremely concerned with Duhon coming into this game, not only because of the back problems (though they may explain most of his performance dropoff recently), but because of a decline over the last few games in his ability to score (particularly inside), meaning teams could space their defense to take away the passing lanes and pick and roll, and dare him to shoot, as if he were Rondo. And indeed, for a good part of the first half, Chris shot erratically, and things were made worse with David Lee hurting his ankle, making him particularly ineffective in this game (3 for 14). Lee's injury might account for how badly the Knicks were punished on the boards in this game (58-41 advantage for the Bulls).

The Knicks made up for it, though, by turning over the Bulls and taking advantage (24 points off 17 Bulls turnovers), as well as getting to the free throw line more often. You'd have to say the Knicks were also fortunate that Nocioni, Gooden and Gordon all shot horrifically -- it was Tyrus Thomas, Rose, Deng and Noah (on the glass) that really kept the Bulls in the game and gave them a chance to win.

On the Knick side, Richardson had a fine game and did a very good job of posting inside when confronted with a favorable matchup, and Gallinari's game continued to astound and confound (apologies to Clyde)...really, he was quite good overall considering it was only his second game back, and he's got the Garden crowd clearly loving his effort. Harrington and Nate -- the hold-your-breath offensive duo -- had mixed games shooting wise, but Nate seemed more aggressive and confident than he has looked in a while, even though his shooting touch still isn't nearly all the way back.

It was an entertaining game, even if it was frustrating to watch the Knicks blow two big leads. Both teams have had trouble with close games, and it did not look good for the Knicks when they fell behind 97-94 with 2:30 left after leading for most of the game. QRich got the break of the game when Lee, bad ankle and all, recovered an errant rebound and funneled the ball to him for a clutch 3 pointer to tie the game; Duhon gutted out the entire fourth quarter, bad back and all, and scored ten points, including the go ahead basket with 31 seconds left and 2 free throws with 22 seconds left after Gordon badly missed a 3 pointer (that was well defended by Lee).

The Bulls executed very questionably down the stretch, but Knick fans will surely take it coming from the other side for a change.