Even then, I look at the score in the title box for this post, shake my head and think "Did that really happen?"

Yes, it helped that the Suns looked sluggish and a bit complacent. I've watched several Suns wins this year as well as their blowout loss to the Lakers, and the thing I remember about the loss was Amare Stoudamire's tendency to disappear after several bad possessions. When things are going well for the Suns, their ball movement is amazing, the outside shots rain in from everywhere, and Amare is tough inside. The role players for the Suns might look a little goofy, but they come in and make things happen, and their scrappy energy is as admirable as anything brought to the table by teams like the Houston Rockets or an undermanned Warriors team playing at home.

None of that happened for them last night. The Knicks started out the game running their pet baseline back cuts for Gallo, for Chandler, for Gallo again, for Gallo on a misdirection which led to a left handed layup. When the Suns started trying to compensate for those screens and cuts, the Knicks started running the pick and roll on the strong side to perfection. When the Suns trapped on the pick and roll, David Lee would make a jumper. Or he would be face to face with Amare and just blow right by him. Twice. The Knicks were emboldened by the fruits of their ball movement and crisp passing, aided greatly by soft interior Suns defense.

The Suns tried going to a zone defense for a while, and it worked about as well as the Knicks' attempts at a zone. Gallo would shoot over the top of smaller area defenders, or the Knicks would pass in and out of the zone effectively, set screens around the elbow, and still get their shots inside.

On offense, the Suns have the kinds of athletes that represent problematic mismatches for the Knicks, but the Knicks countered by putting Chandler on Nash and Duhon on Richardson. This led to a lot of attempted isolations and backdoors for Richardson, but Duhon held his own (an underrated aspect of his game -- no other guard on the Knicks  manages mismatches in the post more deftly). The focus on Richardson bogged down the Suns offense, which was otherwise a lot of Steve Nash dribbling around, with some typically amazing results and some (much more surprising) ugly turnovers. The Knicks seemed content to let Nash shoot and limited his ability to destroy the Knick defense with his penetration.

Gallo had by far his best game (27 points, 10 rebounds), capped by that monster 28 foot three to beat the shot clock in Earl Clark's face in the 3rd quarter that effectively ended the game. (yes, it may have been over earlier, but this Knick fan wasn't breathing easy until that bit of of Italian swagger splashed through the net). He was active on the boards and had two highlight worthy blocks -- he even sprinted down the floor on a fastbreak and drew a foul, which was about as big a "my back is fine, f***ers" statement as any shot he made all night. Al Harrington was efficient (20 points on 14 shots), did great work on the boards, and continued to support my theory that the Knicks need him to shoot well to compete. 

And best of all, Jared Jeffries played his best game as a Knick, with 10 points, 5 rebounds (all offensive boards), 4 assists, 4 blocks, 1 steal, and zero turnovers. Plus 30 (!!!) for the evening. A player like Jeffries (who I've often called, not always as a compliment, the "bizarro Marion") has great value in D'Antoni's defensive schemes because of this ability to disrupt opposing guards, crash the boards, provide good weakside help (as shown with his block of Grant Hill in the second half) and generally turn the lopsidedness of D'Antoni's lineups in the Knicks' favor. He's not much good against more physical teams, and there's always that issue of his hands, but playing against the Suns he was just about perfect. That may be the only time I type this, but let's give credit where credit is due.

Hughes did the lions' share of playmaking in the game and ended up with 12 assists, but Duhon picked up some nice baskets in the 3rd quarter and pushed the pace at a level I don't remember seeing in a while, helping the Knicks seal the game early. The young guys got extended time -- Douglas and Landry looked sharp, Hill a little less so (though I still envision him as a useful 10 to 15 minute energy defender with a decent 15 footer once he gets a little more polish to his game). 

It's tempting to see this as a fluke, especially since Orlando is likely to come out much more focused at Amway tonight and make quick work of a tired Knicks team, but if you take away the first two games of the West Coast road trip (big if, I know), there's been a steady trend of improving and energetic play. The defense has all sorts of holes, the guard play is still spotty (and that isn't going to change all season), but the offensive efficiency is climbing out of the basement and the general energy is better. The coach's tighter rotations seem to be helping in establishing a flow between the players.

I'm honestly not expecting much from tonight's game and will be happy with a slightly better effort than Sunday's game against the Magic, which will still probably be a 10 to 15 point loss. A Stan Van Gundy-coached team is not going to let Gallo get the looks he got against the Suns or let Harrington drive down the lane effortlessly, and will probably trap the guards much harder on the pick and roll and/or force them to make more jumpers. I'm already looking forward to the Hawks game on Friday and (gulp) the Nets on Sunday, as signs this team can take last night's game and establish it as a marker of a permanent move away from number-1-draft-pick-level play.