“For the most part, we played extremely hard tonight,” Anthony said. “We’ve got to pat ourselves on the back for something. We can go and magnify the turnovers late in the second quarter; we still had a chance to win the basketball game.”

Huh? So, now they’ve resorted to the refrains of losers. It’s not about actually winning the games as it is about playing hard, patting themselves on the back and having a chance to win the game at the end.

Rose took over the game in the fourth quarter, scoring 32 points to go along with 13 assists. He scored a basket seemingly every time the Knicks were poised to rally in the Bulls’ 105-102 victory.

This night brought relief for a Chicago team in the middle of a nine-game road trip and more distress for New York and its embattled coach, who opened a back-to-back-to-back with their 10th loss in 12 games.

Rose had 15 of his points in the fourth quarter, scoring on three straight possessions during one spectacular 79-second burst. He split Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire to flip in a shot from past the backboard, then hit a 3-pointer to put the Bulls up 95-88 with less than six minutes left.

Stoudemire had a season-high 34 points and 11 rebounds but missed a shot from beyond his normal range — a 3-point attempt with 11.9 seconds remaining — that would have tied the score.

“He can make that shot as well as anybody,” coach Mike D’Antoni said.

Said Stoudemire: “That shot normally falls for me.”

Anthony had 26 points but just four in the fourth quarter and missed a desperation 3 at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. Twice in the last 92 seconds with the Knicks trailing by three, he had his shot blocked.

New York still had its chances. Landry Fields’ baseline drive with 23.4 seconds left pulled the Knicks within one. New York had no choice but to foul Kyle Korver, a 74 percent free-throw shooter, with 13.7 seconds to go. He hit both.

After Stoudemire missed, a miscommunication by the Bulls kept things interesting. With Chicago leading 104-100, the Bulls fouled Anthony on purpose — but they were supposed to do so only with a 3-point lead.

Anthony made both, and Rose failed to clinch the victory when he missed one of his free throws with 5.3 seconds remaining — something he seemed more focused on afterward than his 32 points. Anthony couldn’t make him pay when his 33-footer bounced off the rim.

“We always say you got to find a way, and the good teams in this league find different ways to win games,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of his Eastern Conference leaders. “Ideally, you’d like to count on both your offense and your defense.”

Allowing New York to shoot 49 percent is not his idea of defense, but Chicago more than made up for it by making nearly 53 percent of its field goals and 6 of 13 3-point attempts.

With the Knicks trailing by 11 at halftime, Anthony scored 12 in the third. His driving bank shot with 44.1 seconds left in the period tied the score for the first time since early in the second quarter.

But on the Bulls’ next possession, Jared Jeffries was called for a foul on Ronnie Brewer. When Tyson Chandler barked to the refs, he received a technical. Korver hit that free throw, and New York never tied it again.

The Knicks had to dig out of a hole after committing five turnovers in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the first half, including one immediately after a timeout with 1:36 left. Joakim Noah had two dunks and Brewer added a third as the Bulls pulled ahead 55-42 with 25.8 seconds remaining.

With boos pouring down from the stands, Anthony missed a jumper, then missed a layup after an offensive rebound. His third try with less than a second to go finally went in.

Game notes
Rose scored at least 30 points for the fourth time in five games. … The Bulls’ nine-game road trip is the club’s longest since the 1992-93 season. They improved to 2-2 after losing at Philadelphia 98-82 a night earlier. … The Knicks got just 6 points off the bench, all by Toney Douglas. … New York is playing three games in three days for the first time since 1999. New York must travel to Boston to play Friday night before returning home to face the Nets on Saturday. … Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert had a career-high eight assists.

But for the Giants, it was business as usual. They sat in meetings. They practiced. Their focus was on preparing for the next game, which happens to be the biggest one of the year, their Super Bowl confrontation with the New England Patriots. Kickoff is 10 days away, but the Giants are trying to make this week as normal as possible, even as scores of cameras, microphones and tape recorders descended on their training complex.

“It’s just a little more crowded in the locker room trying to work your way through,” guard Kevin Boothe said. “But other than that, things have been pretty normal around here in terms of our preparation. We’re preparing as if it’s another game. I think that’s what you have to do. We understand it’s the Super Bowl, but you’re trying to keep in that same routine. There are just more people around the facility.”

“You can keep it normal,” safety Antrel Rolle said. “We understand what’s ahead of us, but at the same time we can’t get away from what we’ve been doing and what’s been successful. I think that’s what guys understand. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, not trying to put too much on our plate. But just do the same thing we’ve been doing.”

The first reviews were positive.

“I thought practice was good today,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “I thought guys had good energy, running around making quick decisions, fast paced. I think that’s good for the first practice knowing that we have six more practices before we play. I thought it was a good tempo, good pace and guys were prepared. We’ll continue to get better as the week goes on.”

“It was nice to get back out,” tackle Kareem McKenzie said, “to get a good lather up and go ahead and get a look at our offense, see what we’re going to run, and try and focus in on being able to do that, run our plays effectively, and just seeing how to attack in a given situation that may present itself.

“It’s best to go ahead and do what you would normally do. Prepare as we have done for the past five or six weeks. Why mess with a good situation or winning formula? Go ahead and do the due diligence for yourself and your team and make sure you have the proper mindset for an important game, basically one of the most important games you’ll have in your life.”

Experience always helps in an abnormal week like this and the Giants have plenty of it. Sixteen members of the current team were on the Super Bowl XLII roster when the Giants defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII (D.J. Ware was inactive for the game). Mathias Kiwanuka was on injured reserve. The Giants also have four players who suited up in Super Bowls for other teams.

The Giants are installing most of their game plan here in practices today, tomorrow and Saturday, which mirror their standard Wednesday through Friday workouts. They will travel to Indianapolis Monday and resume normal practices on Wednesday.

The formula worked last time, as the Giants defeated the Patriots, 17-14, in Arizona.

“I hope the preparation is pretty similar,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “I think our plan last time was very good, as in our scheduling, how we practiced, our meeting times. From my self-schedule to what I did before we went to [Arizona] and once we got to the Super Bowl site – when I could watch film, when I had to do media, practice, what I did at night to get my rest – I remember pretty well how I tried to stay on the same schedule that I normally would for a home game. So things that I did on a Thursday night, I’d do the same on the Thursday night at the site. Obviously it’s always a little different because there’s traveling, there’s other obligations you have to do for Super Bowl week, but you try as much as possible to keep things as consistent as you can.”

Coach Tom Coughlin is using his Super Bowl XLII schedule as a blueprint for this game.

“With changes based on the location you are forced to do because of your practice facility (at the University of Indianapolis) being 20 minutes away,” Coughlin said. “We may do most of our teaching right in the hotel rather than move over to a complex and teach. Those are the kinds of things that we had to adjust. Basically, the format will be the same in terms of how we operate here and what the days off are, when we travel, we what will do when we start up again.”

Manning set the tone for the week on Tuesday, when he spoke to the entire team about working hard this week and treating the journey to Indianapolis as a business trip. He told his teammates to prepare this week as if they were playing this week.

“It helped to hear that from Eli,” defensive tackle Rocky Bernard said. “When you hear it from a coach, it’s one thing, but when you’re hearing it from the leader of your team, it’s another. It was good for this football team for him to stand up and say what he said.

“When you have this type of atmosphere, this type of game, you just try to do everything as normal as you do during the year. Try not to get distracted, try to keep focus.”

“He should know more than anybody how hectic things can be,” Boothe said. “So I think his message was great and to the point. We had a couple days to take care of all that other stuff, the outside influences, but when we’re here, we’re preparing. We know that there’s going to be more things to mess with our schedule in Indianapolis. We need to prepare this week as if we’re playing, because our schedule will be a little bit altered next week.”

*Bernard played for the Seattle Seahawks when they lost Super Bowl XL to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Detroit. The sting of that defeat motivates him today.

“The feeling of losing – nobody remembers who was in the Super Bowl and lost,” Bernard said. “So, definitely, the motivation is to go in and win.

“It’s not a pretty sight, you know what I mean. You work so hard throughout the year. You end up short. It was a tough, tough loss.”

Bernard said players learn quickly that Super Sunday is unlike any other game day.

“The game was a different type of game, really,” he said. “You just have to prepare yourself. It’s a long day. You can’t get too excited too early.”

Bernard said the toughest part of the day was watching the Steelers celebrate their victory.

“You’re sitting on the bench, the confetti’s coming down – they tell you to hurry up and get off the field,” he said. “You don’t want to be there. It’s not a good feeling.”

*A reporter raised his voice to ask Manning what he said was “a two-part question.” The first part was, “Do you get tired of people asking you about your legacy?” Manning’s response was, “Can I say ‘yes’ and end that question?” He then gave what has become a standard response about trying to do his job and win a championship and paying no attention to the legacy talk.

*More Manning humor: He was asked what kind of impact his brother Peyton, the longtime quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, had on him for this game.

“He was very helpful in getting me some tickets to the game,” Manning said. “I think that’s one less thing that I have to worry about.”

*Seven Giants did not practice: Center David Baas (abdomen/neck), linebacker Chase Blackburn (calf), cornerback Will Blackmon (knee), running back Ahmad Bradshaw (foot), wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (shoulder), cornerback Corey Webster (hamstring) and linebacker Jacquian Williams (foot).

Coughlin said, “We are trying to be smart and not aggravate something that is there that will be able to be managed in a short amount of time and make sure that there is not anything else that happens.”

Baas and Blackman both said they expect to practice tomorrow.

“I got my neck issue and it should be fine,” Baas said. “I massage, ice, all the normal stuff. But (I) should be back out there tomorrow doing stuff.”

Defensive end Osi Umenyiora (ankle/knee) was limited. Safety Tyler Sash, who suffered a concussion in the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, passed all of the required medical tests and practiced fully.

For the second time in five seasons, the Giants have advanced to the Super Bowl with a thrilling overtime victory on the road in the conference title game. On Sunday in rainy and windy Candlestick Park, Lawrence Tynes kicked a 31-yard field goal with 7:54 elapsed in the extra period to give the Giants a 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The Giants will face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.

It will be the Giants’ fifth Super Bowl appearance. They are 3-1.

The game-winning kick was set up by an overtime takeaway when Devin Thomas recovered a Kyle Williams fumble that was forced by Jacquian Williams on a punt return.

“That was a tremendous football game for those that really enjoy football in its very basic element,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “It was just a classic football game.”

The scenario is eerily familiar to what occurred four years ago, when the Giants won the championship game on the road (at Green Bay) with an overtime takeaway (Corey Webster’s interception of a Brett Favre pass), setting up a game-winning field goal by Tynes (a 47-yarder), sending the Giants to a Super Bowl confrontation with the Patriots (whom they defeated, 17-14). Then, as now, the game is a rematch of a regular season meeting (the Giants won, 24-20, in New England on Nov. 6).

You can take it back further. In 2007, the Giants lost a home game to an inferior Washington Redskins team in Week 15 then won a road game at an AFC team (Buffalo) to catalyze their run (interrupted briefly by a three-point loss to undefeated New England in the regular season finale). In Week 15 this season, the Giants lost at home to last-place Washington. The next week they were the road team in a victory over the Jets. They haven’t lost since.

“I’m not surprised,” Coughlin said. “I’m delighted. I’m excited. At times it’s very difficult to contain yourself. Even this past week when the excitement of this thing was building up, the days seemed to be flying by and I was nervous that we were doing all we could possibly do to put ourselves in a position to win, but these guys have gone out and done it against the best we’ve played.”

Coughlin has done all he can to downplay similarities between the 2007 and 2011 seasons, but not even he can deny them now.

“I’m trying to fight it,” Coughlin said. “Osi (Umenyiora) sat next to me a minute in (the locker room) and he just looked at me with a smile on his face and he said, ‘Have you thought about how this is coming down? Do you realize that this is scary, because of the way that this is coming about?’”

“It’s the weirdest thing I think I’ve ever been a part of,” Umenyiora said. “I can’t really explain it. But I’m just going to go with it. It’s crazy how similar it is to what happened in 2007. It’s going to be a different game, but hopefully it will be the same outcome.”

Winning unforgettable title games is not a new endeavor for the Giants. Tynes’ field goal split the uprights at the same end of the Candlestick field where Matt Bahr kicked his game-winning 42-yarder as time expired in the 1990 NFC Championship Game.

That score was also set up by a late takeaway, when Erik Howard forced a fumble by Roger Craig that was recovered by Lawrence Taylor.

This time, two players normally out of the spotlight made the big play. The Giants punted on their first two overtime possessions. Kyle Williams fielded Steve Weatherford’s kick but had the ball knocked out of his hands by rookie Jacquian Williams. The ball was recovered by Thomas at the 49ers’ 24-yard line.

“I was going down there to make a big play, to attack,” Jacquian Williams said. “He gave me a move, a good move, and I stuck my hand out and knocked the ball out. I kept my eyes on the ball.”

“Jacquian, that’s my guy,” said defensive end Justin Tuck. “It was just a big play. We always talk about big players make big plays in big-time games. And Jacquian, for a rookie, that guy’s really stepped up for us this year. And the whole special teams unit. San Francisco is known for having a great special teams unit. I think we outplayed them.

In the fourth quarter, Thomas had recovered a Kyle Williams fumble on a punt, setting up Eli Manning’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham. The officials originally ruled that Williams didn’t touch the ball and that Thomas had merely downed it. Coughlin challenged the ruling and after review, referee Ed Hochuli changed the call to a fumble and a recovery. It was Coughlin’s first successful replay challenge in nine tries, dating back to Sept. 19 against St. Louis.

“I had a vision in my mind I was going to make a big play to help us win the game,” Thomas said. “At first I thought it was going to be that first fumble. But I got an opportunity to recover another one and I jumped on that. I go out and do everything I can do help this team win and thank God today I was able to recover two fumbles. And now we’re headed to the Super Bowl.”

The instant Jacquian Williams separated Kyle Williams from the ball, Thomas was there to secure it.

“I was glued in on the ball,” Thomas said. “It’s one of those things (where you say), ‘I can’t believe he just fumbled.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m right here.’ I made sure I secured it and no one was going to take it from me.”

Coughlin said he expected vital contributions from unexpected sources.

“I felt like someone that did not necessarily get the kudos and wasn’t someone that everyone’s familiar with as a guy who is a difference-maker – I felt someone like that would step up and make a big play,” Coughlin said. “Because it was needed. This was a game of field position, a game of turnovers. And we needed the special teams to help us in the field position aspect of it and in contributing in turnovers. And certainly we got two big ones.”

After Thomas’ recovery, the Giants still had to deal with the little matter of actually scoring the game-winning points. They went about it conservatively, running Ahmad Bradshaw three times. He gained 18 yards before Manning’s kneel-down put the ball at the eight. A delay of game penalty moved it back five yards before Tynes booted the game-winner – just as he had envisioned the previous night.

“It’s my second NFC Championship Game, my second game-winner,” Tynes said. “It’s amazing, I had a dream about this last night. It was from 42, not 31. But I was so nervous today before the game, just anticipating this kind of game. I’m usually pretty cool, but there was something about tonight where I knew I was going to have to make a kick.”

The Giants had many other big-time contributors. Despite being sacked six times, Manning threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns while setting Giants postseason records with 58 passes and 32 completions. The other touchdown was scored by Bear Pascoe (another one of Coughlin’s surprise big-play contributors), his first as a professional. Tynes kicked another field goal, also from 31 yards. Victor Cruz had 10 receptions for 142 yards, including eight for 125 in the first half. Weatherford had a 40.6-yard net average on a franchise postseason record 12 punts. Bradshaw totaled 126 yards from scrimmage, including 74 on the ground. Chase Blackburn, unemployed until the week after Thanksgiving, had a team-high seven tackles (five solo). Jason Pierre-Paul had six tackles (five solo), a half-sack and deflected a pass.

The 49ers scored on Alex Smith touchdown passes of 73 and 28 yards to tight end Vernon Davis and David Akers’ 25-yard field goal.

Manningham’s touchdown – on a third-and-15 – gave the Giants a 17-14 lead with 8:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. On the play, Manningham beat cornerback Tramaine Brock, who was substituting for the injured Tarrell Brown.

The Giants had to travel only 29 yards after Thomas’ first fumble recovery. The big play other than the touchdown was a 14-yard pass to Hakeem Nicks.

Kyle Williams’ 40-yard return on the ensuing kickoff enabled the 49ers to start their next possession at their own 45. On consecutive plays, Smith scrambled for 17 yards and Kendall Hunter ran for 18 more to put the ball on the Giants’ 15. But the defense tightened and when Webster stopped Michael Crabtree for a three-yard gain on third-and-five, Akers came on to kick the field goal.

Eight of the next nine possessions ended with a punt, the exception being Smith’s 29-yard pass to Delanie Walker on the final play of regulation.

Davis’ second touchdown gave the lead back to the Niners at 14-10 with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter.

On first down, Davis went in motion from right to left and got a step behind safety Kenny Phillips at the snap of the ball. Smith lofted a pass to the end zone that Davis caught before Webster could get over to attempt to break it up.

The 49ers’ three-play, 54-yard drive was set up by Kyle Williams’ 24-yard punt return. On second down, Smith slipped a short pass to Frank Gore, who turned it into a 24-yard gain. Davis scored on the next play.

Tynes’ 31-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the second quarter gave the Giants a 10-7 halftime lead.

The Giants took possession at their own 36 with 1:36 remaining and no timeouts. Manning so often thrives in those situations and he did so again, leading the Giants 56 yards down the field – all on passes to Cruz. The Giants lost five yards on a delay of game penalty.

Manning’s 13-yard throw to Cruz advanced the ball to the Niners’ 13-yard line. Manning spiked the ball with five seconds remaining and Tynes came on to kick the field goal.

In the half, the Giants outscored San Francisco, 199-144, had 12 first downs to the home team’s five and enjoyed a time of possession advantage of 18:03-11:57.

Pascoe’s touchdown tied the score at 7-7 with 11:15 remaining in the second quarter.

On second-and-six, Pascoe found a void in the Niners’ defense, caught Manning’s short pass at the three-yard line and stepped into the end zone for the touchdown. It was the first score of Pascoe’s three-year career and it came on his initial postseason reception – against the team that drafted him on the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

The score capped a 10-play, 69-yard drive that included a 36-yard pass to Cruz on third-and-six. Three plays later, Cruz’s six-yard catch on third-and-four gave the Giants another first down at the 17. Nicks’ eight-yard catch and Brandon Jacobs two-yard run set up a first-and-goal at the six. Two plays later, Manning found Pascoe for the touchdown.

Davis’ long touchdown reception gave the 49ers a 7-0 lead with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter.

On second-and-10 from the their own 27, Davis ran a pattern down the right sideline and got a step on safety Antrel Rolle. Davis caught Smith’s pass at the Giants’ 42-yard line, straddled the sideline and outraced the secondary to the end zone. Davis was very close to stepping out of bounds, but after review, Hochuli said not enough evidence existed to overturn the call on the field.

Davis was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct after jumping up in a camera stand to celebrate his touchdown.

On their ensuing drive, the Giants drove from their own 31 to the San Francisco 34-yard line, where they had a third-and-one. But they failed to get a first down despite two opportunities. On third down, Manning’s pass to Manningham fell short. Coughlin went for it on fourth down, but Jacobs was stopped for no gain on a run up the middle.

“It feels great, it was tough game,” Manning said. “We had to fight for every yard that we got. Defense is playing outstanding, special teams are getting us two turnovers. That was huge, leading to 10 points. They are a good team. Their defense is stout. They play smart, we couldn’t afford to make any mistakes and turn the ball over. We did a good job doing that. A couple were close, but it was a hard fought game. I’m just excited about this win, just excited about having another chance to go to the Super Bowl and play New England.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Notes and statistics from the Giants’ 20-17 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.

*The Giants improved to 5-0 in NFC championship games and advanced to Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots in Indianapolis on Feb. 5. It is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, won by the Giants, 17-14. The Giants also won the NFC title in 1986, 1990, 2000 and 2007.

*The Giants are 3-0 on the road in the NFC Championship Game, winning twice in San Francisco and once in Green Bay. It was the second time they defeated the 49ers in a championship in Candlestick Park on a last-play field goal. In the 1990 title game, Matt Bahr kicked a 42-yard field goal as time expired to give the Giants a 15-13 victory.

*The Giants defeated the Patriots, 24-20, in Foxboro on Nov. 6. They are 3-0 in Super Bowls against teams they faced in the regular season and 0-1 against a team they didn’t previously play (Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV).

*The Giants will be the 10^th franchise to play in at least five Super Bowls, joining San Francisco, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas, the Raiders, Washington, New England, Miami and Denver.

*Since they were 7-7, the Giants have won five consecutive games in which they’ve outscored their opponents 141-67.

*There have been five NFL/NFC championship games decided in overtime and the Giants have played in three of them. They lost the 1958 league championship game to the Baltimore Colts and defeated Green Bay in 2007 and San Francisco on Sunday in conference title games. The other NFC overtime games were Atlanta’s 30-27 victory at Minnesota in 1998 and New Orleans’ 31-28 triumph over the Vikings two years ago.

*The Giants played in a record 19^th championship game. Dallas is second with 16 title games. The Giants are 8-11 in championship title games – 3-11 in NFL Championship Games prior to the 1970 merger and 5-0 in NFC Championship Games after it (1986, 1990, 2000 and 2007).

*The Giants are the third team since the introduction of the 16-game schedule in 1978 to reach the Super Bowl after finishing the regular season with a 9-7 record. The 1979 Los Angeles Rams and 2008 Arizona Cardinals were 9-7. Both of those teams lost the Super Bowl to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

*This was the fourth time – and the first time in the NFC – a fourth seed and a second seed met for a conference championship since 1990, the first season a sixth playoff team was added in each conference. The No. 4 seeds are 4-0 in such games. The Giants joined the 1992 Buffalo Bills (defeated Miami), the 1997 Denver Broncos (defeated Pittsburgh) and the 2000 Baltimore Ravens (defeated Oakland) as No. 4 seeds that beat No. 2 seeds in conference title games. The Bills lost the Super Bowl, the Broncos and Ravens won it.

*The Giants won their fifth consecutive road playoff game (three in 2007 and two this year), an NFL record. They had shared the mark with Dallas (1975, 1978 and 1980 seasons) and matched by Carolina (2003 and 2005 seasons).

*This was the 47^th postseason game in the history of the Giants franchise. That is third-most in NFL history, behind Dallas (58 postseason games) and Pittsburgh (53).

*The Giants are 23-24 in the postseason. The 23 victories tie the Giants with Washington for sixth among NFL franchises.

*The Giants are 4-4 against San Francisco in the postseason. The four playoff victories is their highest total against any opponent. They have three against both Chicago and Green Bay.

*This was the eighth playoff game between the Giants and 49ers, tying an NFL record. The Giants and Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys and the Rams (when they were based in Los Angeles) have also met eight times in the postseason.

*The Giants-49ers postseason series is now tied 4-4. The regular season series is tied, 14-14. Total points in the 36 games: 49ers, 738; Giants, 729.

*The Giants are 7-10 in Candlestick Park – 5-6 in the regular season and 2-4 in the postseason.

*Since 1981 – their first post-merger playoff season – the Giants are 12-5 in postseason games against teams they faced in the regular season (including victories the last two weeks in Green Bay and San Francisco). They are 3-2 against the 49ers in such games.

*The Giants played an overtime period for the first time since Nov. 22, 2009, a 34-31 victory over Atlanta in Giants Stadium. It was the fourth postseason overtime game in franchise history. The Giants lost both home games (the 1958 NFL Championship Game to Baltimore and a 1989 Divisional Playoff Game to the Rams), but won both road games, including the 2007 NFC Championship Game in Green Bay.

*The Giants have won seven consecutive overtime games, including the two championship games, since their last loss on Nov. 27, 2005 at Seattle. The streak started on Dec. 11, 2005 at Philadelphia.

*Despite the wet and windy weather, the Giants did not have a turnover. It was the seventh consecutive game in which they did not lose a fumble, their longest such streak since 2008. The Giants did not commit a turnover in three of their last four games, including the regular season finale vs. Dallas. They have won their last eight games (regular season and postseason) in which they did not turn the ball over.

*The Giants’ time of possession of 39:36 was their highest in any game since they owned the ball for 42:34 in a 41-7 victory at Seattle on Nov. 7, 2010

*The Giants’ defense held San Francisco to one successful third down conversion on 13 tries – and that was on the final play of the fourth quarter, when the Niners snapped the ball from their own 38 and the Giants were playing back to prevent a miracle.

*Tom Coughlin improved to 11-7 as a head coach in postseason games. The 11 victories tie him with three coaches, including two former Giants coaches, for the seventh-highest total in NFL history:

Coaches Postseason Victories:

20: Tom Landry

19: Don Shula

17: Bill Belichick, Joe Gibbs

16: Chuck Noll

13: Mike Holmgren

12: Bill Cowher

11: Tom Coughlin, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Marv Levy

Coughlin and Belichick are the only two active coaches on the list and will face each other in Super Bowl XLVI..

*The victory in San Francisco was Coughlin’s seventh on the road as a head coach, tying Hall of Famer Tom Landry for the most in NFL history. Coughlin is 7-4 on the road in the playoffs (5-1 with the Giants). Landry was 7-7.

*Coughlin’s seventh postseason victory with the Giants is one less than Parcells’ Giants’ record. Parcells was 8-3, a record Coughlin will match with a victory in the Super Bowl.

*In his 16-year head coaching career, Coughlin has 142 regular season victories and 11 postseason triumphs. The 153 victories tie him with Giants Hall of Fame coach Steve Owen for 18^th place on the NFL’s career list. Marv Levy is 17^th with 154.

*Coughlin is 2-2 conference championship games, losing twice in Jacksonville in the AFC Championship Game and winning twice with the Giants.

*Eli Manning improved to 7-3 as a starting quarterback in the postseason, including 5-1 on the road. The five road postseason victories are an NFL record. Manning had been tied with five other quarterbacks, including Baltimore’s Joe Flacco, whose Ravens lost the AFC Championship Game Sunday in New England. Note: Elias Sports Bureau counts Super Bowls as neutral site games.

*Manning completed 32 of 58 passes for 316 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The attempts and completions both shattered the Giants’ previous postseason records – both, ironically, which had been set in San Francisco. The record for attempts was 44 by Phil Simms on Dec. 29, 1984. The completions mark had been 29 by Kerry Collins on Jan. 5, 2003. The 33 completions also tied Manning with five other quarterbacks – including his brother, Peyton – for the fourth-highest total in a postseason game.

*Manning’s 316 yards were the second-highest total of his postseason career; he threw for 330 yards in the divisional playoff victory in Green Bay. It is the fourth-highest postseason total in Giants history. Manning is the first quarterback in Giants postseason history with back-to-back 300-yard games.

*Manning now owns the franchise postseason records for passes (316), completions (190), completion percentage (60.13), yards (2,220) and touchdown passes (16).

*Manning was sacked six times, the most times he’s been tackled attempting to pass since Dec. 14, 2008, when he was sacked eight times in a loss in Dallas. It’s the most times he was sacked in a Giants victory since Sept. 17, 2006, when he went down eight times in an overtime win in Philadelphia.

*Manning, the first overall selection of the 2004 NFL Draft, and Alex Smith, the first choice of the 2005 draft, were the starting quarterbacks. It was the second time since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger that both starting quarterbacks in a conference championship game were number one overall picks in an NFL draft. The other time it happened was the 1998 AFC Championship Game on Jan. 17, 1999 when Denver’s John Elway and the Jets’ Vinny Testaverde were the quarterbacks. The Broncos won, 23-10.

*Victor Cruz caught 10 passes for 142 yards (including eight for 125 yards in the first half). The 10 receptions tied Cruz with Ike Hilliard for the second-highest total by a Giant in a postseason game. The record of 11 was set by Plaxico Burress in the 2007 NFC Championship Game in Green Bay. The 10 catches ties Cruz with three other players, including Hilliard, for the third-highest total ever in a championship game.

*Cruz’s 142 yards was the fifth-highest postseason total in Giants history and was nine yards behind Burress’ 151 in Green Bay, which is fourth.

*Hakeem Nicks caught five passes for 55 yards. In three postseason games he has 18 receptions for 335 yards. The 18 catches is tied for the second-highest total by a Giant in a single postseason (Burress had 18 in 2007). The record of 21 was set by Amani Toomer in 2007. Cruz has 17 receptions this postseason.

*Nicks’ 355 yards in just three career postseason games is good for third on the Giants’ list. Mark Bavaro is second with 366 postseason receiving yards.

*Nicks is averaging 18.6 yards per catch, easily besting the former Giants records of 13.9 held by Frank Gifford (17 catches for 236 yards) for receivers with at least 15 receptions.

*Tight end Bear Pascoe scored his first NFL touchdown on his first postseason catch, a six-yarder in the second quarter.

*Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 74 yards on 20 carries. He increased his career postseason rushing total to 408 yards, which places him third in franchise history. Brandon Jacobs, who rushed for 13 yards vs. the 49ers, is second with 424. Joe Morris is first with 553.

*Bradshaw has 94 postseason rushing attempts and his 4.34 postseason yards-per-carry average is the highest in Giants history (minimum 50 attempts).

*The Giants sacked San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith three times for losses totaling 18 yards. Justin Tuck had 1.5 sacks. Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul and Mathias Kiwanuka each had a half-sack. Umenyiora has 3.5 sacks in three 2011 postseason games and 5.5 in his postseason career.

*Lawrence Tynes kicked two field goals (including the game-winning 31-yarder with 7:54 elapsed in overtime) and two extra points. The eight points increased his Giants postseason record total to 52. Tynes also owns the franchise postseason records for extra points attempted and made (17 each), field goal attempts (15) and field goals (11).

*Steve Weatherford punted 12 times, tying David Lee of the Baltimore Colts (in a 1977 AFC Divisional Playoff) for the second-highest total in NFL postseason history. The record of 14 was set by Jets punter – and former Giant – Dave Jennings in a 1986 divisional playoff game. All three games went into overtime. The former Giants postseason record was 11 punts by Brad Maynard against the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV.

*The team record for punts in a postseason game is 13 vs. Chicago on Dec. 17, 1933.

*Weatherford’s 557 punting yards easily outdistances the former postseason record of 422, set by Maynard in the Super Bowl 11 years ago.

*Devin Thomas recovered two punt return fumbles by Kyle Williams, the first setting up Manning’s touchdown pass to Manningham, the second leading to Tynes’ game-winning 31-yard field goal.

On the first of the two recoveries, the officials originally ruled that Williams didn’t touch the ball and that Thomas had simply downed it. But Coughlin challenged the ruling, which was reversed by referee Ed Hochuli after replays showed clearly that the ball had hit Williams in the leg. Coughlin had lost his previous eight replay challenges. He had last won a challenge on Sept. 19 in a victory over St. Louis.

*The fumble that led to Tynes’ game-winner was forced by rookie linebacker Jacquian Williams, his first career forced fumble.

*Manning, Jacobs, Chris Snee, David Diehl and Kareem McKenzie all played in their 10^th Giants postseason game, which tied them with Michael Strahan and Simms for the third-highest total in franchise history. Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora each played in their ninth postseason game.

*The Giants won the coin toss and Coughlin elected to defer for the second time this season; he also did it in the regular season finale vs. Dallas.

*Center David Baas, a former 49er, suffered an abdominal contusion in the second quarter, forcing Kevin Boothe to replace him and Mitch Petrus to step in at left guard. Baas returned later in the quarter.

*A trio of former Giants representing each of their Super Bowl championship teams – Mark Bavaro, Michael Strahan and Rich Seubert – served as honorary captains for the NFC Championship Game.

*The Giants’ inactive players were linebacker Mark Herzlich, wide receiver Ramses Barden, running back Da’Rel Scott, offensive linemen Jim Cordle and James Brewer and defensive linemen Jimmy Kennedy and Justin Trattou.

This article was written by Michael Eisen and Scott Mandel.

Oh yeah, to add further insult, the Nuggets were led tonight by former Knick fan favorite, Danilo Gallinari, who outscored Anthony in a head-to-head matchup with 37 points (to Anthony’s 25 on 10 for 30 shooting) and generally outplayed Knicks owner, Jim Dolan’s huge in-season 2011 acquisition.

“It’s special not just for me but I think for everybody,” said Gallinari, who was loudly cheered. “Whenever you come to the Garden to play, you always find extra motivation and it’s always special.”

The three key players tonight for Nuggets coach George Karl, as it turned out were all former Knicks, each getting extra satisfaction from coming into New York and showing Knicks fans, D’Antoni, and especially, Dolan what a huge mistake they may have made last year to essentially gut the Knicks roster to acquire an ultra-talented player in Anthony who may prove not to be a fit with D’Antoni’s offensive schemes.

Al Harrington, the former Knicks forward, scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime for the Nuggets, allowing them to withstand Anthony’s attempt to rally the Knicks after his poor shooting had them behind until the final minutes of regulation.

And then there was Timofey Mozgov, a little used 7-foot center for the Knicks last year who was essentially a throw-in in the Anthony trade. All Mozgov did tonight was to outplay Amar’e Stoudemire in the first half, outscoring “Stat” 10 to 6, shooting 5 of 8 from the field and blocking two shots for good measure. He consistently beat Stoudemire down the court for open layups, something that seems to be happening with increasing frequency with Stoudemire so far this season.

Denver has been playing very well this season, having come into the game with an 11-5 record. The Knicks season, thus far, has been an unmitigated disaster.  As D’Antoni surely realizes (but he won’t publically admit to), he doesn’t have an NBA-grade point guard to orchestrate the talent on this roster.

Besides Gallinari, the Knicks’ lottery pick in 2009, the Nuggets also got Mozgov, point guard Raymond Felton, and Wilson Chandler who all were among the Knicks’ top six players. That’s a lot to give up even for a potent scorer like Anthony — too much, many Knicks fans thought, and there were reports former team president Donnie Walsh did, too, but he was overruled by Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan.

The lack of depth has been crippling this season, where the Knicks have no reliable scorer beyond Anthony and Stoudemire. The Nuggets, meanwhile, thrive because of their balance, with a number of players capable of leading them in scoring.

And though Denver general manager Masai Ujiri said after the deal that the Nuggets “got killed,” they’ve been much better since the deal. Denver is 30-12 in the regular season since the trade, while New York fell to just 20-24.

Anthony, who spent the first 7 1/2 years of his career with the Nuggets before they granted him a trade, was on his way to a nightmare first game against them. He threw away a pass that Gallinari turned into the tiebreaking layup with 5:19 left in regulation, committed an offensive foul on his next possession that Nene followed with a dunk for a four-point lead, and Denver was up six with under 2 1/2 minutes remaining.

But Anthony finally got going with some drives to the basket, and after Gallinari managed only one free throw with 7.3 seconds left, Anthony made a jumper with three defenders around him to tie it at 98 with 1.7 seconds to go.

His 3-pointer with 2:33 left in the first OT snapped a 100-all tie, and after Andre Miller tied it with a desperation 3 to beat the shot clock, Anthony knocked in a jumper to put New York back ahead with 1:02 remaining. It stayed that way until Nene was fouled grabbing the rebound of Anthony’s missed jumper with 9.2 seconds left, making both free throws to tie it again.

Anthony lost the ball out of bounds with 0.3 seconds left, and the Knicks dodged a bullet when Miller’s lob pass to an unguarded Corey Brewer hit the rim and bounced away, setting up another OT.

The Knicks led for the final time at 111-110 on Anthony’s jumper with 1:38 to play, but Gallinari made two free throws and Harrington hit a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 115-111 with 46 seconds to go.

“We had a chance to win, it’s all about winning with me,” Stoudemire said. “It’s not about numbers, it’s not about shots. It’s just about winning. So we had a chance to win, we had momentum going, just couldn’t pull it out.”

In his post-game press conference, D’Antoni had the appearance of a beaten-down man for the first time this season, as any coach of a team with a huge payroll, very high expectations, and a frontline of all-stars would have after a fifth straight loss to an inferior team.

“There are no magic words and no magic potion,” he said. “We are just not playing well. We have to play much more aggressive and get through this.”

With their record dropping to 6-9, there indeed, does not appear to be any magic formula available to right this ship. Right now, this is a roster of mismatched talents and possibly, a mismatched coach whose offensive system focuses on ball movement and taking quick shots when a player is open. The type of talent Jim Dolan has acquired, namely Carmelo Anthony, finds itself at loggerheads with D’Antoni’s teachings. It seems that once Anthony’s hands touch the ball, it has a very difficult time leaving those hands. In D’Antoni’s offensive sets, Anthony is turning into a veritable black hole from which his teammates are unable to get return passes.

D’Antoni’s frustration showed after the game.

“We are hesitating on everything and not really attacking,” he said. “So far, we don’t have a life line. Offensively, we are a wreck. They made shots, they played well but we can’t give up 100 points.”

The Knicks shooting woes continued. They shot just 37% from the field (27-73) and just 27% (6-22) from the 3-point stripe. They also turned the ball over 25 times.

Despite scoring 35 points, Carmelo Anthony continues to shoot more like Greg Anthony, the old Knick point guard who couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a jump shot. He missed 15 of 26 shots. He’s made just 25 of his last 75 shots over the last three games, which he has played with an injured left wrist and injured right ankle.

To put a perfect ending on a miserable night, Anthony was thrown out of the game after picking up his second technical foul when he got into it with Brandon Jennings with 1:33 to play.

I don’t know, I can’t put my finger on it,” said Anthony. “It hurts the way we are losing. Tonight, frustration  set in, especially with me. At this point, we have to man up and play.”

Interestingly,  Anthony’s view of the Knicks offensive problems differed from those expressed by the other superstar on this team, Amar’e Stoudemire. Those differences may bear watching as this season goes along.

“I think guys are getting the ball in the right position and the right shots but we are having a hard time making shots right now,” Anthony said. “That gets frustrating out there. You don’t have the confidence of shooting the next shot, the next wide open shot. It makes the whole situation that much more strenuous.”

Although Stoudemire put up 15 points and 11 rebounds,  he is not playing like the Stat of old, on either side of the floor and his frustration is beginning to show. He particularly does not think he is getting the ball in the right spots, contradicting what Anthony said.

“Right now, it is not a beautiful feeling,” said Stoudemire. “We are not taking care of home court. Offensively, we played well in the first half and in the second half, we went back to not doing what we want. We have to figure it out.”

“We have to do a better job offensively. We have to make sure the tempo is up, we have to get out and go, and we have to move the ball around,” Stoudemire said. “We have to keep that consistency so guys know where their shots are coming from. Right now, guys have no idea where their shots are coming from and when they do get it, they’re surprised they have it and they rush into a shot. It creates low percentage shooting.”

“Most great players know where their shots are coming and they work on those shots in practice repetitively.”

You get the feeling from watching the man in his post-game press conferences that he is getting ready to explode if the wins don’t start coming.

“Right now, we have to stay together,” he said. “It is never fun losing but the last thing you want to do is point fingers. We have to stay together as a team and work things out.”

Tonight was also the first time the Garden crowd, which has been very supportive of D’Antoni in his time here, began to start a chant of “Fire D’Antoni,” something Knicks fans heard plenty of when Isiah Thomas was manning the sidelines. The booing started to reach a crescendo not heard around here in a couple of years.

“Half my family is probably booing right now,” said D’Antoni. “It goes with the territory when you aren’t playing well.”

If the Knicks continue with this brand of basketball, D’Antoni will find out a lot more than booing goes with the territory in this town, where expectations always seem to be greater.

Then, Shannon Brown crushed the Knicks with a 3-pointer that nearly bounced over the basket before bouncing in, a shot as ugly as this game.

“Probably about par for the course,” Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said.

Nash had 26 points and 11 assists, and the Suns snapped a five-game losing streak with a 91-88 victory over the Knicks on Wednesday night.

Brown and Grant Hill each scored 14 points for the Suns, who bounced back from an embarrassing 118-97 loss to a Chicago team without Derrick Rose a night earlier.

They got help with a lucky bounce on Brown’s 3-pointer from the corner that bounced off the rim, then the top of the center of the basket before falling in to give them a five-point lead with 35 seconds left. Nash made it stand up with six free throws in the last 16 seconds.

Gentry said Nash, who shot 9 of 12, is playing as well as he did in his MVP seasons under D’Antoni. Nash said playing his former coach and teammate Amare Stoudemire, in the city where he lives in the summer, was “a homecoming in some ways” but denied any extra significance in beating them.

“Right now, we could have beat anybody and it’d be sweet,” Nash said. “It’s been a tough year, we’ve had a tough stretch, so for us, any win is a huge relief and hopefully will give us some confidence and maybe get us going a little bit.”

Stoudemire scored 23 points for the Knicks, who have lost four straight and can’t find answers for their offensive struggles.

“I know we’re 6-8, I know we’re in a little bit of a crisis here,” D’Antoni said. “But we’re playing hard, playing good defense. There’s some good things we’re doing. We’ve just got to figure out the one part and that’s the part that should be easiest. It’s become a problem, and if we solve it, we’ll be pretty good. We just have to do it sooner rather than later.”

Iman Shumpert added 20 points and Landry Fields had 17, but Carmelo Anthony, perhaps still bothered by a sore left wrist, shot just 5 of 22 while finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Anthony did not speak to the media. A Knicks spokesman said he left because of a family issue.

Hill hit jumpers for the Suns’ last three baskets of the third quarter, giving them a 64-61 edge. The Knicks then managed just two field goals in the first six minutes of the fourth, and Phoenix finally got some room when a 10-4 run, ending with consecutive baskets by Brown, made it 78-71.

Shumpert’s 3-pointer cut it to 82-80 before Brown answered with his 3 from the corner that had to be reviewed.

“I got a good look at the basket. I feel it had enough air under it and it was soft enough where it hit the basket and went up and it fell in,” Brown said. “I knew it was a big shot.”

“Just trying to help my team win and today I was part of it,” Brown added after scoring nine in the fourth quarter. “We lost a whole bunch in a row and it’s good that we got a win.”

Shumpert made another 3, but Nash kept hitting from the line, and it ended when Shumpert’s rushed 3 from near midcourt was nowhere near the basket.

Tyson Chandler grabbed 17 rebounds for the Knicks on a night there were plenty of missed shots as both teams showed why they have been struggling so much early in the season.

The surprising culprits have been the team’s offenses, with both struggling just to reach 90 points during their skids. That’s particularly hard to imagine in Phoenix, where the Suns remained potent long after D’Antoni brought his high-powered system to New York, and comes just a year after the teams combined for 250 points here in the Suns’ 129-121 victory.

“That’s pretty ironic you know, because obviously most of the things we do is what Mike did when he was there,” Gentry said before the game. “There’s a few things that we’ve changed, but it’s kind of a mystery to me. I can’t put my finger on the fact that we’re struggling to get to 100 every game. I thought that would be one of the areas where we’d have the least worries and it’s become just the opposite.”

Gentry shook up his rotation in an effort to balance things after noticing the Suns were 27th in the NBA in second-quarter scoring. Rookie Markieff Morris made his first start at forward and Ronnie Price got the nod at shooting guard.

Turns out he didn’t the extra scoring, because the Knicks remained in a seemingly season-long shooting slump.

It was the sixth straight game the Knicks failed to reach 100 points, their second-longest streak under D’Antoni, according to STATS, LLC. They went seven games in a row early in the 2009-10 season, when they had little talent while clearing cap space for free agency.

Now they have All-Star talent in Stoudemire and Anthony, but the offense just isn’t running smoothly without a veteran point guard. They are hoping that when Baron Davis finally is ready from a herniated disc in his back sometime around the end of the month that he can change that.

“We can’t keep making excuses,” Stoudemire said. “We need to start pushing forward and get over the hump offensively.”

This article was provided by Associated Press.

Right?

After today’s Martin Luther King matinee at the Garden against the Orlando Magic, in which the Magic used a 29-18 last quarter advantage to defeat the Knicks, 102-93, it is apparent the troubling aspects surrounding the configuration of this Knicks roster in the earliest stages of the season are still very much in play, here in the middle of January.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, those troubling aspects seem to be on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court, which pretty much covers all elements of a basketball game.

Today’s defensive deficiencies allowed Ryan Anderson, who used to be a number one draft choice of the New Jersey Nets three years ago before getting traded to the Magic, to score a career-high 30 points. It was probably the easiest 30 he’s ever scored at any level of his playing career.

Hitting a career-best seven three pointers (on 13 attempts from behind the stripe), Anderson looked like he was in the gym all alone, practicing nice, easy unrushed jumpers from trey-land. The 6’10” California kid has always been a pretty good shooter but the way the Knicks were NOT guarding him, especially in the final quarter when the game was up for grabs,  makes it look like something is definitely broken in the way the Knicks are being coached to play on the defensive side. Or, the personnel mix is not quite right to develop a consistent defensive initiative.

On the offensive side, despite having a frontcourt of All-Stars in Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and newly-signed center, Tyson Chandler, the Knicks lack of a facilitator does not look to be a temporary issue. More accurately, that too, looks like a personnel issue.

With Toney Douglas, Mike Bibby, and rookie Iman Shumpert sharing the point, D’Antoni does not have a natural point guard to distribute the ball, manage the offense, get others good shots in positions where they can succeed. Bibby’s performances thus far have made it pretty clear the Knicks will be pulling the plug on the veteran in a relatively short time while Douglas has never had the instincts of a floor general or the ability to penetrate and dish to open shooters. Shumpert is talented, tall, and athletic but has never played the point. At this stage of his career, despite D’Antoni’s attempts to force-feed the kid into the lineup, he is not an NBA point guard.

That leaves all the Knicks hopes and dreams of a successful 2011-12 season resting on the shoulders and the most vulnerable back problems of one Baron Davis, the point guard in waiting who is rehabbing his not so small problem with a herniated disc in his lower back. Davis, a great offensive talent who could score and create with the best of the NBA point guards is now 32-years old and not quite as quick as he used to be. Still, if healthy, he is a significant improvement over the troika of players the Knicks are using to fill in.

“We are not making shots right now,” said Anthony after today’s game. “It seems like we can’t shoot the ball in the ocean right now. We get shots but we can’t score the basketball. I don’t know what it is. We just got to get out of this shooting slump.”

The question of whether this is a “slump,” as Anthony puts it, is up for discussion. The offensive meshing has not happened yet for this Knicks offense, and it is looking as if it may not happen because this roster is comprised of a bunch of mismatched talents. Despite the dominant names in the front court, the basketball has been like velcro, it’s sticky. There is little ball movement to finding the open man for an easy shot, always a hallmark of D’Antoni-coached teams.  The leading scorers (Anthony and Stoudemire)  are isolation-type players who get the ball and rarely pass it back. Anthony, who shot 9 of 27 today, a putrid 33% from the field, can be a veritable black hole. Once the ball sees his hands, nobody else on his team will ever touch it on any given possession.

The weakness lies in the lack of a point guard to balance Anthony from being a finisher as opposed to being a creator,taking down the efficiency of the offense several notches.

Ryan Anderson making 7 out of 13 threes. That’s a lot. When you have guys like Ryan Anderson scoring 30 points, there is no way you are going to beat them.”

It’s definitely a tough loss for us,” said Stoudemire. “Basically, it’s my fault. I’m taking all the blame for tonight’s loss. I got into foul trouble. I didn’t get many minutes in the first half. It definitely won’t happen again. I was ready to rock. In the fourth quarter, I was telling myself they can’t keep a good man down. I was amped up and ready to go in the fourth quarter. Again, it’s my fault we lost the game.”

He admired Orlando’s offense tonight after the game. He also seemed to be admiring their offense while he was on the floor, trying to guard Anderson.

“That’s how you play the game,” he said. “You move the ball the way Orlando did tonight, and you get open shots. Tonight, they did a great job of moving the ball and also knocking down open shots. You have to give those guys respect on how they played tonight. They played great.”

It ‘s not great right now, offensively. We can do a better job of playing offensively but I think it’s just a matter of us having the energy on the defensive end, really getting after it, really having confidence and it should grow offensively. We’ll figure it out.”

I’m trying to figure it out. It’s somewhat early but I’m still trying to figure out my areas on offense. It takes a little time but I’m staying with it, staying focused, staying confident and working through it even though I’m having a little bad stretch here. But I’m staying confident, and continuing to work on my game. I worked extremely hard this summer, as hard as I’ve ever worked before. I have confidence that hard work will pay off.”

On the other end, they aren’t getting stops. Stoudemire has never been a good one on one defender, not getting out to open shooters, not contesting shots at the rim except Tyson Chandler. Mike Woodson, brought in as an associate head coach in charge of defense, has not worked out, for whatever reason. Whether D’Antoni has decided to make sure only his voice, a decidedly offensive-oriented voice, is what the Knicks players will hear, the defensive effort and the lack of chemistry is still very much in evidence, 13 games into the season.

Baron Davis is getting ready to practice with the Knicks after rehabbing his herniated disk in his back. That shouldn’t give Knicks fans any hope as far as this team’s ability to stop other teams from scoring. Davis is a tremendous offensive talent but he is also a shoot first point guard who has been gifted at getting his own shot. For a team that needs to move the ball around, get people easy buckets and wide-open looks at the basket, having another mismatched player in whose hands the ball goes in but never comes back out is problematical. One gets the sense D’Antoni knows what troubles are ahead for him and his staff.

Again, it’s still early in the season but with a 66-game schedule, it’s not quite as early as it seems.

But Anthony knew when it was close at the end, somebody would make a play.

And he was one, making the tiebreaking basket with 2:39 left and scoring 22 points as the New York Knicks avenged an embarrassing loss to the Charlotte Bobcats with a 91-87 victory Monday night.

“It was just a will to win out there tonight,” Anthony said. “Shots was going in and out, we wasn’t making shots, myself, Amare,” Anthony said. “We shot 30-something percent from the field, so we had to grind it out on the defensive end and then crunch time we had to make something do.”

Stoudemire shot 7 of 25 but had 25 points and 12 rebounds, while Tyson Chandler finished with 20 points and 13 boards. Anthony, perhaps still bothered by a sore lower back, was only 6 of 18 from the field, but scored eight of the Knicks’ final nine points.

Iman Shumpert scored 16 points for the Knicks, who won their third straight since a 118-110 home loss to the Bobcats last Wednesday. New York still figures it will score like it did that night and defend like it did in this one.

“There’s going to be definitely nights where we’ve got to lean on our defense, but I think once we start clicking we’ll be in the upper 100s and these games will be blowouts,” Chandler said.

Boris Diaw had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Bobcats, who dropped their third in a row since that victory at Madison Square Garden. He scored a season-high 27 points in that game.

“They did play better than they played against us last week,” Diaw said. “It was more of a defensive game tonight. They adapted from what we did in the first game.”

The Knicks defended much better in the rematch but almost wasted it as they struggled to finish around the basket all night. They made just two field goals in the opening nine minutes of the fourth quarter, and D.J. Augustin’s 3-pointer tied it at 82 with 2:57 remaining.

Anthony drove for the go-ahead basket with 2:39 to go, then was credited with another field goal on a goaltending call about a minute later. A jumper by Gerald Henderson was followed by a free throw by Anthony and one by Landry Fields to make it 88-84 with 13 seconds remaining.

Augustin’s 3-pointer from the corner cut it to one with 10 seconds to go, but he missed a chance to tie it again with 3.7 to go after Anthony made two free throws with 8.6 seconds to go.

“The last play of the game we got a wide-open 3 from our best 3-point shooter. So I can’t fault us at all for the effort,” coach Paul Silas said.

DJ White scored 15 points and Henderson had 14 for the Bobcats, who opened a stretch of five games in six nights. Augustin had 12 points but shot just 4 of 13, missing six of his nine 3-pointers.

The Bobcats’ points and 55 percent shooting were the highest allowed this season by the Knicks, who insisted they were committed to playing better defense after acquiring Chandler. But a crowd that was buzzing that night with the returns of Stoudemire and Shumpert from injuries was booing the Knicks by the second half.

“We did play an excellent game, but they’re going to come at us with a vengeance tonight, no question in my mind,” Silas said before the game, “because I don’t know if they took us for granted or not a little bit, but I know tonight they’re going to really go all out to show us that we don’t belong with them.”

But the Bobcats came out looking capable of a repeat, breaking out to a 10-0 start. The Knicks regrouped to take a 24-21 lead after one quarter, extended it to a nine-point advantage midway through the second, and were up 50-45 at halftime.

The Knicks finally put a charge into the crowd midway through the third. Shumpert threw down a dunk after a steal, then Chandler bolted into the lane to catch and slam down a lob pass from Anthony. Chandler then made a pair of free throws for the Knicks’ first double-digit lead of the game at 69-59 with 4:33 remaining.

“They played a lot better in this game,” Silas said. “They played tougher defense. They really played us hard and tough, and last game they didn’t really play us that tough.”

This article was provided by Associated Press

Woodson, who played for Bobby Knight at Indiana University and for Red Holzman when he was the Knicks number one draft choice in 1974 surely learned the defensive end of the business from two of the legendary practitioners of the art of guarding ones’ man while seeing where the ball was moving.

To this point in the 2011-12 season, whatever it is Woodson is teaching hasn’t been learned, yet. The Knicks went down at home tonight for the second consecutive game, 118-110, losing to a struggling Charlotte Bobcats team that had lost four in a row coming into tonight’s game. The Knicks allowed the Bobcats to shoot 55% from the field, including 64% from the three-point stripe. It was an utterly pathetic defensive performance against a team that came into the Garden playing on the second night of back-to-back games, having lost badly last night to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-101.

Boris Diaw, who seems to have been in the league since the beginning of last decade, drilled outside shots without anyone in his face, scoring 27 points, four shy of his career high. Diaw hit a nice, leisurely 12 of 15 shots, getting all the time in the world to sink jumpers as whoever was guarding him seemed to feel badly for the old man. On the previous night, against the Cavs, Diaw had a different sort of game, scoring zero in 18 foul-ridden minutes.

“They were making unbelievable shots,” said Amar’e Stoudemire. “We played well offensively but on defense, we had a few let downs and they got hot in the fourth quarter.”

Which game was Stoudemire watching? In the first half, Charlotte put up 62 points, hitting more than half their shots and two thirds of their three-point attempts. Whether it was due to poor Knicks defense or their own great shot-making, the Bobcats certainly didn’t just get hot in the fourth quarter, as Stoudemire seemed to think.

Carmelo Anthony seemed to take the loss a little harder.

“That hurt. I mean it hurts to lose games like that,” he said. “To dig ourselves a hole like that and try to fight back every time takes a toll on everyone. It’s just a matter of us being comfortable with one another, and trusting each other on the defensive end.”

Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert came back much sooner from a sprained knee ligament than the 2-4 weeks that were projected and said he felt fine. However, the youngster notices the lack of defensive intensity.

“I think we’re just not up in people early in possessions,” he said. “We let people get their confidence going, they get that swagger. They get into their rhythm. We can play good defense when we want to. I think we have to start being more aggressive earlier.”

Never was better advice uttered by a rookie with just five games under his professional belt. Maybe that’s what Woodson is trying to teach this team. So far, it doesn’t appear to be sinking in with his students, whose record fell to 2-4 overall, 1-2 at home.