The Knicks are on fire right now, and punishing the KG and Rondo-less Celtics from beyond the arc. First half alone they hit 11 of 17 triples. Carmelo has 18 already, and the red hot J.R. Smith is handing out the pipe. In an ironic twist, Mr. Smith has 11 points at the half, none of which have come from three. In fact, he hasn’t even attempted one yet. Apparently his new strategy of getting to the rim is for real, because the old J.R. would be on this 3-point train like a boxcar hobo running from some lady he just stole a pie from.

In the first minute of last night’s Oklahoma City Thunder-New York Knicks game, Russell Westbrook stripped Raymond Felton and went the other way for an easy two points. Or at least what should have been an easy two points, and instead turned into an airballed finger roll.

Raymond Felton can’t seem to get it together when he plays the Nets. In his two games against Brooklyn thus far this season, he has shot a combined 6-31, scored 16 points and turned the ball over 12 times. In the final minutes of last night’s nail-biter, Felton came off of a Tyson Chandler screen and pulled up for a jumper. Except the ball didn’t go towards the basket, per se – it just kind of went, uh, up.

J.R. Smith does incredible things and incredibly stupid things. The Knicks beat the Bobcats last night 100-98, and J.R. Smith did his best to be incredible and incredibly stupid on consecutive plays.

It’s not a rare sight to see a Raymond Felton-Tyson Chandler alley-oop these days, but during last night’s game against the Miami Heat, the play was especially important. No Carmelo Anthony, no Amar’e Stoudemire, no Iman Shumpert. The Knicks were shorthanded, but no matter – Raymond Felton went off for 27 points and 7 assists in New York’s 112-92 victory, the second 20-point win over Miami this season.

The Trail Blazers beat the Hornets in Portland last night, 99-93. In that sense, the home crowd left the Rose Garden feeling good. But what’s a win when it’s measured against the missed opportunity of a shot at Taco Bell? A crowd’s shattered dreams, after the jump.