New York Knicks Crush Utah Jazz

The New York Knicks knew that these games would happen. That there would be times when the combination of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire would overwhelm opponents and they could cruise to big victories. One of those games came last night against the Utah Jazz. The Knicks got out to a big lead in the first and never looked back, winning 131-109.

Anthony was coming of a poor shooting performance in Atlanta on Sunday night due to blurry vision and a migraine he suffered after being poked in the eye. He was on fire Monday, scoring 34 points. Stoudemire added 31 points of his own as the two superstars missed only seven shots the entire night to finish a combined 24 of 31 before sitting out the last quarter.

The Knicks also got 20 points from Toney Douglas, who is still starting for the injured Chauncey Billups to help them move into sixth place in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Jazz got another strong effort from Al Jefferson, who scored 36 points and had 12 rebounds but looked listless and uninterested as the game progressed. They were the ninth seed in the Western Conference to start the game, but have lost nine of their last eleven. Their decline may be linked to the retirement of coach Jerry Sloan and departure of point guard Deron Williams in a trade.