Knicks Terrific Comeback Falls Just Short in Utah

Jeffries, playing his best all-around game of the season, helped the Knicks rally from a 24-point deficit to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter, but in the end, the Jazz were too much to overcome at home in Monday’s 112-104 loss in the second game of a three-game road trip.

“Jared was the catalyst,” said Al Harrington, who scored a game-high 24 points. “We kind of picked up off his energy and then everybody got involved. He did a good job of getting us going and everybody followed his lead.”

Jeffries did a little bit of everything in the boxscore to nearly help his team complete its biggest comeback of the season, tallying 11 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. But more importantly, he was solid on the defensive end, especially on Utah point guard Deron Williams.

After recording 18 points and eight assists in the first half alone, Williams was limited to 24 and 13 in the game. The Knicks also outrebounded the Jazz by nine in the second half to match them with 34 boards for the game.

“I thought Jared Jeffries did an unbelievable job on Deron Williams, and we switched inside and were able to muddle everything up,” D’Antoni said of his team’s defensive effort in the second half. “From there somehow we got energy because we were scoring the ball and they weren’t scoring every time. I think that picked our spirits up. Jared kind of keyed everything.”

It was a tale of two halves for New York, which trailed by 21 at halftime and by as many as 24 less than a minute into the third quarter. Jeffries, who D’Antoni says is also improving on offense, scored seven points in the third quarter as the Knicks outscored Utah 32-19 in the period to get back in the game.

The Knicks remained in control through the beginning of the fourth quarter and eventually took a one-point lead with 7:05 left to play, but the Jazz quickly countered with an 11-3 run of their own and held on the rest of the way.

“We didn’t come out and play that well early on,” said Jeffries, who was vocal throughout the night and even led a team huddle during a third-quarter timeout. “I just feel like we owe it to ourselves to finish the season strong. If we don’t finish up strong, then that’s going to be a letdown for all of us.”

David Lee continued piling up the double-doubles this season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Wilson Chandler scored 24. Eddy Curry, playing for just the third time this season, had three points and a rebound in a season-high seven minutes off the bench.

“I thought Eddy looked a lot better than he did (on Saturday),” D’Antoni said. “Again, I think it’s going to be small steps in some improvement, but, yeah, I thought he did okay.”

The Knicks will wrap up their three-game road trip Tuesday when they visit the Denver Nuggets, who won the first meeting between the two teams 117-110 at The Garden on Dec. 28.

Another high-scoring contest is to be expected in their first and only visit to the Mile High City this season, as the Knicks average 109.4 points on the tail end of back-to-backs. They are 5-10 in those games.