Knicks add to Utah's problems

NEW YORK — They had one quite costly fourth-quarter foul. They made turnovers and went cold on offense at the worst of times. They missed far too many free throws.

And they lost, for the seventh straight time on the road.

That's the first time there have been that many stumbles in a row away from home since the 1986-87 season for the Jazz, who have now have fallen in 10 of their last 12 overall.

No wonder co-captain Matt Harpring didn't even want to hear the suggestion they are just green and still learning how to win after Utah fell 94-93 to the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

"We're not a young team anymore," Harpring said. "We're 25 games into the year — and we keep on making mistakes at the end of the game.

"I don't know," he added after Utah lost for the third consecutive time on a five-game road trip that continues tonight with outing No. 4, at Philadelphia. "We have to figure this out, because we've got to start winning. We play for three quarters, we have the lead — and then we lose."

Such was certainly the case Sunday, when the 10-15 Jazz actually were up by two at 81-79 with just more than four minutes to go.

Right at the four-minute mark, though, Knicks guard Jamal Crawford — who finished with a game-high 24 points, including 11 in the third quarter and 11 more in the fourth — rose for a 3-pointer that seemed destined to fall.

Complicating matters for the Jazz, guard Raja Bell fouled Crawford from behind — and Crawford made a free throw even Bell admitted was legit.

"I might have touched him a little bit on the 3," Bell said.

While the Knicks were converting time and again from the free-throw line - 5-of-5 in the final 2:03, 24-of-27 total — the Jazz were not exactly taking advantage of their freebies.

Utah shot just 24-of-36 from the line, including a dismal 7-of-14 from Carlos Boozer.

"I can't worry about that," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the misses. "I guess (you can) if you want to be frustrated, but I don't want to be frustrated. I want to go home, and go to bed. That's the only thing that I can do about that, because they've already missed them."

The Jazz might also want to pull the sheets over on the way they closed Sunday.

Utah froze for a full three-minute span after Boozer tied the game at 83 with 3:49 left, going scoreless on four straight possessions.