Sloppy Jazz put Knicks, Garden in good mood

NEW YORK — They booed controversial coach Isiah Thomas during pregame introductions. They jeered much-maligned point guard Stephon Marbury.

But ultimately a moody crowd of nearly 19,000 at Madison Square Garden did an about-face, and actually cheered the New York Knicks.

The turnaround in Manhattan was partly produced by a combined 50 points from backcourt starters Marbury (28) and Jamal Crawford (22), and partly by the play of power forward Zach Randolph (25 points, 14 rebounds).

But mostly it was sparked by terrible turnover troubles for the Jazz, who learned a lesson in the perils of playing from a hole while losing 113-109 on Monday night at the Garden.

"When you're behind," 30-point game-high scorer Carlos Boozer of the Jazz said, "sometimes you try to do stuff too quickly and you make the wrong decision. I made like three or four in a row."

Utah committed five of its collective 14 turnovers in the fourth quarter, including four in the game's final two minutes and 26 seconds after cutting what had been an 11-point New York lead in the final period to as few as two.

"It looked like we were gonna have a chance to stay in there," coach Jerry Sloan said after his 10-5 Jazz, playing the middle outing of a three-game trip that concludes Wednesday night at Philadelphia, saw their modest three-game win streak come to a close. "But the turnovers broke our back."

"Turnovers killed us," added point guard Deron Williams, who readily accepted responsibility for committing a couple of his own down the stretch. "You know, I had two that (were) uncharacteristic. I have to do a better job of taking care of the ball."

So does everyone from Utah, Sloan concluded after the Jazz — perhaps pressing while trying to overcome the Knicks' double-digit advantage — fell to pieces against a 4-9 New York team that before winning its second consecutive game had lost eight straight.

"I thought we'd do a little bit better job of handling the basketball," said Sloan, whose Jazz have now lost four in a row at the Garden. "We got a little bit too anxious."

Utah, which trailed after each quarter, got to within two when Williams drove for a layup that made it 105-103 with 3:41 to go. But Randolph answered with a layup of his own coming out of a Knicks timeout, and there is where the Jazz's real unraveling began.