Magic 118, Knicks 92: If the Knicks can't get motivated for games when they haven't played the night before, what makes anyone think they would appear energized for the second half of a back-to-back? One night after losing at Atlanta, New York put forth a token effort and even led by five in the second quarter, but it then fell back to Earth and got crushed. Orlando's Dwight Howard dominated the Knicks -- who were......

Knicks 113 Bobcats 89 Take a long look at this box score, because you probably won’t see another one like it this season. The Knicks won a laugher Wednesday 113-89, dominating Charlotte over the final three quarters of the game. Apart from Eddy Curry, who didn’t score a single point, everyone had a good time in this one. Nate Robinson had 22 points and 6 assists while Jamal Crawford had 20 points and 5 assists.......

Penguins 4, Islanders 2: A busy day for the Islanders didn't end with a win. They signed Mike Comrie to a contract extension, shipped off resident thug winger Chris Simon to the Minnesota Wild and also got rid of Marc-Andre Bergeron for a draft pick. Then they faced the depleted Penguins -- who made the biggest deal of the day in adding Marian Hossa -- and lost a bizarre game. They outshot the Pens 52-21,......

Governor Spitzer is facing opposition in his attempt to snuff out any Javits Center expansion by selling land surrounding the center to fill budget gaps. The administration still plans to renovate the convention center, but it will result in far less space than what was originally envisioned for the expansion, which would have cost between $1.8 billion and $3 billion. Senator Charles Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn oppose the land......

Playwright David Mamet (pictured) will be maintaining a blog to promote his new Broadway play, November, which stars Nathan Lane as contemporary American president Charles Smith and Laurie Metcalf as his lesbian speech writer. What’s interesting, perhaps, is that Mamet will be writing the blog – which he says he’ll update for the duration of the open-ended run – as President Smith. Sample entry from Monday:CONGRESSIONAL PAGE SEX SCANDALS It seems to me that, at......

Uh oh - there's definitely a little drama for five well-known performers as the Albany DA's office continues its probe into steroid trafficking. The Times Union reported yesterday that Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Tyler Perry were "among the thousands of customers of the pharmacies" DA David Soares' office has investigated. Oh. In other words, the celebrities are just the bold-faced names, and the sources say there isn't evidence that they......

The Post has fun with a story about a robbery at a Brooklyn grocery, as a man stole a number of salamis and was trying to spirit them out in his clothes. Of course, this earns the headline "WURST-CASE SCENARIO FOR THIEF: COPS." Orlando Martinez was arrested after putting seven salamis "into his trousers and up his sleeves" at a Brownsville Western Beef on Sunday. The assistant manager saw the salami smuggling and confronted Martinez,......

Nets 96, Magic 95: Vince Carter won this game with two clutch free throws at the end, but it was former Magic Darrell Armstrong who provided the biggest of several sparks off the bench. He had 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting and a critical hand on defense during Orlando's last possession. The Nets outscored the Magic, 31-18, in the fourth quarter and have now won five of six games. If they keep this up,......

Rangers 4 Carolina 2: Putting Gomez on the top line certainly looked like a smart decision Wednesday. Gomez fed Jarmoir Jagr, helping him get nine shots and setting him up on both of his goals in the Rangers’ win. Chris Drury and Dan Girardi also scored for New York. The game was stopped midway through the second period after an ugly collision between Colton Orr and former Ranger Matt Cullen. Cullen took this worst of......

Success made Orlando Taylor greedy - and an jailed man for robbing two Brooklyn banks a total of four times in just three days. He was arrested when spotted outside one of the two banks, apparently casing it out for another robbery. The first robbery occurred on Friday morning at the HSBC bank at 342 Fulton Street, taking $450 dollars. Taylor then robbed a Bank of America branch at 350 Fulton Street on Saturday morning,......

Sacramento 123 Knicks 118 (2OT’s); You weren’t dreaming, that really was Stephon Marbury playing defense. Marbury didn’t start, but he had a nice game off the bench as Isiah went to a three-guard lineup in the fourth quarter. With Crawford and Robinson sharing the point, Marbury took over at the two and did well. Eddy Curry had a huge game with 27 points including a game-tying rebound and layup with 10 seconds left in regulation,......

Magic 112, Knicks 102: As fun as it is to jump on Eddy Curry and his 80:1 pound/rebound ratio, the Knicks have other problems. Dwight Howard made things difficult for one of the Knicks big men -- though the other, Zach Randolph, did manage to have 23 points on 13 rebounds -- but the New York shooters' failure to back them up the frontcourt cost the Knicks this game. The perimeter players didn't play......

If Barry Melrose ever goes to Newark, he probably won't be getting a warm reception. Melrose, a hockey analyst for ESPN and a former player and manager, said some disparaging words about the city of Newark when talking about the new Devils arena on his webcast last week. Melrose said, "It looks great on the inside but don't go outside, especially if you got a wallet or anything else because the area around the building......

Knicks 119, Nuggets 112: Isiah Thomas had his Knicks go toe-to-toe with the high-flying Nuggets, and they came out on top despite trailing by 15. Don't look now, but Thomas may have made a smart move in acquiring Zach Randolph. Eddy Curry is still overweight and Renaldo Balkman was still taken too early, but the Knicks put on quite a show for the Garden fans. And it didn't involve the fisticuffs of last season's......

For a team used to making miracles, conjuring up a disaster had an especially bitter taste. With a sloppily played 8-1 loss to Florida and the Phillies' 6-1 win against the Nationals, the Mets' season ended about a month too early. The loss capped an agonizing stretch of two and a half weeks in which the Mets played some of the worst teams in the National League and still played their worst baseball of......

Battles vs. Deerhunter by the Sea A fine way for the Seaport Music Festival to send off the summer, with two of the year's biggest breakout bands on a lovely evening. We were taking in both Battles and Dearhunter for the first time last Friday and were massively impressed by both bands. Deerhunter, down a man and with their usual shtick toned down, sounded like a young Sonic Youth or stripped down Broken Social Scene.......

Phillies 3, Mets 2: With Shawn Green's weak ground ball to shortstop, the Mets appeared ready to tie the game. With runners on first and third and one out in the ninth, Endy Chavez jogged home as the tying run. But Marlon Anderson, who was on first, blatantly -- and unnecessarily -- pushed Tadahito Iguchi with two hands. Umpire C.B. Bucknor called interference and the automatic double play, ending the game. Thanks in part to......

Mets 4, Dodgers 3: The performance of the Mets bullpen and of Carlos Delgado haven't exactly inspired fear recently, so when Orlando Hernandez pitched deep into the game and Delgado actually hit, things were going pretty well. Hernandez threw for 7 great innings, allowing only 2 runs by the Dodgers and retired 12-straight at one point. Delgado used the game to break out of a 0-19 slump at the plate. Dropped all the way down......

Mets 8, Nationals 2: After fooling around with some of the National League's weaker teams, the Mets finished a sweep in Washington with this drubbing. Carlos Beltran led the way with two homers. His trip to the disabled list seems to have helped him out of his slump. Orlando Hernandez, who said his team had "good offense" and "good defense," won his fourth straight decision. He hasn't lost since July 4. Yankees 9, Tigers 3:......

Yankees 8, Orioles 7: Way back on June 28th, the game between the Yankees and Orioles was suspended in the 8th inning with New York up 8-6. Last night, the two teams continued the June game with Mariano Rivera allowing one Baltimore run to make things exciting in the 9th before picking up what is officially his 10th save of the season. Orioles 4, Yankees 2: In the regularly scheduled game last night, the Yankees......

Yankees 21, Devil Rays 4: Every Yankee starter had a hit, an RBI and a run scored. The team put up 20 hits in consecutive games for the first time in more than 100 years. It scored 38 runs in less than 24 hours. Shelley Duncan had two home runs .Too bad the Devil Rays and their suspect pitching staff can't stay in the Bronx a little longer. The good news? The Yankees move on......

Yankees 3 Blue Jays 2 (10 innings): This was a wild one. Andy Pettitte and Roy Halliday pitched brilliantly each allowing only one run before turning it over to the bullpens and that’s when things really got interesting. First up was Kyle Farnsworth, who grows more useless by the day. Farnsworth managed to put the go-ahead run into scoring position with a wild pickoff throw and the Blue Jays ended up taking a 2-1 lead......

Extras: Season 2 On British television an average series may run only six or so episodes, but for the program's fans on this side of the super-sized pond that can seem piddly indeed. Fortunately for followers of all things Ricky Gervais, the new DVD version of his HBO series Extras, which is out this week, contains over 100 minutes of additional material to enjoy. If you missed the initial airing, the second season of Extras......

Twins 6, Yankees 2: Beating Johan Santana is tough enough with an A lineup. Doing it with three reserves becomes nearly impossible. The Yankees tried and failed to beat the Cy Young Award winner by sending out Kevin Thompson, Miguel Cairo and Wil Nieves on the same day. Part of the blame goes to manager Joe Torre for choosing to rest everyone en masse, but part of the blame can rest on the Yankees' perpetual......

A judge dropped charges of criminally negligent homicide against Granville Adams when prosecutors said they could not prove their case. Adams was accused of killing Orlando Valle, a married man with a 13-year-old son, at the Chelsea nightclub BED. Adams pushed the man against elevator doors that then opened, and Valle fell down the shaft to his death. Adams was dating the coatcheck girl at BED, who became involved in an argument with a birthday......

Mets 6, Phillies 5; Mets 5, Phillies 2: Things couldn't have gone much better for the Mets. Brothers Carlos, who have been struggling of late, combined for three homers. Orlando Hernandez and John Maine combined to hold the Phillies in check. New York leads Philadelphia by five games in the National League East. Of all the developments, Beltran's and Delgado's homers have to be the most welcome. Billy Wagner also deserves plenty of recognition, even......

Mets 1, As 0: It may have taken three weeks, but the Mets have finally won a series in June. In dramatic fashion last night, the Mets defeated the A's on a 9th inning double by David Wright. It was also the first time the Mets have won back-to-back games in 22 games. Both starting pitchers pitched magnificently, with Joe Blanton pitching 8 innings of scoreless ball for the A's and Orlando Hernandez going 7......

Yankees 8, Mets 2: This game didn't take too long to be decided. Alex Rodriguez deposited a ball in the back of the Mets bullpen in the bottom of the first, and the Yankees cruised behind Chien-Ming Wang. They took two of three of this version of the Subway Series and split the six games during the regular season. As good as Orlando Hernandez pitched for the Yankees, he hasn't done too well against them.......

Dodgers 5, Mets 3: Orlando Hernandez has looked nearly untouchable when healthy this season, but he couldn't mystify the Dodgers in Los Angeles. He allowed five runs -- four earned -- in 5 2/3 innings and the Mets dropped their third straight and seventh in eight games. Their offense can't be blamed for the losses leading up to Monday, but it can take the heat for this one. The Mets struggled against Randy Wolf......

Braves 2, Mets 1:John Smoltz got the better of his friend Tom Glavine and picked up his 200th win as the Mets lost the rubber game in Atlanta. Glavine didn't pitch poorly -- he gave up two runs in six innings -- but he didn't get any offensive support. Jose Reyes is 3 for his last 23, and without him to get things started, the Mets will struggle to score runs. This is the......