New York Post-"CHARLOTTE -- The Knicks made a stirring comeback, rallying from a 21-point, first-half deficit, but they could not get the break needed to close out the night in a wild evening at Bobcats Arena.

In a game marked by Mike D'Antoni's curious use of Danilo Gallinari in the late stages, the Knicks suffered a heartbreaking, 102-100 defeat in double overtime.

The Bobcats survived on a questionable foul call against Al Harrington and a questionable decision by D'Antoni to bench Gallinari, his ace 3-point shooter, for too many key minutes. The Knicks fell to 0-2 and face the Sixers tonight in their home opener.


DOUBLE THE PAIN: The Knicks' Danilo Gallinari goes up for a shot against the Bobcats' Tyson Chandler during the Knicks' 102-100 loss in double-overtime last night.

The winning points came when Harrington blocked a driving layup by D.J. Augustin with 2.5 seconds left and the game tied. Harrington made contact with Augustin's body, but blocked it cleanly.

Harrington was fuming.

"It was a block and the referees know it," Harrington said. "I let him go by me and he jumped back into me. I guess people wanted to go home. It was a terrible call."

Augustin, who had missed two free throws moments earlier, sank both to give Charlotte a two-point lead that stood up.

After receiving a frantic inbounds pass, Gallinari fired from half-court and came up several feet short. But had Gallinari played during the majority of the overtime periods and the final minutes of the fourth quarter, matters may not have come down to that desperation heave.

Gallinari, who remained as a reserve, finished with 16 points in 23 minutes, caught fire during the Knicks' fourth-quarter comeback, when they outscored the cold-shooting Bobcats 27-13. But after committing his fifth foul with 5:42 left, D'Antoni pulled Gallinari and didn't put him back until 7.2 seconds left in regulation with the score tied, even as their offense sputtered.

Gallinari took the final shot -- a 3-pointer from straightaway -- but missed it short. D'Antoni, who spent preseason saying the Knicks will win close games because of Gallinari, sat him for the first overtime and almost all of the second. The Knicks finished shooting 38.8 percent.

Gallinari finally got off the pine with 50.7 seconds left in the second OT. Gallinari promptly hit a tough jumper over Stephen Graham, cutting it to two, then hit another jumper with 19.5 seconds left, slicing it back to two again.

D'Antoni said Gallinari's defensive matchup vs. Graham led him to sit him for most of the two OTs.

"I wanted to get Gallinari out there," D'Antoni said. "He made some big shots. I put him on Stephen and they went at him. I still don't know the team well enough. We'll figure it out."

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