2Dec/098:44 AM

How do you explain that one?

By Vince Marotta

Danilo Gallinari hit six 3-pointers and scored 27 points, while David Lee added 24 and the woeful New York Knicks rolled over the Phoenix Suns 126-99 Tuesday night in New York.

The sight of Danilo Gallinari canning a jumper was a common one in the Knicks’ 27-point win over the Suns on Tuesday night. (Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP)

Yes, you read that right.

How does the team with the best record in the NBA lose by 27 points to a team that had 3 wins heading into the game, and only one of those on their home floor?

Does this mean the Suns’ tremendous start to the 2009-2010 season is a fluke?

Let me say emphatically…’NO’.

Over the course of an 82-game schedule, all NBA teams have games that fall into the category of “just one of those nights”. Tuesday night was one of them for the Suns.

The Knicks scored 39 points in the first quarter, 71 in the first half and led by 13 at the break. The game was never in doubt after that.

Don’t believe me that this happens to every NBA team? Take last year’s Los Angeles Lakers, winners of 65 games and of course, NBA Champions. How do you explain that a dominant team like the Lakers could get swept by the Charlotte Bobcats, who won only 35 games and missed the playoffs?

In 1995-96, the Chicago Bulls set an NBA record by winning 73 games while steamrolling their way to a 4th championship in six years. Then, how exactly did they lose to the awful Toronto Raptors, who had the third-worst record in the league that season?

There is no explanation other than it was “just one of those nights”.

The Suns wrap up their 4-game road trip tonight in Cleveland against LeBron, Shaq and the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.