Greg Logan of Newsday reports that the Knicks are a perfect 2-for-2. 2 games, 2 double-digit leads, 2 fourth quarter collapses, 2 losses.

Logan suggests that he could write a "form recap" for every Knick game and just fill in the blanks:

Last night at the (name of arena), it was (name of opponent) that wiped out a (size of lead lost) third-quarter deficit to hand the Knicks a (score) loss. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks shot only (pathetic shooting performance) from the field as they were outscored (ridiculous margin).

In this case, it was the Philadelphia 76ers who took advantage of the Knicks? collapse. Philly outscored the Knicks 41-17 in the fourth quarter to erase a 12-point deficit and win 98-86. The Knicks held a 17-point lead in the third quarter, but were outscored 53-24 from that point on.

The same thing happened in their 86-77 loss Wednesday at Detroit when they blew a five-point lead going into the final period after leading by 12 earlier.

The 76ers took control for good at 80-79 with 4:31 left on two foul shots by Aaron McKie, who nearly had a triple-double with 22 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists. That began a game-ending 20-7 run that convincingly shattered whatever optimism the Knicks might have about the season ahead.

Kurt Thomas led the Knicks with 25 points and Allan Houston added 23, but they totaled only eight in the last period. Iverson scored 35 and Keith Van Horn added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers.

"Early in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia attacked," Thomas said. "They got a lot of steals that led to easy baskets. We made a lot of silly mistakes." Asked if the Knicks' fourth-quarter troubles have gotten inside their heads, Thomas said, "You can't think like that. It's a long season, and it's early."