The Raptors shot lights out for the game as they finished the game shooting 53 percent from the field and going 11-22 from three.

” You have to give them credit, they shot the living daylights out of us,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. We didn’t make them feel us out at all.

Andrea Bargnani led the way for Toronto in the battle of “Italian Stallions” against his fellow countrymen, Danillo Ganillari. Bargnani continued to light up the Knicks every time he plays them as he scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.Bargnani looked to be on a mission on Italian Heritage Night right from the get go. Andrea scored 14 points in the first quarter and knocked down all four of his three point shots. He also added a monster dunk that had the Raptors bench in a frenzy.

“Bargnani had an unbelievable first half,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. Having said that, we started out very cold. We’re missing open shots, lay-ups, and everything. It took us a while to get into it. It’s stating the obvious, but that was the game.”

Chris Bosh, one of several high profile free-agents-to-be, added 18 points. After Bargnani’s great first quarter, Jose Calderon matched him with a second quarter that was just as great. Calderon took over the game at that point as he scored 14 of his season high 21points on 6 for 8 shooting on the field. Calderon’s three point jumper with just under 6 minutes left into the first half gave Toronto a 56-28 lead. The 28 point lead was the largest in the game for Toronto.

“Bargnani was on track and Calderon shot the ball great from the field,” David Lee said. “I’d say those are the two that hurt us the most. We came out and our jump shots aren’t coming down, tough first quarter.

Lee had himself another terrific game despite the difficult circumstances that troubled him this week.   Lee nearly had himself a triple double with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists after playing one day after the funeral for his 92-year-old grandfather, E. Desmond Lee.

” I felt pretty fatigued going into tonight,” Lee said. Just got done traveling, it’s going to be another rough one tomorrow. We just had to give everything we had for the team tonight.

Al Harrington dropped a game-high 31 points off the bench for the Knicks, who lost for the third time in four games. Danillo Ganillari scored 26 points and was 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.

After a slow start that saw Danillo miss all four his first quarter shots, he would find his game after that in the second. Gallinari hit three straight shots on three consecutive trips down the floor including a scoop shot, 3-pointer and another jumper. Gallinari hit a three at the buzzer to finish the first half with 13 points but the Knicks were down 67-43.

New York finally found their way in the second half as they were able to trim 28 point lead all the way to nine in the third quarter after Al Harrington’s three pointer with 32 seconds left. However, DeMar DeRozan scored the final four points of the quarter and gave the Raprtos a 93-80 lead after the three.

But New York would not go down without a fight cut it to 93-85 on a 3-pointer from Nate Robinson early in the fourth. But that was as close the Knickerbockers would get as Jose Calderon hit back-to-back jumpers to push the lead back to 99-85.

New York will travel to Detroit tomorrow night in the first game of a home and home with them. The Pistons will come to the Garden on Monday afternoon in the Knicks annual Martin Luther King Jr. game. The Knicks blew out the Pistons the last time they played with a 104-87 victory.

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Except the Garden was half full Wednesday evening, and again for the finals Friday afternoon, 13, 179, which in someway diminished the intensity of what is seen in April. Perhaps the Thanksgiving Day holiday had something to do with it. The faithful who came from Arizona and Louisiana, (LSU) took a four day holiday break and watched basketball in between.

Duke would defeat UConn 68-59 taking the championship Friday. When it comes to their fan base, Duke enjoys coming to the Garden with plenty of alumni residing in the vicinity of New York City.  UConn is almost up the road in Storrs Connecticut and Madison Square Garden is familiar territory as a member of the Big East Conference.

So there they were the seventh ranked Duke Blue Devils and their storied history with Coach Mike Kryzewski in his 30^th year.  Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun envisions his Huskies to make a second consecutive trip to the Final Four come April in Indianapolis. Two Hall of Fame coaches with over 800 career wins on opposite benches, a first for an NCAA Division 1 game.

“Duke physically handled us the physical presence,” said Calhoun. “Obviously the rebounding was in my opinion a major problem with the game.” His Huskies were manned off the boards, Duke got 25 offensive rebounds, and they failed to convert a three-point shot.  Despite the disappointing outcome Calhoun thought his team did what they had to do.

“Duke played with a great deal of heart and toughness. I think we were better than we played.  I think we have to respond when we get knocked inside a little bit. We have to do a better job,’ he said.  It was the third time his Huskies have been in the Tip- Off where they have failed to come home with the title.

The predominant Huskie crowd at the Garden saw Duke go on a 16-6 run and lead by nine points at the half. After that, there was that typical talk from Calhoun to his players with hopes of getting back in the game. They would make a brief run of it in the second half, but in the end it was all Duke (6-0), and showing this early in the college basketball season that they could be the team returning to the Final Four.

“Open shots were hard to come by,” commented Krzyzewski. “We haven’t experienced a team like that this year.  We missed 53 shots and got 56 rebounds. We didn’t give up a three today.  We played against two different types of teams and two teams that I think are going to be in contention in their conference,” said Kryzewski who got win 839 of his career as Duke won their fourth overall Tip-Off championship led by tournament Most Valuable Player Scheyer who scored 19 points. Duke has now won five straight at the Garden and 12 of their last 13 at the famous arena.  Wednesday evening the Blue Devils defeated Arizona State 64-53 to reach the championship game.

Earlier, Arizona State (5-1) took third place in the consolation game with a 71-52 win over LSU. It was a second half effort by the Sun Devils who forced the Tigers (3-2) to miss 15 of their first 17 shots opening the second half. Derek Glasser scored a career high 24 points for the Devils and Eric Boateng added 17.

“We had a very good defensive effort in the second half,” commented Sun Devils coach Herb Sendek. He added, “At the same time, with that type of run to occur they missed some shots that in the first half they were knocking down. We were much better in the second half and our defense allowed us to get in the game and get the win.”

This was the first time Arizona State has participated in the NIT Tip- Off and the coach strongly believes the tough competition this early in the season will only help. “We tried to participate in an event like this every year,’ he said.  “It’s always extra special coming to New York and playing at the Garden.”

It’s a wonderful experience for a team.  And I think anytime you play against outstanding competition like we did this week there is always a lot there to learn.  And so we’ll continue to watch the tapes and take all these experiences and try to build on them,”

The senior Glasser who earned Pac-10 Al Tournament honors, by averaging 13.7 points in the first three games of the season said “I think overall it was a good experience for us.  Especially  to play a team like Duke. Just to see where we are as a team.”

e-mail Rich Mancuso:  Ring786@aol.com

It was very obvious the moment King James set foot on the Madison Square Garden for his first and only visit this year, MSG is really where he wants to be. From the very first quarter, LeBron went out of his way have his own victory parade on his own. He started out a first quarter the way Michael Jordan started out his own first in the infamous “Double Nickel” back in 1995.

“LeBron’s first eight minutes were ridiculous,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “A freight train coming at you.”

The Knicks could have had six men on the court and they were not going to stop LeBron’s special night. Normally not a great jump shooter, James was fading away and hitting wet jumpers that would make Larry Bird proud. There was no other way to say it but LeBron was in the “zone”! He would score 19 first quarter points and also contribute six assists.  James capped the quarter by faking out Jared Jeffries at the perimeter and drained a three pointer that everyone in the building knew it was going in.

Could it have been more ironic that LeBron’s favorite baseball, the Yankees, were sitting courtside still feeling the high of their World Series victory. Right after the first quarter ended, the Garden acknowledged the presence of  Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, and Robinson Cano. As they made their way to center court to wave to the adoring New York crowd, who do you think was among the crowd who gave the Yankees a standing ovation?  Of course, none other King Janes who had as a big smile as a little kid at the candy store. He would not have wanted to be any other place in the world than Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

He was swishing jumpers, driving to the basket like a monster, and providing his teammates with the most beautiful no look passes you will ever see. As he sat down for the first half of the second quarter, LeBron was celebrating anytime his team scored a basket. He was dancing to any hip hop song that came on and was seen talking to many friends in the crowd. It’s nice to be the King, ain’t it?

This night was not about the pathetic Knicks who were easily defeated by Cleveland 100-91. It’s about the dream scenario about what would happen if New York ever had the NBA’s best player. As great as Partick Ewing was for his career, he was near at the top as one of the top players in the NBA. LeBron would easily take the cake as the greatest player ever to put on a Knicks uniform.

If that was not enough, LeBron went out of his way to talk to Knicks second year forward, Daniilo Gallinari. Gallinari, who never met James before, has shown flashes of brilliance so far this season that has caught the attention of James. He scored 17 points last night and has made Donnie Walsh look pretty good in making him the 6th pick in the 2008 draft.

“He just told me to keep working hard and keep taking care of my back with stretching,” Gallinari said. “He’s a great guy, great person. We talked before the game and after the game.”

It’s a pretty good indication that New York is in his radar because Danillo could be that guy LeBron needs to win a title in New York . To have never talked to the young Gallinari before last night can only be a good thing for Donnie Walsh.

But first things first, the fans still have 76 more games to go before this looming nightmare Knicks season is over. But the dream is not far from reality!