Steve Nash Scores 26 to Lead Suns Over Knicks, 91-88 Mike D'Antoni's glorious past and still-jumbled present collided at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, and presumably this should have produced a frantic festival of points and fast breaks. Instead, the evening came down to a solitary man, standing at the foul line, methodically putting away a low-scoring game with a series of free throws. Steve Nash - D'Antoni's protégé and friend and continued object of his basketball affections - went 6 for 6 at the line in the final 17 seconds, leading the Phoenix Suns to a 91-88 victory that silenced the Garden and sent the Knicks further into the abyss. The loss was the Knicks" fourth in a row, dropping them to 6-8 and further eroding any sense of stability or progress. "It's not fun," said Amar'e Stoudemire who, like D'Antoni, enjoyed his best years in Phoenix, alongside Nash, the Suns" All-Star point guard. I've been winning my whole career. It's definitely not fun. It's just a matter of us, first of all, staying together, and with us playing with a sense of urgency. Carmelo Anthony was again dreadful, missing 17 of 22 shots - including a 1-for-9 third quarter - while coping with a sprained left wrist. His 12 points were a season low. Stoudemire was only moderately better, going 7 for 22 to finish with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 turnovers. Anthony left without speaking to reporters. A team spokesman said that he was dealing with an unspecified family issue. The Knicks" offense flowed in the first quarter but again wheezed in the fourth, when they went 1 for 7 in a critical three-minute stretch. They shot 37.2 percent for the game, missed 10 free throws and committed 17 turnovers. The Suns (5-9) were not great, just good enough to beat a thoroughly disoriented Knicks team and end their own five-game losing streak. Afterward, D'Antoni said his team was in "in a little bit of a crisis," a remark he later played down. The term surely fit the Knicks" offense, which has gone six straight games without reaching 100 points - a mark that was routine in D'Antoni's Phoenix years. "That's killing us," he said of the offense. There's not a lot of flow; it's not happening. We're playing good enough to win all of our games. The Knicks finally got significant contributions from two role players, Landry Fields (17 points) and Iman Shumpert (a career-high 20), and they dominated the rebounding battle (54-38). As D'Antoni noted, they won nearly every statistical category except the one that mattered most: field-goal accuracy. It has been a continuing and disturbing problem, given that offense was considered a team strength. But the Knicks are missing a top-flight point guard, and their offense too frequently devolves into one-on-one play, especially in crunch time. The Knicks are at their best when they move the ball, and they have shown the ability to do that early in games. Sustaining it has been hard, however, as some combination of fatigue and panic sets in. "As it gets a little harder, close game, tensions start to build a little bit, they revert back to holding the ball," D'Antoni said. It's killing us right now. Although D'Antoni never singles out any particular player, Anthony is most often the culprit. Stoudemire and Shumpert have slipped into the habit as well at times. "We got to continue to stay on top of it," Stoudemire said, adding, "and everybody has to buy into it." Shumpert hit two big 3-pointers in the final minute, pulling the Knicks within 2 points each time. Anthony, despite struggling all evening, came up with two clutch baskets - a tip-in and an off-balance 3-pointer - in the final 11 seconds. But the Suns never surrendered the lead, and Nash never missed a free throw, finishing with 26 points and 11 assists. The first boos of the night were heard late in the fourth quarter, after the Suns took a 74-69 lead and Anthony and Stoudemire missed consecutive shots. A handful of fans in the upper deck briefly chanted, "We want Woodson!" - a reference to the Knicks" assistant Mike Woodson, who would presumably take over if D'Antoni were fired. "Coaches are giving us every opportunity in the world to succeed," said Tyson Chandler, who had 17 rebounds. I think it's important that we recognize what we have to accomplish out there as players. Denver Coach George Karl took the diplomatic route as he assessed the first showdown between the Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony, who forced a trade from Denver to New York last February. The Nuggets visit the Garden on Saturday in what will be the first reunion since the deal. "I have no animosity towards Melo," Karl said before the Nuggets won in Philadelphia, 108-104. I wish him the best, other than that I want to beat him. Karl would not speculate on Anthony's reasons for forcing his way out. Although the two had a sometimes rocky relationship, Karl praised Anthony as the N.B.A."s best scorer and said: "I didn't want him to leave. I think most of our organization tried to convince him to stay. The Nuggets have fared far better since the trade than the Knicks. Karl refused to gloat, however, saying, "I think they're feeling good about some of the pieces, and we're feeling good about some of our pieces." He concluded, "Pretty diplomatic, huh?" ...Bill Walker sat out because of a sore right knee. ...Jerome Jordan and Jeremy Lin, who were assigned to the D-League on Tuesday, could be recalled next week, Mike D'Antoni said. Megan Soisson contributed reporting from Philadelphia.