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InsideHoops.com presents raw, completely unedited notes from Monday's Knicks vs. Bulls matchup in Madison Square Garden. Notes were recorded as the game happened. Actual interviews coming Monday evening and sometime on Tuesday.

The Knicks rank 1st nationally in licensed team merchandise. The Bulls rank 3rd, behind the Lakers.

Coming into today's game, the Bulls have held 21 straight opponents under 100 points. That's the longest current such streak in the NBA.

After starting the season 0-9, the Bulls were 29th in the NBA in opponent scoring, giving up 101.6 points per game. Since then, not including today's game, the Bulls are 16-9 and now rank 5th in opponent scoring at 91.6 ppg. And they're 1st in opponent FG% at .412. The Bulls defense is now their trademark.

It's a special 1 p.m. start time on this Monday holiday for Martin Luther King Day.

Jamal Crawford made his return for the Knicks today. Tim Thomas is back as well.

Eddy Curry is more agile than he used to be.

Chris Duhon plays defense like his life depends on it. Which is true, as far as his NBA life is concerned.

When Stephon Marbury explodes, no one can keep up with him. This isn't new.

At 5:04, with the Knicks up 17-12, Ben Gordon checked in for the Bulls. He's alongside Kirk Hinrich now. Also, Tyson Chandler is in.

By 3:48, Tyson Chandler already has three rebounds, and two points from free throws. If you don't box Chandler out, that's what happens.

During a 2:23 time-out, a lucky fan from the stands got a chance to shoot free throws. He needed to hit two (I think) out of three for a chance to shoot a big-money shot. The fan had clearly never even seen a basketball before. He probably didn't even know he was at a basketball game. Little children should not have been allowed to watch. Although he missed all three, the fan then got to shoot from three-point range for another prize. That shot was horribly off, too. Fans booed. It was a disgrace.

At 1:21, Adrian Griffin came in for Luol Deng, who had five points, two rebounds and an assist.

The Knicks offense has worked. And they've done a good job at clogging the paint and preventing cheap Bulls baskets.

Madison Square Garden needs to get rid of the "I need a big beat!" line that blasts over the arena speakers on and off throughout the game. Their sound system is incredible. That line, however, doesn't work.

End of the first quarter: Knicks 28, Bulls 20. Stephon Marbury scored 10 in the quarter.

The Knicks City Dancers came out in all-white jumpsuits, looking fine, shaking it to a fast electronic dance song. InsideHoops.com Shake it Meter: 9.1 out of 10.

Chandler picked his second foul up just 30 seconds into the second quarter. He leaves.

A Bulls fast break resulted in Ben Gordon getting to finish. He made sure to dunk it.

At 9:53, Chris Duhon drove, got away with a travel, then got his shot blocked twice. Shooting and finishing drives are not his thing.

The Bulls have Kirk Hinrich, Eric Piatkowski and Andres Nocioni in at the same time. I feel like I'm watching Hoosiers. Except, the Hoosiers team played good basketball. Chicago's looking flat so far. Credit the Knicks for that.

Deng's brought his offense today. A three-pointer gives him 10. With almost half the second quarter done the Knicks are up, 38-33.

Jamison Brewer is in for New York, to play full-court defense.

Allan Houston's shot is on. He had 13 points, no rebounds, no assists.

The Garden loves their Knicks City Kids.

Deng with another three-pointer. He has 13. Versatile offense from him.

Nocioni hits a three. The Bulls are now only down four. Nocioni has four points, two rebounds and two assists.

"Jump, Allan... Jump!" yells a fan at the non-leaping Allan Houston as Nocioni hits another three with Houston standing near him.

"My favorite subject in high school was history," reveals a videotaped Trevor Ariza on the big screen during a time-out trivia contest.

At 2:22 the Bulls scored, but not after Tim Thomas made two solid defensive plays that almost resulted in steals.

With 24 seconds left the basketball, after being shot, bounced off the face of Tim Thomas and then Andres Nocioni. It was a pinball effect. Fans were amused. I enjoyed it as well.

End of the first half: Knicks 48, Bulls 43.

Chicago started the third quarter off the right way, scoring five unanswered points.

Kurt Thomas is making fantastic defensive plays in this quarter.

Kirk Hinrich, who could not shoot in the first half, is now lighting it up. For the game he has 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

With three minutes left in the third it's Bulls 65, Knicks 63.

Hinrich drives and scores on a short jumper. His offense is getting better by the second.

A lob to Eddy Curry resulted in Curry missing and falling down.

"Move!" yells a fan who notices that when one Knick moves, the other four stand still with their arms up to catch a pass.

Marbury fouled Nocioni just before the end-of-quarter buzzer, as Nocioni was in the paint putting back a miss. Nocioni is doing the dirty work.

End of the third quarter: Bulls 68, Knicks 67. Stephon Marbury has 17 points and seven assists.

"Box them out!" yells a fan at the Knicks, who actually were boxing out but got beaten to the ball anyway.

Like they've done in most games over the last two months, the Bulls have controlled the boards today.

Jerome Williams drove a charge on Eddy Curry. Fans bark their approval.

Hinrich now has 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Ben Gordon missed a short jumper, followed his own shot, and jumped 28 feet in the air for the offensive rebound, shocking some fans and media members who didn't know he could sky like that.

These teams have been fairly even today in shooting, free throws, assists and blocks.

Kurt Thomas hits a few jumpers in a row. With 5:30 left in the game the Knicks are up, 79-74.

Jamal Crawford wide open in three-point range. Not even close. He has eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

A play or two later, Crawford blocks an Eric Piatkowski jumper. Chicago kept the ball, but Jerome Williams filled a passing lane, swiped it, and ran the full length of the floor for a big dunk to put the Knicks up by five with 3:43 left.

At 3:33, Ben Gordon lost the ball, resulting in Marbury driving the length of the court and hitting a layup, plus a foul on Hinrich. Free throw is good, making it Knicks 84, Bulls 76.

The Knicks have an excellent shot at winning this game.

Ben Gordon responds by nailing a three. he has 11 points.

Marbury pulls up for a jumper and draws a touch foul on Hinrich. Marbury hits one of two. Knicks up six, 2:22 to go.

Ben Gordon immediately drives, draws a foul on Kurt Thomas and nails a layup. He misses. Knicks by four.

The Knicks miss a tough shot as the 24-second clock was expiring, but Mike Sweetney grabbed the offensive rebound. In the same possession he drew a fifth foul on Tyson Chandler. Sweetney hits one of two. Knicks by five.

Gordon hits again. He now has 15 points. The fourth quarter has been all Ben.

A play later, Nocioni was left alone in the corner and nailed a three with 57 seconds left, tying the game at 86-all.

Nocioni got switched onto Marbury and played good defense. Marbury fed it to Kurt Thomas, who missed a quick-release jumper.

With 20 seconds left and the game tied, Ben Gordon penetrated, floated in the lane and missed a running jumper, but Nocioni was there to clean the glass and draw a foul. He's making all the difference in these final few minutes.

With time running out and the game tied, Ben Gordon, guaded by Crawford to the left of the free throw line, swooped in a circle and attacked the basket down the right side of the paint, and fired a running, high-arc, one-handed, baseline jumper over several Knicks defenders while he flew out of bounds. Swish. This with just one tenth of a second left in the game. The Bulls celebrate. Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich try to pull a mid-air chest bump, but it didn't quite work. But their teammwork on the floor seems to work just fine. The Bulls are up, 88-86. Fans start to leave.

There's one tenth of a second on the game clock and the Knicks are down two. With this amount of time left the Knicks must alley-oop it, or they lose. NBA rules do not allow a conventional jumper to be shot. Yet, the Knicks don't actually go for the alley-oop. Instead, they inbound to Kurt Thomas, who is at the top of the key in three-point range. He shoots and misses, but it wouldn't have counted anyway.

Final score: Bulls 88, Knicks 86.

For the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich was the big man on campus, with 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Luol Deng shot 8-of-15 for 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Eddy Curry shot just 5-of-16 and in 39 minutes only grabbed three rebounds. And off the bench, Ben Gordon came in to shoot 7-of-14 for 17 points, including the game-winning jumper. Also off the bench, Andres Nocioni shot 4-of-6 for 13 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

For the Knicks, Stephon Marbury shot 8-of-14 for 25 points and seven assists. Michael Sweetney came off the bench to provide 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Kurt Thomas had 16 points and six rebounds. Nazr Mohammed had seven points, nine rebounds and two steals. Allan Houston shot 5-of-10 for 13 points. But in 25 minutes Houston had one rebound, no assists, no steals and no blocks.

The most telling stat: Chicago had 56 rebounds (17 offensive) while New York had 38 rebounds (9 offensive). Most other team stats were more or less even, except for what helped the Knicks stay in the game to the end: 10 steals for the Knicks, and just two for the Bulls. Chicago committed 17 turnovers, compared to just eight for New York.

Despite the loss, fans in Madison Square Garden enjoyed a thriller.