New York Knicks: Everyone goes cold as 76ers dominate wire to wire

From a three-game winning streak to a two-game losing streak, the New York Knicks dropped Wednesday’s game to the Philadelphia 76ers in a blowout.

A winning streak was, of course, positive for the New York Knicks. It was their first of the season which highlighted the bright spots, including Emmanuel Mudiay‘s resurgance and Allonzo Trier‘s 20-point performances.

Wednesday’s game wasn’t exactly that.

The Knicks were behind the Philadelphia 76ers for most of the game, falling behind by 10, 15, 20, 25 and even 30 points by the fourth quarter. Attribute that to 54.0 percent shooting and 48.0 percent from behind the arc for the Sixers, who won 117-91.

This was without much from Jimmy Butler, too, as JJ Redick nearly shot perfect at 10-for-14. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons teased triple-doubles along the way, and the Knicks especially had no answer for the former, despite Mitchell Robinson‘s two blocks on him.

As for the Knicks, only two of their players topped three field goals, as Mario Hezonja hit seven and Enes Kanter had six. They were the high-point players at 17 each.

Hezonja’s two three-pointers in the first quarter crossed his high-point mark as a starter. Unfortunately, his leading performance came in a lopsided game that New York had no chance at, so it won’t mean much in post-game evaluations from head coach David Fizdale.

Part of the struggles aims toward Tim Hardaway Jr., who has looked nothing like the No. 1 player over the past week.

Starting with the home game against the New Orleans Pelicans and through the Detroit Pistons matchup, Hardaway shot 28.3 percent. Wednesday was no better, at a 1-for-11 clip. It’s only a short-term drought, but the Knicks still need him to score 20-plus points every game to stand a chance.

• Fun fact: the Knicks hit just two outside shots after Hezonja’s two between the early first quarter and the end of the third. They hit two more in the final period, one of which was from a last-second heave from Damyean Dotson as the game ended.
• Mudiay’s star has somewhat dimmed these past few games. He’s not turning the ball over, but the shot isn’t falling.
• Maybe it’s a confidence issue with Frank Ntilikina, as his game has come under scrutiny since the opening-night tip. But, this was his fifth scoreless outing in the last 12 games. All but one appearance was over 15 minutes. Tonight was 14.
• Ntilikina isn’t a point guard and hasn’t hit buckets to play shooting guard. Right now, he’s a role-playing defensive wizard. Still, at 20-years-old, fans can’t give up, but there’s applicable concern.
• Kevin Knox started 2-for-3, but finished just 1-for-6 from the field. He had nine points and seven rebounds.
• Robinson dealt with more foul trouble, but he blocked Embiid twice and finished with four rejections, five points and six rebounds.

• Allonzo Trier, the star of the past week, went mostly unoticed, with eight points in 21 minutes.

The New York Knicks played three games in four nights, so tired legs may have factored into the mix. Either way, they have two days off before Saturday’s 5:00 p.m. ET matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.