Knicks, on long road trek, stumble against lowly Hornets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — What’s the moment you want to replay in your mind to symbolize the Knicks’ night at the Spectrum Center, the last stop in a stretch of seven road games in the last eight games, when tired legs and frustration seemed to be on display?

Was it OG Anunoby missing a corner three to end the first half and just standing alone in the corner as the teams left for the locker rooms and the halftime acts ran past him?

Or was it Karl-Anthony Towns scoring in the third quarter, but exploding and getting hit with a technical foul, probably lucky not to get a second one?

How about Josh Hart and others begging Precious Achiuwa to pass the ball as the Knicks were on a break with an advantage and he dribbled out until the Hornets could watch up?

All of the above might do as the Knicks endured a humbling performance start to finish — in the wake of a humbling performance the night before in San Antonio — and dropped a 115-98 decision to the Charlotte Hornets, who entered the night with the third-worst record in the NBA and hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record in a month.

The Knicks could point to the schedule — another road game and a back-to-back after a long West Coast trip with one home game between which had them criss-crossing time zones. But the excuses and explanations did little to assuage the frustration evident on the court. As they made desperate efforts to come back in the fourth quarter, it seemed as if every step forward was met by an easy bucket for the Hornets on the other end. The Knicks could not contain them, could not get the strength to rebound with them and once again could not shoot straight.

Towns once again did his part, scoring 24 points, and Anunoby led the Knicks with 25. But once again, it was not nearly enough as they searched for help.

If the Knicks starters were gassed on the second night of a back-to-back set, they weren’t getting help from the bench. With 10:55 to play in the game Cam Payne hit a three-point field goal with the Knicks down by 18, which might have seemed meaningless if it wasn’t the first points off the bench for the Knicks — outscored by the Charlotte bench players to that point, 32-0.

But even as they seem locked into third place in the Eastern Conference with just 14 games remaining and a four-game lead on the fourth-place Indiana Pacers, the Knicks tried to avoid the excuses.

“I think these are some more important days,” Deuce McBride said. “Honestly, I feel like if you’ve played in the playoffs before I feel like these are the times where guys are really trying to tune up even more and these games become even more important, whether you’re looking at trying to get in the playoffs or get a better seeding.”

McBride was listed as questionable with a groin contusion suffered Wednesday, but after warming up was cleared to play — backing up his desire to get time on the court now.

The Knicks fell behind 7-0 and seemed to find their footing, taking a 19-15 lead on a Hart three-pointer with 5:15 left in the first quarter. But the Knicks would not score again in the quarter and trailed 27-19 after one quarter and saw he deficit rise to 14 in the second quarter before settling for a 54-44 deficit at the half.