Knicks' winning streak ends at four as they produce a clunker vs. lowly Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY — As the Knicks’ leads grew during their four-game winning streak, time was spent scouring the internet and thumbing through history books to find offensive performances that matched what they were putting on display.

But after those hot-shooting, assist-piling games, there was bound to be a game like Saturday’s at the Delta Center in which the shots wouldn’t fall and the ball didn’t move so smoothly. The question: How do you manage on those nights?

The Knicks did not have an answer on this night. Their defense was lackadaisical at times, their offense was sluggish and the Jazz — who entered the game with a 3-12 record — were just tougher, outshooting and outmuscling them, 121-106.

“We’ve been struggling on the defensive side for the whole season,” Josh Hart said after the Knicks fell to 9-7. “When you’re not making shots and you’re not playing well defensively, that’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end. Offensively, we’ve got enough talent on the offensive side where, even if certain guys aren’t going that day, to play well and to win games. But we’ve got to figure it out defensively.”

Mikal Bridges shot 3-for-15, going 1-for-7 from three-point range, and sat out the final 10:03 of the game as the Knicks tried to find a spark he couldn’t provide. Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points, 16 rebounds and five assists but shot 6-for-19, including 1-for-9 from outside the arc.

Only OG Anunoby seemed to be on his game, scoring 27 points and shooting 7-for-12 from three-point range. Jalen Brunson had 23 points and eight assists and Hart added 17 points.

“We were flat,” coach Tom Thibodeau said after watching his team cut a 19-point deficit to two with 17 straight points before the Jazz pulled away again.

“We started slowly. We had a couple chances to get back. Every time we got it down to like five, we gave up an easy shot. There’s going to be nights that you don’t shoot it great. You need your defense and your rebounding to carry it . . . What you can’t do, you can’t allow missed shots to take away from the energy that you need from your defense.

“You have to win games different ways. So the nights in which you’re not shooting well, you want your defense, your rebounding and your low turnovers to carry you. And if you do those three things, you’re going to be in position to win regardless of how you shoot the ball. And then some nights, no one shoots the ball great for 82 games. If you’re not shooting well, just do other things that can help us win.”

Midway through the third quarter, Walker Kessler blocked a shot by Towns and the Jazz rushed the ball up the floor, moving it until they found Collin Sexton (25 points) all alone in the corner. As he drained the three-pointer, more than one Knick threw his arms up in exasperation while heading to the bench for a timeout.

But out of the timeout, the Knicks scored seven straight points, cutting their deficit to 77-65 and prompting a timeout by Utah coach Will Hardy.

Cam Payne hit a three-pointer, Jericho Sims slammed in a dunk and suddenly it was a seven-point game.

Anunoby stole the ball at midcourt, raced in for a dunk and the Jazz called another timeout. And when Anunoby drained an open three-pointer, the Knicks trailed 77-75.

Bridges missed on a potential game-tying lob from Brunson on a fast break and Lauri Markkanen (34 points) finally snapped the run with a pair of free throws. Utah finished the quarter with an 87-78 lead and went ahead by 18 midway through the fourth quarter.

Early in the fourth, Bridges missed a layup and Towns threw up an air ball on a wide-open look from three-point range. The Knicks missed seven of their final eight shots of the third quarter and eight of their first 10 in the fourth, and that 3-for-18 stretch put the game out of reach. Bridges went to the bench and remained there the rest of the way.

“Obviously, I was struggling, but our biggest thing is to win,” Bridges said. “Cam came in and he was playing well. He was part of that team that was making that run. So I was more just frustrated that I couldn’t be out there to help the team and frustrated that the first three quarters I was out there, I couldn’t really do much. But yeah, I understand it. We’re trying to win a game, and that’s all I care about, so I think that was the right decision.”

Notes & quotes: The Knicks, who had averaged 136 points in the previous two games and had scored at least 123 in four of the previous five games, shot 39-for-100 overall and 17-for-51 from three-point range. The Jazz shot 44-for-87 and 19-for-35 . . . Deuce McBride was held out for a fifth straight game with what the team is now calling patellofemoral syndrome. “He’s close,” Thibodeau said. “He’s doing more, but he’s not quite there. We’ll see where he is tomorrow.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.