Knicks, in yet another road game, 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-pointer 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 fortunate 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 catch 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.

“Mental toughness. I think that’s my big concern right now,” Hart said. “We can make all the excuses in the world. There’s highs and lows in the season. No one’s 82-0, but the way we’re losing games is embarrassing. We have to find a way to right the ship. We have to come out next game with more intensity, more desperation.

“It starts with myself as someone who’s supposed to bring energy. I’ve been atrocious the last several weeks. So we have to get our minds prepared for the end of the season.”

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 in between, that had them crisscrossing time zones. But the excuses and explanations did little to assuage the frustration evident on the court.

As the Knicks 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 again could not shoot straight.

Anunoby scored 25 points and Towns again did his part with 24, but it again was not nearly enough as the Knicks searched for help. They fell behind 7-0 at the start, and after taking the lead back, they didn’t score in the final 5:15 of the first quarter and were down double digits much of the night after that.

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-pointer with the Knicks down by 18, which might have seemed meaningless if it weren’t the first points off the bench for the Knicks, outscored by the Charlotte bench players 32-0 to that point.

“I think — what they say, 90% of the game is mental,” said Deuce McBride, who was listed as questionable before the game with a groin contusion but played 36 minutes. “And I don’t think it’s cliche at all. I feel like if you think you’re tired, you’re going to come out and be tired.”

“I think we got outrebounded by 14 or 15 today [it was 59-47],” Hart said. “A lot of that is effort. None of that takes talent. None of that is schemes and those kind of things. It’s extra effort and we’re not doing that and that’s what’s embarrassing, especially for this team, especially for a [Tom Thibodeau]-coached team, a New York-based team.

“That’s not what we should be doing. That’s not what we’re supposed to be built on. And we’ve got to right the ship ASAP.”

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.