Knicks sloppy with basketball in loss to Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS — On Friday in Atlanta, the Knicks celebrated their first win of the season, but they did it with a disclaimer, unhappy with the three turnovers in the final 71 seconds that nearly allowed the game to get away.

The correction came Saturday night, but not in the way they intended. The Knicks made the final 71 seconds a moot point by turning the ball over with sloppy play almost from the opening tip. And when they weren’t turning it over, they were clanking shots, watching Zion Williamson weave his way to the rim and arguing with the officials.

The Knicks never led, struggling through a frustrating 96-87 loss to fall to 1-2 with one more stop on this three-game road trip.

Could you chalk this up to fatigue, playing this game less than 24 hours after the win in Atlanta? The Knicks didn’t sit any of their rotation players, limiting their minutes when Tom Thibodeau finally pulled the plug with 4:31 left and began to empty his bench.

“Yeah, less than 24 hours and a time change is kind of weird,” RJ Barrett said. “Especially for the beginning of the season, but of course a little bit of fatigue today, but that’s not really any excuse at the end of the day. When we come out here, we got to give our best effort and play our best game. I think we played hard, we played together, we didn’t go away. Every time they’d go up, we’d make a run, cut it to six. So I think we played hard, but they got the better of us today.”

The numbers would make a case for fatigue. Jalen Brunson shot 4-for-14, 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, and Julius Randle struggled through a 4-for-15 showing, going 0-for-5 on three-pointers. Quentin Grimes was 2-for-9, 1-for-6.

Barrett led the Knicks with 18 points and shot 7-for-16. Mitchell Robinson was the only starter to shoot at least 50% from the field, going 4-for-8.

And there were turnovers. The Knicks lost the ball 19 times. Randle was the worst culprit with eight. That came one night after he recorded nine assists as the Knicks moved the ball like a finely tuned machine for most of the night.

“I mean, I hate to admit it — actually I’m not going to admit it,” Brunson said. “I’ve just got to be better, no matter what the situation is.”

“We knew that would be a challenge and it was coming off the back-to-back in less than 24 hours,” Thibodeau said. “But I like the way we fought. We got it back to six. We had a shot, and then I think they went 8-1 to start the fourth.”

The Knicks came out of the locker room at halftime with a far different fire and quickly cut their deficit to 63-56. But Williamson, who finished with 24 points on 12-for-17 shooting, took Randle to the rim and then isolated and attacked Robinson, scoring on both layups, pushing New Orleans’ lead back to 11 and prompting a Knicks timeout.

Trailing by as many as 19 in the second quarter and 18 early in the third, the Knicks got within six late in the third quarter. But with 2.3 seconds left in the quarter, Brandon Ingram (26 points) hit a tough jumper over Josh Hart, drew a foul and converted the free throw for a nine-point edge entering the final quarter.

The Knicks’ only point in the first 4:27 of the final quarter came on a free throw by Isaiah Hartenstein. They misfired on their first eight field-goal attempts and turned it over three times before Brunson finally converted a layup with 7:32 left.

“I think that’s why we have 82 games,” Barrett said. “Get everybody back in rhythm, everybody back in the flow. Make the mistakes early, all teams are doing that. Nobody’s perfect and nobody’s in their perfect stride yet. So I think we just got to keep learning and growing each day, and even when we’re having some growing pains, tough it out and find a way to win.”

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.