The New York Knicks’s woes in close games continue, as they suffered their fourth and fifth straight single-digit losses over the weekend to the Charlotte Hornets and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Now 14 of the team’s 18 defeats have come by single-digit margins, leaving coach Derek Fisher searching for reasons why his Knicks can’t seem to breakthrough and turn close losses to close victories. After Sunday night’s 103-99 defeat to the Blazers, he said simply: It’s the little things.

“There’s a level of attention to detail that we’re still below where we need to be in order to win these games,” Fish said. “We’re obviously doing enough to be in the game and have a chance to win…so if we can just continue to think about the smallest things that seem inconsequential—the right angle on a screen, the right way to make a pass in a situation—it’ll help us a lot.”

 

HORNET HEARTBREAK

After a hard-fought defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night, Derek and the Knicks hit the road to take on the Hornets Friday night, and for the first three quarters, they looked very much like a team on the second half of a back-to-back.

For three quarters, the Hornets had their way with Fish’s squad, shooting over 50 percent and owning a 40-20 scoring advantage in the paint. All 10 Charlotte players were in the scoring column and the home team held a 85-69 lead, looking well on its way to a blowout.

“Our attention to detail wasn’t there on either end of the floor (for) quite some time in that game,” Derek said of his Friday night loss. “We weren’t engaged in terms of the things we needed to do to be successful against this team. I think we let the fatigue get the best of us coming into a back-to-back situation late night the night before.”

However, in the final frame, the Knicks awoke. As Fish’s squad often has this year, it played its best basketball in the fourth quarter and roared its way back thanks to a 33-18 scoring advantage in the final 12 minutes.

New York’s two most versatile scorers—the veteran, Carmelo Anthony, and the youngster, Tim Hardaway Jr.—combined for 26 points while shooting 9-of-15 from the floor and at a 5-of-8 clip from three-point land.

With less than a minute to go in the fourth, Melo pulled off what he failed to do in the previous two games: He scored the go-ahead three at the end of the game. Pablo Prigioni nearly fired off the three himself, but he instead gave a quick fake and bounced a pass to Anthony on the wing, who splashed the enormous trifecta.

Melo’s 32 points, along with his perfect 8-8 two-point shooting and seven rebounds made a big different for the Knicks, but it was for naught after Charlotte point guard Kemba Walker sunk the buzzer-beating layup to finish off the game, 103-102.

“It was so bad that we had no other choice but to fight back and compete, and that’s what the guys did,” Derek said. “It was good that they showed (that fight), but it was too late.”

BLAZERS WIN LATE

Following the heartbreaking finish in Charlotte, the Knicks headed home to MSG where they hoped to have a more complete effort if they had any chance of upsetting one of the better teams in the stacked Western Conference in the Trail Blazers.

The Knicks weren’t off to an ideal start, as the Blazers jumped out to a 19-10 advantage in the first quarter. However, Anthony and J.R. Smith teamed up on an 8-2 run to slow the Portland charge and make it just 25-20 going into the second quarter.

That duo was big all night. Anthony led the way with a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double, and Smith added 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting off the bench.

Smith kept up that momentum, starting the second quarter with a triple and a defensive rebound. On the very next possession, Amar’e Stoudemire threw down a dunk through two defenders and tied the game at 25.

The Blazers pulled back ahead, but Smith found the bucket from beyond the arc once again to give the Knicks a 33-31 lead. New York held the advantage until the final minute of the first half, when Dorell Wright and Wesley Matthews went back-to-back from three to go to the break ahead 53-50.

After the break, the Knicks and the Blazers went back and forth until the final minute of the third quarter. However, Portland mounted an 8-2 run to take a 10-point lead just before the final frame.

Matthews knocked down consecutive threes early in the fourth to help maintain the Blazers lead, but the J.R.-Melo duo went into action. The two scored 14 points of a 16-3 run, with Stoudemire dropping the only other two points.

Melo capped it with a driving layup off his own miss to break a 95-95 tie with just over three minutes to go.

However, it was Lamarcus Aldridge who made the big buckets in the end. The Portland forward buried the game-sealing mid-range jumper to finish off the Knicks 103-99.

“Down the stretch, sometimes it’s tougher to execute perfectly,” Fish said of losing his late-game lead. “We had a couple turnovers, we had a couple good looks, but it wasn’t enough to win.”

NEXT UP

The Knicks (4-18) will take time away from home to travel out against the New Orleans Pelicans (9-10), as they try to end their eight-game losing streak

“We just have to keep coming back to what’s in front of us,” Fish after Sunday’s loss. “Unfortunately, this game is now behind us, it’s in the loss column. But if we’re fortunate enough to wake up tomorrow, we can only control Monday, and get back to your habits—the process of improving and getting better and doing enough to turn these into wins.”

Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on MSG.

RELATED LINKS

• Knicks at Hornets: Game Book (NBA.com, Dec. 5, 2014)
• Knicks Rally, Take Lead Over Top Team … Nevermind (NY Times, Dec. 7, 2014)
• Trail Blazers at Knicks: Game Book (NBA.com, Dec. 7, 2014)
• Fisher on Knicks loss: It’s all about the details (MSG, Dec. 7, 2014)
• Fisher on Knicks loss: Attention to detail cost us the game (MSG, Dec. 5, 2014)