Knicks can’t find rhythm in 121-106 loss to Jazz, ending four-game winning streak

Poor shooting and bad defense left the Knicks in a 121-106 loss to the lowly Jazz on Saturday night in Utah.

New York fell to 9-7 this season after a frustrating outing. Utah improved to 4-12.

Here are some takeaways…

– The modern NBA has become a game that can be defined by a simple phrase: 3-and-D. Saturday was an example of what happens when one team can deliver and the other cannot.

New York was far from deep connection on just 17 of 51 attempts (33.3 percent). Jalen Brunson (2-for-9), Karl-Anthony Cities (1-for-9) and Mikal Bridges (1-for-7) all bad nights. Brunson – 23 points on 8-for-19 shooting with eight assists in 37 minutes – didn’t connect on his first three of the night until 1:25 left in the third after starting 0-for-6. Towns – 16 points on 6-for-19 shooting with 16 rebounds and five assists – made his only three with 1:10 left in the fourth.

And they couldn’t stop Utah: 44-for-87 from the floor (50.6 percent) and 19-for-34 (55.9 percent) from three, including a 6-for-8 night from deep Colin Sexton who had 25 points.

Despite all that, New York showed some courage and would have made the Jazz sweat on another night. The Knicks erased a 13-point deficit in the first quarter to enter the second frame even, falling behind again as the Jazz pushed the lead to 15 at the half and fell by 19 points before responding with a run of 17-0. But they allowed the hosts to respond again to put the game on ice.

Jos Hart was a team-worse minus-37 in 41 minutes. Towns was minus-34 in 39 minutes and Brunson was minus-15 in 37 minutes.

– As in the first and second quarters, the Knicks started the third quarter cold going 3-for-9 from the floor and allowed the Jazz to go 5-for-11 and had Sexton’s corner three with 6:48 to play in the quarter Tom Thibodeau calls a timeout with his side down 77-58.

Whatever the head coach said worked: a 7-0 run by the Knicks, with five outs OG Anunoby to give him 19 to that point, he forced a Jazz timeout with the deficit cut to a dozen with half of the third to play. (Anunoby finished with 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting (7-for-12 from deep) with three rebounds, three steals and two blocks. He was a respectable minus-7 in 36 minutes and the Knicks’ lone bright spot. )

After the timeout, the Knicks got a steal, a Cam Payne three, a big stop with Jericho Sims under the basket before adding a putback slam and an Anunoby steal and an uncontested dunk forcing another timeout for Utah with the lead cut to five.

After that stoppage, a defensive stop led to an Anunoby three – giving him 12 in the quarter – completing a 17-0 run – all with Towns off the floor – cutting the lead to 77-75.

New York had a chance to tie the game but missed the next five from the floor, allowing Utah to go on a 7-0 run and cut the deficit to nine.

Towns – went scoreless in the period (0-for-4 from the floor) and left with 6:19 left in the third with New York trailing by 19 and didn’t return until the fourth. The Knicks won those minutes 20-10, but entered the fourth trailing 87-78.

After a Hart layup opened the fourth, New York missed its next four jumpers, including Towns airballing a three. And Thibs called another timeout five minutes after Utah connected on a third alley-oop of the quarter that saw his team open the quarter going 3-for-9 from the floor. And again with a dozen behind him.

The timeout didn’t do the trick as a Brunson turnover was answered with a Sexton three and a missed three by Brunson was answered with a Johnny Juzang three. The game never returned to the Knicks way.

– The Knicks started the first frame 2-for-10 from the floor and with the pace matching Utah’s, the lead was 13 before New York finally woke up and connected on the next 7 of 9 attempts to prevent the match got out of hand. And a late corner from Bridges put three briefly ahead before the Jazz leveled the score at 28 after twelve minutes.

Bridges finished the quarter with seven points, but on 3-for-9 shooting (1-for-5 from deep). Towns missed all three of his attempts (one of which was blocked). He didn’t make another try for the rest of the match, finishing with seven points in 33 minutes.

– The Knicks immediately went cold again as they started the second going 2-for-7 from the floor and falling behind by seven. Towns broke his cold streak, hitting 3 of 4 from the floor for eight points in the first five minutes of the quarter to keep the deficit at six. But away from center, the rest of the team went 2-for-9 after Anunoby knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the half.

Thibodeau called for time as Utah pushed the lead to 12 with four minutes to play in the quarter. Worse than the Knicks’ shooting was their defense: the Jazz opened 9-for-13 in the second frame and were 21-for-40 from the floor and 8-for-16 from three in the game to that point.

A step back from Brunson put him up nine in the half and cut the lead to eight with 1:25 to play, but Utah took advantage of the Knicks missing three jumpers on the next three trips (two from Brunson) and Keyonte George‘s running jumper just beat the buzzer to put New York in a 66-51 hole at the break.

– Towns had a double-double in the first half (10 points on 4-for-10 shooting with 10 rebounds) but was minus-26 in 21 minutes. Brunson (also 4-for-10 from the floor) hit minus-18 in 16 minutes. And Hart, despite adding eight points, three rebounds and three assists in the first half, was also minus-26.

In the first half, New York shot 20-for-52 (38.5 percent) from the field and 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from three.

Game MVP: Lauri Markkanen

Utah’s best player of the night led the Jazz with 19 points in 16 minutes in the first half and finished the evening with 34 on 11-for-15 shooting (5-for-8 from three) with nine rebounds and was a plus- 30 in 33 minutes. Sexton was also immense with his plus-32 in 38 minutes.