NEW YORK — The insult came quickly, a double-digit deficit taking just minutes to pile up with Kristaps Porzingis doing much of the damage shortly after the Madison Square Garden crowd had greeted the former Knicks star with resounding and loud boos during introductions. The injury came shortly after as Mitchell Robinson suffered a sprained right thumb which could portend trouble for the Knicks beyond the disappointment of this night.
Just as Robinson was done for the night, so too were the Knicks, never able to overcome the early struggles as the Washington Wizards led wire-to-wire in a 116-105 defeat. With the loss, the Knicks continue their strange homecourt struggles, falling to 11-13 at the Garden after a pair of losses this week to teams trailing them in the standings. At least they head back on the road to face Atlanta and Toronto now.
“There’s a lot of good teams in the East but I’d say in general too, the whole league,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It seems like there's a lot of parity, there’s a lot of good teams. Anyone is capable of beating anyone on any given night. The scoring we’ve seen, it’s unique. Every night you have to be ready to go.”
The biggest question for the Knicks (25-21) is the status of Robinson, who played nine minutes, but suffered a sprained right thumb earlier in the first quarter as a contested a Bradley Beal drive. Robinson was ruled out for the remainder of the game and will undergo additional tests Thursday.
But Robinson may not have made a difference on this night as the Wizards presented a far different threat than the lineup they put out when the Knicks beat them in Washington last week. With Bradley Beal and Monte Morris back after missing that game five days ago Washington jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the opening minutes — with eight of the points coming from Porzingis, who was 3-for-3, including a pair of shots from beyond the arc.
On a night when Julius Randle would struggle to 14 points on a 6-for-17 shooting performance, even Jalen Brunson’s latest heroics — this one a 32-point effort — wasn’t enough. Porzingis would finish with 22 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots while Kyle Kuzma added 27 points and 13 rebounds.
The Knicks trailed 88-78 entering the fourth quarter and mounted a quick rally to cut the lead to 90-83 on a three-point play by Immanuel Quickley and then a lob dunk by Jericho Sims on a feed from Deuce McBride, prompting a Washington timeout with 10:25 to play. But Corey Kispert drained a three to push the lead back to double-figures before Quickley scored in the lane and then buried a three.
Starting with a three-point play with 40 seconds left in the third quarter, Quickley would score 14 of his 18 points in the final 12:40 of the game.
But the Knicks just couldn’t get all the way back. With 5:46 left Kuzma drove past Randle for a reverse layup, dancing along the sideline in celebration after raising the lead back to 15 as the Knicks called for time. With 5:12 to play Jericho Sims, inserted back into the rotation with Robinson out, was called for his sixth foul, fouling out in just 19 minutes of action.
The Wizards (19-26) seemed willing to squander the lead down the stretch — missing 11 of 12 shots in a span of 88 seconds Porzingis fouled out with 1:15 left, sending Randle to the line, walking off to loud boos again and pointing to the crowd in mock appreciation. But the Knicks could not chip into the lead which had been as much as 17 on the night.
