NEW YORK _ When the NBA schedule came out, more than a few Knicks fans probably circled Jan. 10 on the calendar. It was going to be the only regular-season visit to Madison Square Garden by New Orleans rookie Zion Williamson, the one that got away when the Knicks didn't win the draft lottery.
But a torn meniscus in his right knee has delayed Williamson's NBA debut. Fans at the Garden on Friday night didn't get to see him on the same court as former Duke teammate RJ Barrett unless they arrived early and watched Williamson throw down a jarring between-the-legs windmill dunk during pregame warmups.
Fans also didn't get to see Marcus Morris, Julius Randle or Dennis Smith Jr. as the Knicks were without the trio for the second straight game.
Morris and Randle are the Knicks' leading scorers. Without them, the Knicks dropped their fifth in a row, 123-111.
Morris (sore neck) and Smith (left oblique strain) are out with injuries. Randle missed his second straight game for undisclosed personal reasons.
The Knicks fell to 10-29 (6-11 under interim coach Mike Miller). They were forced to use the same starting lineup (Barrett, Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis and Reggie Bullock) as they did in Utah on Wednesday, when they lost by 24 points.
On Friday, the Knicks trailed for most of the game but pulled to within one point twice in the third quarter. The last time was on Gibson's jumper with 9:54 to go in the quarter that made the score 69-68.
Then the Pelicans went off and the Knicks wilted. At nearly the same point in the fourth quarter (9:22 to go), Miller called a timeout. The Knicks were trailing by 13. They never recovered, and the Garden slowly emptied.
All five Knicks starters scored in double digits and Mitchell Robinson added 12 points off the bench. Gibson had 19 points and eight rebounds.
Barrett, who had 16 points but shot 5 for 15, scored the game's final points on a breakaway two-handed dunk.
The Knicks aren't done at least trying to upgrade their talent before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. A report on The Athletic and Stadium web platforms said the Knicks are among the teams that have inquired about trading for Pistons big man Andre Drummond. Drummond, 26, went into Friday averaging 17.8 points and a league-leading 16.2 rebounds.
Brandon Ingram led New Orleans (14-25) with 28 points and nine assists. Jaxson Hayes had 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Lonzo Ball added 15 points and 11 assists.
Gibson got off to a hot start, scoring 10 in the first quarter, but the Pelicans led 33-31 at quarter's end. New Orleans expanded its lead to 11 in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 67-61 advantage.
The Knicks trailed 95-86 going into the fourth quarter.
Payton had 15 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Before the game, the point guard _ a possible trade chip in a deal for Drummond or any other player _ drew praise from Miller for his play after he returned from a hamstring injury on Dec. 5.
"He's played outstanding," Miller said. "He came back and he was limited minutes a little bit for a while as he continued to rehab and get healthy. And he went on a stretch where his numbers in terms of his assists in what he was doing was incredible ...
"So he was really impacting winning, making all the right plays, all the terms that you hear, a coach on the floor, so many things. And then defensively, really helped our defense. So he's played very well."
