LOS ANGELES – The new Knicks are looking like the old Knicks after three games.
Their California Dreamin’ trip is turning into a California nightmare. The Knicks weren’t competitive last night in falling to Kobe Bryant’s Lakers, 99-82, at Staples Center, and now Amar’e Stoudemire is hurt with an ankle sprain.
Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t mince words. “The Lakers are good and we’re awful,’’ D’Antoni said.
It was the second straight night D’Antoni described his club as “awful’’ and it comes only three weeks since he declared the Knicks were capable of winning a title.
The Knicks, who allowed the Lakers to shoot 71.9 percent in the first half, fell to 1-2 and try to avoid humiliation on New Year’s Eve in Sacramento when they close the trip. Carmelo Anthony called the Kings game “a must-win.’’ Already?
Making matters seem worse is Stoudemire, who was dreadful last night, sprained his left ankle in the fourth quarter and would not guarantee he’d play Saturday vs. the Kings. “I have it wrapped up, I’ll get an assessment (Friday) on it and see how it feels,’’ Stoudemire said.
The Knicks already are limited because of injuries to their two best bench players, rookie Iman Shumpert and big man Jared Jeffries.
Bryant, playing with ligament damage in his wrist, finished with 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting despite being accompanied by a relatively modest cast minus suspended center Andrew Bynum. The Lakers’ starting lineup featured Devin Ebanks and Josh McRoberts, but the team is back to 2-2 after an 0-2 start.
The Knicks’ offense has been an eyesore in Cali, averaging 80 points in the two losses. They shot 31.3 percent last night in their ninth straight loss to the Lakers.
“Our offense is not smooth right now,’’ Stoudemire said. “It takes time to get it together. It’s only Game 3.’’
The last time the Lakers saw Tyson Chandler they were being devastated in a four-game sweep to Dallas in the second round. New coach Mike Brown admitted when Chandler left the Western Conference for Broadway, “I thought about taking my wife to dinner and open a bottle of champagne.’’
But Chandler’s Knicks aren’t scaring anyone now, with back-to-back losses to Golden State (94-78) and the Lakers eliciting cries the Knicks need point guard Baron Davis to get healthy.
Stoudemire had another brutal evening, going 4 of 17 for 15 points, zero assists with 4 turnovers and taking a spill midway through the fourth quarter. Stoudemire came up clutching his leg and was taken out. Anthony, after a 18-point first half, wound up with 27 points.
“The flow isn’t good,’’ D’Antoni said. “It hasn’t been good all year. Once in a while you get over it by the sheer talent of Amar’e and Melo against Boston. We got to score. We just can’t make a shot. Before the game in Boston, I thought our offense was bad but then it came through. But it was fool’s gold because that was individual talent at work. We’re not moving the ball.’’
Said Anthony, “The game is about acting, not reacting. It seems right now we’re reacting.’’
Bryant grew up in Italy idolizing Italian League star D’Antoni but now takes glee in punishing his Knicks.
When asked before the game why he lights up the Knicks, Kobe said, “It has to do with Mike D’Antoni being in New York. I like to stick it to him every time I get a chance.’’
After the Knicks’ top three players, the dropoff is glaring. The biggest display of disparity between the Lakers and Knicks occurred late in the third quarter when Bryant squared up against Renaldo Balkman beyond the 3-point stripe.
Bryant stroked the 3-pointer off the glass, got fouled by Balkman and made the free throw for a 4-point play and a 78-63 lead with 2:25 left. The Knicks probably weren’t coming back anyway but that was the official dagger. That Balkman is playing probably doesn’t make another team’s rotation.
There was a noticeable absence of celebrities last night during this Christmas-week clash, with Jack Nicholson conspicuously absent and even ex-Lakers coach Phil Jackson turning down an invitation from his girlfriend Jeanie Buss, the Lakers executive, to attend. Maybe the glitterati is in St. Bart’s for the holidays and surely the Knicks looked like they were in a restful mode in La-La land.
The Knicks hung tough for all of 10 minutes before the Lakers broke away and took a 63-51 lead at halftime in shooting 71.9 percent. LA made 23 of 32 shots, sank 5 of 6 from 3-point range. So much for Mike Woodson’s defensive tutelage .
Chandler scored 13 points with 11 boards and two blocks and got to the line 11 of 14 free throws in the lone bright spot of the night. D’Antoni has said the past 24 hours he needs to get Chandler more involved in the offense.
“It’s all going to come, with the way this season is, we didn’t get much time to come together,’’ Chandler said. “All that is going to start coming. We have too much offensive power not for it to start coming.’’
The Knicks led 17-12 early, showing better ball movement than the previous wreck of a night in Oakland, but they couldn’t put the ball in the Pacific Ocean in the quarter’s final five minutes.
A 13-0 Lakers run vaulted them into a 27-19 lead and the Knicks never recovered. Steve Blake hurt the Knicks from the perimeter with three 3-pointers as the Knicks left Lakers open all night from beyond the 3-point stripe. The Lakers shot 9-of-15 from 3-point land.
The Knicks’ point-guard play is an issue. Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby have kept down their turnovers, combining for one, but haven’t been playmakers and shot just 3-of-12. Bibby didn’t have an assist in 20 minutes and appears limited with his own back issues.