CHICAGO — The Knicks blew up last night because of their love of the 3-point shot. They blew a 17-point lead and the Nate Robinson controversy is on the verge of blowing up, too.
Coach Mike D’Antoni stuck to his guns and stubbornly didn’t play Robinson for the seventh straight game, despite Larry Hughes’ groin injury and the Knicks desperately needing an offensive jolt.
The night began with a glow as the Knicks built a 25-8 lead and it ended with the club dubiously setting a piece of history. The Knicks set the franchise’s all-time record for 3-point attempts with 47 3-point bombs in a hideous 98-89 defeat last night to the Bulls for their second straight loss.
The Knicks’ 47 treys fell two short of the NBA record, set in 1996 by Dallas. New York chukkers did set the NBA record for most 3-pointers in a first half with 29. At one point, they missed 15 straight 3-pointers.
“Some were good, some were just jacked up,” D’Antoni said. “They went in early for us and that’s how we got into taking them.”
Robinson sat at his locker and stared for several minutes at the sickly boxscore sheet that had the Knicks shooting 36 percent and taking more 3-pointers than 2-pointers (47-39) — the first time that’s happened in an NBA game in three years. Worse for Robinson, the stat sheet showed D’Antoni basically used a six-man rotation, using Toney Douglas for just 4:15 as the lone guard off the bench.
Asked if this was worse than the other benching, because Hughes was out and the team struggled, Robinson said, “It’s all the same.”
Robinson’s representatives have become furious with D’Antoni’s treatment of their client and likely will take action today. Agent Aaron Goodwin declined comment.
In addition to “Nate-Gate,” the other distraction is the forced immersion of Eddy Curry, who disrupted the flow for the third straight game, this time in drastic fashion. Curry was a minus-13 in his 3:32 stint as their lead shrunk from 17 points to four points in the first half.
The Knicks stopped doing what they were doing and were too concerned with stuffing the ball inside.
“We have to guard against doing it too much when he’s in there,” D’Antoni said. “We got out of our rhythm and never were able to get back into it.”
After a first-quarter 3-point splurge, the Knicks couldn’t land a shot into nearby Lake Michigan. It showed how one-dimensional D’Antoni’s offense can look, especially when the Bulls stymied the Chris Duhon/David Lee pick-and-roll.
After making seven of their first 12 3-pointers in the first, the Knicks were a sickly nine of 34 the rest of the way. Missing Hughes also hurt because he’s probably their best mid-range shooter. The explosive Robinson also adds a driving element to the attack.
Hughes is expected to miss tonight’s game vs. the Clippers and the Garden could resume its “We Want Nate” chant if things go badly and D’Antoni keeps Robinson pinned to the bench.
Robinson said this wasn’t the lowest moment of his career, pointing to Larry Brown’s benching of him his rookie year after he won the Slam-Dunk contest for the first time.
The Knicks finished the night 16 of 47 (34 percent) from 3-point land.
“That’s our game,” Duhon said. “We’re not going to go away from our game. We’re going to keep shooting.”
The Knicks, who fell to 8-17, smashed their old record set on opening night vs. Philadelphia when they launched 41 3-pointers. Last season, the Knicks set a NBA record for most 3-pointers attempted in a season.
“It’s frustrating because we’ve showed we are a better team and these are two tough losses,” said Al Harrington, who got off to a blazing start with four 3-pointers before flaming out and missing his last seven shots.
Danilo Gallinari also couldn’t find his stroke, going 6 of 17 — 6 of 15 on 3-pointers as he made no attempt to drive to the basket. After Gallinari’s final miss knocked off the side of the backboard, Bulls injured forward Tyrus Thomas, a Knick target, taunted him. Gallinari and Harrington each finished with an inefficient team-high 18 points.
In one of their lowest moments, Wilson Chandler launched an airball trey that fell short by several feet. That made it five 3-point misses in a row.
Chicago’s John Salmons (18 points) hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to seal it at 90-81 with 47.7 seconds left.