MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Knicks finally hit bottom.
Derek Fisher’s Knicks made ignominious history Monday and finally fell to the basement of the NBA, even below the 76ers.
In the wake of Phil Jackson gutting the roster, the Knicks dressed nine players and fell 105-83 to the Grizzlies at FedEx Forum to drop to 5-32.
The Knicks’ loss and Sixers’ victory over Cleveland put the Knicks below Philadelphia with the worst winning percentage in the league (.135), while tying a franchise record with their 12th consecutive loss. The 1984-85 team starring Ken “Animal’’ Bannister also lost 12 games in a row.
It was defensive forward Quincy Acy who led the Knicks in scoring with a career-high 19 and 14 rebounds as the club was desperate for offensive punch. The Knicks actually had a 3-point lead, 29-26 in the second quarter before the Grizzlies pulled away.
Memphis blew the Knicks out with a 37-26 third quarter. Point guard Mike Conley crushed the Knicks for 22 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, making 9-of-12 shots.
Jose Calderon had a good night offensively, making all three of his 3-pointers and finishing with 13 points and six assists. Shane Larkin registered eight assists.
The team was wracked 20 minutes before tipoff with news J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Samuel Dalembert were on the way out. Smith and Shumpert are off to Cleveland in a trade and Dalembert was waived.
“The guys here still in the building came to compete,’’ Fisher said. “This doesn’t signal the end to our transition process. Our front office will look at what we can do to replace a couple of guys and be very aggressive. We’re not giving up on what we’re trying to do as far as this season. We still want to compete every night.’’
Fisher said it was tough to notify the three players and the rest of the club. They had one final locker-room huddle before parting ways.
“I thought we had a great moment before the game to acknowledge they were still a member of the team and once we break the huddle, we won’t be with them,’’ Fisher said.