DETROIT — The New York Knicks’ spirit and shotmaking went missing in Motown on Tuesday night and so goes their three-game winning streak.
Playing their eighth road contest in their past 11 games, the Knicks looked sluggish and saw their winning vibe smashed by the more physical, more veteran-laden Pistons, 115-108, at Little Caesars Arena.
The night started off poorly with a long bus ride downtown that had the Knicks arriving to the arena 30 minutes late. And it got worse when they misfired from the start — missing 22-of-29 their shots in the first quarter.
Tired shooting legs were evident as the Knicks finished the night shooting 39 percent. David Fizdale’s club finishes off this road-heavy portion of the schedule Wednesday in Philadelphia.
The Knicks (7-15) were beset by rough shooting outings from their two Michigan alum, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke, who combined to shoot 6-of-23 — 3-of-16 in the first half.
Playing an hour from their shared alma mater, Hardaway and Burke were as bad as the Wolverines football team was Saturday at Ohio State.
“We missed a lot of easy lay-ins and floaters, 3s we normally take [that] go in, weren’t falling’’ said Hardaway, who finished with 17 points. “Credit them for pushing the pace and getting to the free-throw line and making it a bully-type game. The shots weren’t falling. Some were contested, some were shots Trey and myself make.’’
Hardaway had a poor night with his father, Tim, on hand. The elder Hardaway was fired as an assistant coach by the Pistons after Stan Van Gundy was replaced as coach by Dwane Casey.
Casey said before the game he was “not surprised [the Knicks] beat Boston, Memphis, New Orleans — how hard they play and how relentless they are on the boards.”
That wasn’t the case Tuesday before a three-quarters empty arena. The Pistons (11-7) went up 46-30 midway through the second quarter after Reggie Jackson’s 3-pointer. Jackson, a free agent in 2020, poured in 17 points in the first half as the Pistons led 51-43. Blake Griffin led the Pistons with 30 points and Stanley Johnson came off the bench for 21.
“Credit to their defense — they competed hard, especially on the ball,’’ Fizdale said. “They made it tough on us. When we did get open shots, we didn’t shoot it well.’’
The Knicks’ two rookie draft picks suffered through terrible nights — perhaps because they are not used to this current road grind. Center Mitchell Robinson fouled out for the second time in three games — this time in 17 minutes. On Friday against New Orleans, Robinson spent nine minutes on the court.
The Pistons went to the line 45 times. Robinson is getting flagged for a lot of ticky-tack stuff.
“Obviously you can’t touch nobody. It’s something I have to work on,’’ Robinson told The Post.
This was a night the Knicks really could have used rookie lottery pick Kevin Knox to electrify, but instead he continued a puzzling slump, scoring four points on 1-of-7 shooting. He got his first field goal in the final two minutes of essentially garbage time. Something’s wrong.
Undrafted rookie Allonzo Trier, who was switched to point guard in the final period, heated up in garbage time to finish with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. It was Emmanuel Mudiay’s worst night since becoming a starter eight games ago (nine points, two turnovers, 4-of-13 shooting).
Meanwhile, Damyean Dotson, who played after sitting for four straight games, scored 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench while starting small forward Mario Hezonja fouled out after scoring just five points (he has 16 points in his five starts).
“I think we did pretty good effort,’’ said center Enes Kanter, who posted a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double. “We missed little bunnies. We fought hard defensively but we missed easy shots. We just need to make them. We got looks.’’