No wonder owner James Dolan would consider selling the Knicks one day.
The Knicks embarrassed themselves and Garden stockholders by getting crushed by the Suns, the NBA’s worst team, 128-110.
A 41-17 third quarter was the Knicks’ undoing as the Suns took a 17-point lead into the final session at a silent Garden. When the Suns built the lead to 21 points early in the fourth quarter, a smattering of boos came down. Dolan, the subject of a lengthy ESPN.com article published Monday, was not in attendance.
At the final buzzer, the Knicks were booed off their court.
“This is our painful path to growth and I don’t get too caught up emotionally with what’s going on and more how to fix it,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said. “They’re fast and all those guys can jump.”
Coming off a three-game road trip, the Knicks were back home against the rebuilding Suns as rare favorites, but ran out of steam after a decent opening half after which they led 66-59. The Suns (7-24) have finally found some footing and won their third straight while the Knicks (9-23) have dropped seven of their last eight.
“We don’t have the luxury to look at the game like, ‘Oh, we have three more wins than them, we should win,’ ” Fizdale said. “That’s nonsense.’’
Look at the bright side, if the Knicks continue to be this awful, they should get a top-three lottery seed in the first season in which the percentages will be split evenly among the league’s worst three teams.
“We just stopped competing on the ball — they were getting what they wanted offensively,’’ said Kevin Knox, who scored 13 first-quarter points before finishing with just 17. “On-the-ball screens, we were bad. We weren’t locked in like the first half. We got lax and thought the game was over. That’s not what happened.”
The Knicks played without their top scorer, Tim Hardaway Jr., who was said to have a sore heel. Hardaway, though, has slumped and may have needed the night off on the second leg of a back-to-back. Courtney Lee, in his seventh game back from a neck injury, started at shooting guard.
The Knicks stopped moving the ball after halftime. They finished with just 15 assists on 40 field goals — a lousy percentage.
Suns guard Devin Booker struck for 38 points (14-of-15 on free throws). Booker, a product of the 2015 draft, is Phoenix’s superstar as the Knicks keep waiting for their injured 2015 lottery pick, Kristaps Porzingis, to return.
Rookie center DeAndre Ayton, making his NBA Garden debut, added 21 points and 13 rebounds, looking much like the No. 1 pick in the draft that he is. T.J. Warren was even more terrific with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including four 3-pointers.
Warren keyed a 21-4 run the Suns used to close the third quarter. He made a quick pass to Josh Jackson for a dunk, then buried one of his four 3’s for a 84-79 lead. The Suns got up 86-81 with 3:30 left in the third, causing Fizdale to call a timeout. And then it got much worse.
“The water was coming through the dams with so many holes, I can’t tell you right now before I get in the film room to break it down,” Fizdale said of the third. “I know we didn’t show mental toughness during that run.”
Over the weekend, the Suns traded Trevor Ariza to Washington for Austin Rivers and Kelly Oubre, but the former Wizards have yet to make their debuts as the trade was just made official Monday.
After Jackson’s 3, the Suns got up 93-83 with 1:50 left in the third and the Knicks, Trey Burke and Frank Ntilikina in particular, kept on missing. The carnage ended with a jumper by ex-Knick Jamal Crawford with 25 seconds left in the third.
Ntilikina (3-of-11) and Burke (2-of-8) combined to shoot 5-of-20, failing to make up for Hardaway’s absence.
The lone bright spot was point guard Emmanuel Mudiay’s confidence continuing to grow on the offensive end and he spearheaded the first-half attack with 18 points and four assists, pushing the pace at all costs. Mudiay finished with 32 points and six assists on 12-of-21 shooting.
But he was as down as anyone afterward.
“Our defensive intensity just went down,’’ Mudiay said. “We just got a little too comfortable.
“There’s always one quarter that hits us in the mouth. We have to find a way to regroup when it’s going downhill.”