Pounded by Lowly Lakers, Knicks Fall Further From Playoff Field

[Mc'Lama™]

Lakers power forward Julius Randle, who scored 14 points, shooting over his Knicks counterpart Kristaps Porzingis, who had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Credit Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
The groaning, abrasive jeers rang out through Madison Square Garden midway into the second quarter, casting shame all over the Knicks. Such derision has become the norm of late, with the Knicks providing new material each night for their fans to boo. If the arena itself is still held in high regard by New York fans, the respect for the home team is waning.

Monday night, the Knicks stumbled miserably again, falling behind by 27 points before halftime en route to a 121-107 defeat. Their opponents, the Los Angeles Lakers, entered the game with the third-worst record in the N.B.A. and are coached by Luke Walton, a Phil Jackson disciple, which only added insult to injury.

However wretched this season has been, this loss — a blowout defeat at home at the hands of one of the worst teams in the league — was its nadir.

“That’s the worst we’ve ever looked all season,” Brandon Jennings said.

The team did not need to look far for an indictment of its troubles; it came from inside its own locker room and coach. From one player to another up the line to Coach Jeff Hornacek, they provided searing criticism of their ugly night.

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The Lakers had lost 12 consecutive road games before their stampede at the Garden, and the ragtag group of youthful talent and veteran nomads turned into Showtime Light.

As each Knick offered his own analysis for the loss, the comments laid bare a team that seemed to be experiencing a systemic breakdown, not simply a one-night lull.

“You’ve got to play for some pride,” Hornacek said. “If you’re just going to come out and just play basketball, then you’re in the wrong level.”

While Hornacek pointed to self-respect as the issue, Carmelo Anthony and Jennings scrutinized the Knicks’ effort. Jennings had called this a must-win game, and shook his head as he was reminded of that. The Knicks had played as if it were anything but.

“You can’t coach effort and energy,” Jennings said. “That’s something we should all have. I mean, we all make millions of dollars playing this game, so the least we can do is go out there and play hard every night.”

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Kristaps Porzingis saw a team bereft of unity and cohesion. It was, he surmised, a team lacking trust in one another.

“It’s kind of everybody for himself a lot of times,” he said.

That statement might explain why defense, rebounding and ball movement were all missing against the Lakers. It was the kind of night for the Knicks in which it took far less time to identify what had gone right than what had gone wrong. The list of positives, headlined by Anthony’s 26 points, was not long.

Now the Knicks find themselves sinking further into a quandary of their own making. A season that started out with playoff hopes is dissolving quickly.

The Knicks are 22-31 and have lost four of five games, and rumors of a possible reckoning hang over them. Three teams and two and a half games in the standings separate the Knicks from the eighth playoff spot in the East. They are a veteran team that may be nearing a rebuilding, even if their own stalwarts may not be ready for it.

“We’re not there right now,” said Joakim Noah, who did not play because of a hamstring injury.

But uncertainty about Anthony continues to abound. The Knicks have reportedly shopped him to Cleveland and to the Los Angeles Clippers, who visit the Garden on Wednesday night. Anthony holds a no-trade clause that would allow him to dismiss any deal, but he has hinted in recent weeks at being willing to accept a move, saying he would consider it if the organization decided to commit to a restart.

He has also admitted to being troubled by the reports that he could be traded. They have tested his will, he said.

While the Knicks’ front office decides how to proceed before the Feb. 23 trade deadline, Hornacek said he had not discussed the possibilities with Jackson and General Manager Steve Mills. For now, Hornacek said, he has his eyes on the postseason, but he understands that the future should be kept in mind.

“We’re all competitors, and we all want to get there, but we all understand that we have to develop something for the long term,” Hornacek said. “If we’re skipping steps just to get in the playoffs, that’d be great for this year, but what do you do next year? We want to try to combine those two.”

Monday, the Knicks did not make much of a case for a balancing act. They fell behind by 10 in the first quarter, and that deficit continued to grow. Their few moments of competence came only after the Lakers had taken a 57-30 lead with 4 minutes 5 seconds remaining in the second.

The Knicks cut the lead to 16 by halftime but could not mount a sustainable comeback. Instead, the Lakers continued to toy with them.

“Pride, effort, however you want to put it, it just wasn’t there,” Anthony said. “My word is effort. Coach’s word is pride. It just wasn’t there tonight.”

Correction: February 7, 2017 
An earlier version of this article misstated the Los Angeles Lakers’ position in the N.B.A. standings. They had the third-worst record in the league entering Monday’s games, not the second-worst record.