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David Fizdale's tank is back.
The Knicks lost a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter while the Cavaliers won a 125-118 win Thursday at the Garden.
By collapsing as they have done so many times this season, the Knicks ended their run of two consecutive wins – the two victories at Garden.
It looked like they were about to win a fourth win in five games, but they instead ended their four-game match as losers after being choked with a nine-point lead at 4. : 47 and a 16-3 win to close the match. outside.
Of all their 49 losses, Fizdale seemed the most excited after this one.
"Let the gas go completely down," said Fizdale. "We were laid back. We got up at 10 and decided not to come back in defense. We became a little cool, we were a little bit full of thinking we had the game. "
New Knicks playmaker Dennis Smith Jr. showed his ugly team in the final minutes after a solid match (16 points), and Jordan Clarkson of Cleveland stood up to steal the win.
Standing one point ahead, Smith headed for the bucket and made a terrible back pass, which was intercepted by Clarkson 1:28 into the end. Clarkson ran downhill and Allonzo Trier overturned. It was deemed a foul on a clear path – giving two free kicks to the Clarkson player and the ball to Cavs. The Knicks have never recovered.
Smith said he was "trying to make a room" and thought Mitchell Robinson was driving while driving.
"We did not want to keep anyone, we felt comfortable and they wanted it in the end," Smith said.
After the shots on goal, Clarkson buried a 3-pointer to put Cleveland up 119-115 with 50 seconds to go.
The Knicks dropped to 13-49, keeping possession of the league's second-worst record. If the Knicks had not smothered, they would have had a tie with Cleveland (14-47).
While Kevin Knox struggled (eight points on three shots out of 12), his compatriot rookie among lottery players, Collin Sexton, leader of the Cavaliers, scored 22 points.
"Collin was not finished picking us up and he had more to say about the match," said Fizdale.
The Cavaliers won the series of the season 3-0.
"It was difficult," said Knox. "We are laid back on both ends of the ground. We never want to be swept by a team. "
On the positive side, the implications of the lottery have been helped. While the three worst clubs will have the same 14% odds of winning the lottery, the Knicks would be in a difficult situation if they finished the season with the third record. That would give them a 33% chance of moving to No. 6 or No. 7 after the ping pong balls were scattered on May 14 in Chicago.
Frank Ntilikina, who has been absent since January 28 for a groin injury, did not qualify for the trip to the West, which begins Sunday in Los Angeles against the Clippers. The French could resume training on Saturday at UCLA.
"We will continue to mount it in the coming days," Ntilikina said. "We will ramp up and see how it goes."
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