The Knicks of New York (25*-15) now have a road record of 8-11. On the bright side, there’s one game left on their current trip. Tonight, they took on the Sacramento Kings (11-30), cellar dwellers of the West. Although Sac Town came into the contest having won two straight, we expected this to be a walk for our heroes. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Golden 1 Center.

Precious Achiuwa and Sacramento seized control early and never let go. They shot well while the Knicks fired blanks (like, a ton of them). After New York scored a season-low 17 points in the first frame, they stumbled into intermission having scored their fewest first-half points of the season (42). Shooting 1-of-19 from deep will do that. On top of that, Jalen Brunson left the game with a re-injured ankle. This was pure misery. Post-halftime, the visitors fell behind by 25 in the third quarter, continued to stink in the fourth, and had the score narrowed to a more respectable 112-101 by the garbage time reserves.

New York shot 39-for-100 overall (39%) and 8-for-41 from three (20%). Individually, Mikal Bridges led the starters with 19 points on 6-of-20 shooting, while OG Anunoby added 15 points but missed all six of his three-point attempts. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 13 points (all in the first half) on 5-of-14, grabbed four rebounds, and committed five fouls. Josh Hart logged 10 points, five boards, and five assists, and Jalen Brunson played just five minutes before his injury. I wouldn’t count on him being available tomorrow against Curry and the Warriors.

Off the bench, Jordan Clarkson provided 11 points on 5-for-11, and Mitchell Robinson was the team’s brightest spot with 11 rebounds (seven offensive) and eight points in 19 minutes. Miles McBride chipped in 10 points but shot 4-of-14.

Sacramento shot 35-for-74 from the field (47%), 10-for-27 from three (37%), and 32-for-38 at the line. Enjoying his revenge game, OAKAAKUYOAK Achiuwa delivered a monster two-way performance: 20 points, 14 rebounds (six offensive), two steals, and two blocks in 38 minutes. Guerschon Yabusele, his replacement, recorded two points and three boards in five minutes. Stings a little . . . yes, it does.

For the Kings, DeMar DeRozan logged 27 points on 7-for-16 shooting and passed Kevin Garnett (26,071) for 22nd place on the Career Points list. Zach LaVine added 25 points on 8-for-14 and 5-for-9 from three. And Russell Westbrook, playing his 1,278th regular-season game, delivered 19 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds.

Sacramento put Achiuwa on Jalen Brunson to start the game, and you have to wonder if he requested it. The former Knick had something to prove, scoring nine points in the first frame on 4-of-5 shooting. DeRozan was rocking and rolling, too. He led the Kings on a 32-13 run to upend an early Knicks advantage and never looked back.

Sacramento shot 63% from the floor, while New York’s offense found no quarter in the first quarter. Methinks the rims at Golden 1 might be made of cement. Our heroes shot 35% from the field and missed ALL NINE of their three-point attempts (0%). Then Brunson turned his ankle (the same one he sprained back in November) and limped to the locker room. This game stunk.

After falling behind by 15, New York closed the period down 32-17. For those of you keeping track, yes, that is their lowest first quarter of the season.

Nice sequence from KAT here. More of this would have been helpful:

Coach Brown sent Tyler Kolek into the fray to start the second quarter. For the dazed and confused Knicks, however, the song remained the same. When Josh Hart connected from beyond the arc at the 8:40 mark, he finally broke their awful drought. It was cause for celebration, too, as it was the 700th three-pointer of Hart’s career. On the next possession, however, Josh passed the ball to the other team. Yessir, it was like that. In real life, I’m deep into Moby-Dick, which on past attempts I impatiently abandoned during the “Sermon” chapter. I’d be reading that—or sleeping . . . sigh—if not obliged to write about this miserable game.

Josh’s three ignited an 11-4 stretch for the visitors. That was encouraging. They were unable to reduce the deficit to single digits. That was disappointing. On the Sacramento side, old man Westbrook set the tempo with multiple threes, dimes, and boards; DeRozan continued to contribute; and LaVine chipped in key perimeter shot-making. By halftime, New York was on the wrong end of 56-42, their lowest scoring first half of the season.

Call me cranky, but the notion of KAT’s ‘leadership style’ is scoffable on a night when his team desperately needed some highly-compensated leadership.

Lowly Sacramento dominated the half. They made 54% from the field and 36% from three, while the Knicks struggled to make 34% overall and shot 1-of-19 from deep. Five percent. Good Lord, this was a tough watch. At least New York competed on the glass with 11 offensive rebounds and a 28-20 points-in-the-paint edge, but they managed just nine assists without their captain. Towns led them with 13 points, and Robinson logged seven rebounds in 10 minutes; for the Kings, DeRozan topped their scoresheet with 15.

I wonder what Queequeg is up to.

Hey, Bridges hit a three! In the coldness of this winter, let us seize upon any ember that gives us warmth. Outside of that, New York was outscored 15-3 to fall behind by 23 (and eventually 25). The Kings fans showered the home team with a whole lotta love. Meanwhile, I assume Guerschon Yabusele tried to hide every time Achiuwa did something noteworthy, which was not infrequent. Message received, Master P. Sometimes the replacement fails to live up to the original . . . these things are clear to all from time to time.

For New York, Robinson again supplied energy and offensive rebounds—and made two of his free throws—while Bridges was New York’s most consistent two-way presence, delivering buckets while also jumping passing lanes. McBride, who stunk like rotting whale blubber from deep so far, finally planted a three-pointer after six misses. Cement rims, I tells ya!

For the home squad, there was plenty of reason for bonhomie. Westbrook was everywhere, LaVine scored from multiple levels, and Raynaud quietly made his mark, cashing in on multiple Russ-assists. This team sure didn’t look like a 10-game winner as they decorated New York’s faces with sneaker-prints and scorched the nets. If not for a Jordan Clarkson triple as the quarter came to a close, the score would have been worse than 96-76. Your intrepid writer was jonesing to get back to the ocean with Ahab.

Through the first five minutes of the final frame, New York began to claw their way back. They outscored the Kings by five, reducing the differential to 15. Could this be a stairway to heaven? No, sir. The way these ‘Bockers were bricking, this game was over the hills and far away long before crunch time. McBride drilled his second from downtown to make the hole 14 points with four minutes to go, but New York failed to score over the next minute-and-a-half. Brown emptied his bench at 2:30.

Kolek hit a three, and Yabu made an uncontested layup to cut the difference to nine with 50 seconds left. Don’t get your hopes up. Westbrook made a three-pointer, and that was the killing harpoon. Light the beam, indeed.

The Knicks bounce over to San Fran to face the Warriors tomorrow. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

* Should be one more, but the Cup final doesn’t count.