Sound the mini-alarm. The champs are 0-3.
The Knicks squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and suffered an ugly 111-102 defeat Sunday night at the Garden to the short-handed Magic.
Jalen Brunson again failed down the stretch — just like in the home opener against the 76ers — and shouldered the blame as one of only two starters who spoke to reporters afterward.
“Not happy,” the captain said. “Plain and simple.”
Brunson was aggressive but missed 16 of his 28 shots and was off all around — 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, 3-for-6 from the free-throw line. He also committed a costly turnover with about two minutes remaining, lowlighting an overall sloppy evening from the Knicks.
On defense, the Knicks were carved up by forward Franz Wagner, who scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. The German finished one assist shy of a triple-double.
The Knicks were outscored by 19 points in the final nine minutes, mostly because they couldn’t get a stop.
“Giving up 40 points in the fourth quarter is way too much,” head coach Mike Brown said.
The Knicks now are the first defending champions to start 0-3 since the 2011-12 Mavericks. A loss Tuesday against the Pistons would match the 1969-70 Celtics as the only defending champs to start 0-4.
“Everyone can say it’s early in the season. We can use that as an excuse, but I think the one thing I see is when we get those runs and start to look like the team that we did in the past, we get comfortable,” Brunson said. “So we have to continue to put our foot on the gas and execute like we did last year. And we’re not going to be the same as last year. That’s just human nature. But we have to accept this part of the journey and find a way to be better. Hopefully, after a couple games, we can look back and say we grew from that.”
Brunson’s struggles weren’t isolated to him Sunday. Mikal Bridges continued his start to forget with just six points, and the Knicks were outscored by 23 points over Bridges’ 35 minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns (22 points, 14 rebounds) played well offensively, but the collective defense was a problem.
“Biggest thing is I will continue to coach them and tell them the truth,” Brown said. “We’ve got to continue trying to embrace the little things. And we’ve got to make sure we’re doing it in practice so it has carryover in the games. I’ll really jump their ass if I see the effort not there. To me, that’s a whole different thing. If we’re trying and trying the right way, sometimes you’ve got to fight through stuff like this to get yourself on track. Our crap stinks; it does. We’re the only ones that can do something about it.
“There’s no light switch that we can just turn on and think we’re going to go win ballgames. Nobody is going to give us any of that. We have to be better with the little things until we start shooting the ball well.”
The Magic entered 0-2 and without top player Paolo Banchero, who sat with an ankle sprain.
The Knicks pounced. They scored the first 12 points and held the Magic scoreless for almost five minutes, a stretch that was interrupted when OG Anunoby trucked Wendell Carter Jr. for a flagrant foul.
A couple of hours later, the Knicks folded.
Adversity arrived faster than expected.
“One thing I’ve said during training camp and to this day is we’re going to see who we are within the first couple weeks of the season,” Brunson said. “And we’re seeing adversity. So how are we going to respond?”
