SALT LAKE CITY — The Knicks could not fully salvage a two-way clunker Saturday night, and their longest winning streak of the season is history.
The Knicks used a 17-0 run to erase all but two of a 19-point hole in the third quarter, but their shooters went cold down the stretch and their four-game surge was halted with a 121-106 loss to the Jazz at Delta Center.
“We were flat,” Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “There’s going to be nights that you don’t shoot it great. … What you can’t do, you can’t allow missed shots to take away from the energy that you need from your defense. You have to win games in different ways.
“So the nights in which you’re not shooting well, you want your defense, your rebounding and your low turnovers to carry you. … No one shoots the ball great for 82 games. If you’re not shooting well, just do other things that can help us win.”
The Knicks connected on just 39 percent from the floor, led by quiet nights from imported starters Karl-Anthony Towns (16 points) and Mikal Bridges (seven).
They combined to shoot 9-for-34 (26.5 percent) from the field, including 14 misses in 16 attempts from 3-point range.
OG Anunoby buried seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high 27 points, and Jalen Brunson added 23 and eight assists for the Knicks, who will continue this five-game road trip Monday night in Denver.
Lauri Markkanen scored 34 and Collin Sexton had 25 for the Jazz, who shot 55.9 percent (19-for-34) from long distance to improve to 4-12.
“We’ve been struggling on the defensive side for the whole season. When you’re not making shots and you’re not playing well defensively, that’s a recipe for disaster,” Josh Hart said. “We’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end.
“Offensively, we’ve got enough talent where, even if certain guys aren’t going that day, to play well and to win games. But we’ve got to figure it out defensively.”
Thibodeau had pushed back earlier Saturday on the notion that he’s known more as a defensive coach than an offensive one.
The Knicks entered the game second in the league in offensive rating with 122.1 points per 100 possessions, but 21st in defensive rating at 115.6 per 100.
“Well, I think that rarely do people do the homework. So it’s a narrative, whatever the narrative is, you tend to be, everyone’s put in a box,” Thibodeau said before the game. “So it’s, you never let the facts get in the way. We had a top-five offense in Chicago, and had a top five offense in Minnesota.
“I think people try to, and there’s a lot of narratives that you could create around certain things. And I always feel like, whatever the strength of your club is, that’s what you should play towards.”
The Knicks fell behind 13-4 in the first five minutes, and they trailed by as many as 13 in the opening quarter. Utah’s Keyonte George nailed a runner at the buzzer as the Knicks allowed 38 points in the second to trail 66-51 at intermission.
Utah pushed its cushion to a game-high 19 in the opening minute of the third, and the Knicks still trailed 77-58 midway through the quarter.
The Knicks cranked it up defensively, however, and scored the next 17, including multiple 3s and dunks by Anunoby, including a midcourt steal and slam for a 77-75 game with 3:54 remaining in the quarter.
The Knicks couldn’t pull even, however, missing seven of their next eight shots to trail 87-78 entering the final period.
They clanked 15 of 18 shots overall as the Jazz built their lead back to double digits in the fourth.
“We gotta create our own energy when we are a little flat like that. I think we did at some point, but we gotta do it through the entire game,” Brunson said. “They came to play tonight, and we just came to play a little too late.”
