NEW YORK CITY -- The Portland Trail Blazers started a two-game series in New York City with a 128-98 loss to the Knicks in front of a crowd of 18,213 Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
“It was tough the entire time,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “I felt like, similar to the first time we played them, their physicality, it had an impact on us earlier in the game, took us out of some of our play calls.”
The Trail Blazers are now 26-42 overall, good for 11th in the Western Conference with 14 games to play in the regular season, and 9-24 on the road this season. And with the loss, Portland splits the season series versus New York 1-1.
“Little rough toward the end but we had our chances,” said Justise Winslow. “Some mental mistakes, some miscues on defense, not being as connected as we would like kind of led to them opening up that lead there in the third quarter. But as always, our guys fight, they stay engaged, they get better as the game goes on. Not the result we want but a lot of things that we can kind of clean up.”
Josh Hart led Portland with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes. Brandon Williams added 14 points, two assists, two rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes.
Kris Dunn came off the bench to post 13 points, seven assists and a rebound in his second game with the Trail Blazers after being signed to a 10-day contract on Monday.
“I’ve been happy with Kris, I’ve been impressed with the way he’s played,” said Billups. “He’s just a point guard. He’s out there looking to find the right guy, pushed the tempo, pushes the pace, he guards. He’s still really trying to get himself back, fight through and get his rhythm again.”
Trendon Watford added 11 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in 31 minutes. Drew Eubanks finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes.
RJ Barrett led all scorers with 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field to go with five assists, four rebounds and two steals in 40 minutes. Julius Randle scored half of his 20 points at the free throw line.
“Against this team, you have to play without fouling, you have to guard without fouling,” said Billups. “And we just couldn’t. Even if we were hitting shots, it’s tough to ever get a run when they’re shooting free throws every time.”
Immanuel Quickley posted 18 points, six assists and five rebounds off the bench.
The Trail Blazers will now have a day off in New York before facing the Brooklyn Nets Friday night at Barclays Center in the third game of a five-game road trip. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.