New York Knicks rookie Mitchell Robinson discusses the early part of his season.
Chris Iseman, Staff Writer, @chrisiseman
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Three games.
Three losses.
Three ugly defensive performances.
That sums up the Knicks' most recent road trip.
They were routed by the Oklahoma City Thunder, blew a late lead against the New Orleans Pelicans and then got carved up by the Orlando Magic for the second time in a week.
Here are five thoughts and observations from the road trip:
The Knicks' defense has been terrible
There's no other way to put it. The Knicks have lost five straight games, and they've given up at least 128 points in four of them, including the last three.
On Sunday, the Magic made their first 10 shots from the field while building a 15-point lead. Orlando made three-pointers, it carved the Knicks up inside.
The Knicks had no answer to any of it, giving up 44 points in the first quarter.
Whether it's a lack of communication or the result of a young team that's still learning, too often the Knicks look like they don't know where they need to be defensively.
At one point in the first quarter on Sunday, Nikola Vucevic set a screen to get Aaron Gordon open on the perimeter. Not only was Gordon open, but there wasn't any Knick anywhere close. No one guarded him. Gordon drained the three.
Those types of lapses have been too frequent.
The Knicks did improve in the second quarter on Sunday, pulling to within one point by halftime.
Much of the increased defensive intensity came with Frank Ntilikina and Damyean Dotson in the game — both of whom are two of the Knicks' better players on that end of the floor.
But the Knicks didn't play that way consistently. There continue to be stretches where they look lost defensively.
'The good teams, they can beat you in those situations if you let your guard down, but the great ones blow you out," coach David Fizdale said after Monday's practice. "They just blow the game open if you got a three-minute stretch where you don’t play well."
Still too few assists
The Knicks had 18 assists against the Thunder, 17 against the Pelicans and just 12 against the Magic.
That's not enough.
It's particularly discouraging for a team that came into the season wanting to share the ball and be unselfish.
The Knicks' three point guards — Emmanuel Mudiay, Trey Burke and Frank Ntilikina — combined for six assists against the Magic.
Three of Orlando's starters had at least six each.
The Knicks rank last in the NBA in assists per game at 18.4.
Of course, part of getting assists requires making shots, which the Knicks also haven't done consistently either.
And despite the low assist totals, the Knicks have been scoring. They had 124 points against the Thunder and 117 against the Magic.
Still, they haven't been moving the ball as freely as they were earlier in the season.
Mitchell Robinson's youth has shown at times lately
Overall, Robinson has been solid. He's been a force defensively and has piled up blocks. He clearly makes impact on that end of the floor.
But his youth has still been evident at times in recent games. That's not surprising for a 20-year-old rookie, especially one that didn't play college basketball.
Lately, he's been fouling too much. Robinson had five in 24 minutes against the Pelicans and five in just nine minutes against the Magic. Robinson had to go to the bench early.
"A step behind on some basic NBA actions," Fizdale said. "Where he's reacting to the play instead of anticipating the play. And usually that leads to some kind of touch foul."
That can be improved. Robinson can learn from it. But when he's on the bench because of foul trouble, the Knicks' defense suffers since Enes Kanter is not the force Robinson is on that end.
Those final minutes
The Knicks were within three points with nine minutes left against the Magic. They were pushing Orlando after a bad start.
Then as they have time and time again this season, they collapsed and let the Magic pull away for good.
This followed up Friday's dreadful fourth quarter where the Knicks blew an 11-point lead with about seven minutes left.
The Knicks continue to have issues with playing a full 48 minutes.
After the Knicks' loss to the Pelicans, Fizdale said his team doesn't know how to answer the bell when the other team "takes it to another level" late in games.
Frank Ntilikina's scoring drought continues
Ntilikina went scoreless in 22 minutes on Sunday and his only field goal attempt didn't come until the second half.
He's averaging 2.6 points in his last five games.
Fizdale said he isn't forcing Ntilikina to be more aggressive offensively, and that's fair. Ntilikina's always had a pass-first mentality and his defensive ability has been crucial.
The Knicks also have been scoring plenty of points without a big contribution from Ntilikina.
Still, Ntilikina still has improvements to make on the offensive end of the floor. He's shown flashes of what he can do, but they've been too sporadic.
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Email: iseman@northjersey.com