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CLEVELAND — The Knicks kept it closer. Just not close enough to feel encouraged.
After getting waxed by the Cavaliers in their previous matchup in February, the Knicks led by double digits in the first half Wednesday before being pummeled in the third quarter and letting go of the rope in a 124-105 defeat.
They remained winless against the top three teams in the NBA — the Cavs, Thunder and Celtics — at 0-8.
And after leading by as many as 15, they were overwhelmed as Mikal Bridges was passive offensively (just eight points on six shots in 36 minutes) while failing on the other end to stop Donovan Mitchell (27 points on 10-of-18 shooting in just 30 minutes with three blocks).
The loss dropped the Knicks to 0-3 against the Cavaliers (61-15), with a final head-to-head on April 11 at MSG.
By that point, both sides will have likely locked up a playoff seed and attach little significance to the result.
So Wednesday was the last opportunity for the Knicks (48-28) to show they could hang with the top team in the East.
They failed.
Unlike their 37-point drubbing by the Cavs in February, however, the Knicks started hot as the aggressor.
They led by 11 in the first quarter, then 15 in the second. But that advantage disappeared in the third quarter when the Cavaliers shot 17-of-21 — including 15-of-15 on two-pointers – to take a six-point lead into the final period.
New York couldn’t stop the bleeding. Jarrett Allen added 21 points on 10 of 11 from the field as Cleveland made 53.2 percent of its shots.
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Karl-Anthony Towns dropped a team-high 25 points for New York but committed seven turnovers.
The Knicks carried the weight of prior disappointments into Wednesday’s matchup with the defeats to the Thunder, Cavaliers and Celtics.
Those results — which included multiple blowouts — sapped much of the enthusiasm for real title contention, leaving the Knicks a level below the upper crust and hovering closer to ‘pretender’ status.
That didn’t change Wednesday even though, in many ways, it was a schedule loss. The Knicks arrived in Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back, having dispatched the Sixers at MSG on Tuesday.
Jalen Brunson remained sidelined with a sprained ankle.
The Cavs, meanwhile, had two days off at home before facing the Knicks.
They were fully healthy and riding a stretch of four wins in their previous five contests, with coach Kenny Atkinson’s uncharacteristic eruption in Cleveland’s locker room over the weekend serving as a wake-up call.
“Throwing water bottles and all the other antics,” Cavs guard Darius Garland explained. “It was really good for us. We needed a pick-me-up at that point so it was good. We need that a little bit more from him.
“We told him that.”
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