Hardaway’s breakout night wasted as Knicks fall to Pelicans

If you can't beat the Pelicans at home while New Orleans plays without its best player, Anthony Davis, who can you beat?

Right now, nobody. The Knicks wasted a breakout night by rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. and got sloppy down the stretch with turnovers as the Pelicans stole a 103-99 victory at the Garden to send the Knicks to their ninth straight loss.

It was also their seventh straight loss at home as the Knicks can't remember how to pull out close games and coach Mike Woodson doesn't seem to be making the right decisions late. It is a scared team right now that looks to be playing tight in the most pressurized moments.

Hardaway scored a career-high 21 points, banging in 5 of 8 3-pointers, but the defense let up in the fourth quarter. Carmelo Anthony had another quiet fourth, finishing with 23 points but missing key shots late.

The Knicks fell to 3-13 (0-5 in their new orange uniforms) and next play in Brooklyn, where a loss would probably put Woodson in hot water despite owner James Dolan's recent vote of confidence.

Davis left the game with a fractured left hand late in the first quarter, but Ryan Anderson picked up the slack and burned the Knicks with 31 points, making 7 of 11 3-pointers.

Hardaway's emergence came after Iman Shumpert was benched for most of the fourth quarter. Shumpert was spotted during a time out yelling at Anthony, who ignored him.

The game became a scramble at the end. During a 10-0 run by New Orleans midway through the fourth quarter, the Knicks were haunted by late turnovers on three straight possessions. Raymond Felton tried feeding J.R. Smith at the perimeter, but it was broken up by Tyreke Evans, who got fouled on the fastbreak. After the free throws, New Orleans led 98-93.

Anthony then missed an up-and-under layup and Felton bricked a 3-pointer. After Ben Gordon swooped past Andrea Bargnani for a layup, the Pelicans led 102-96 with 58 seconds left.

Hardaway looked as if he would be the hero. He banged in three 3-pointers in the opening six minutes of the fourth quarter, giving him 18 points. The Knicks led by six and Pablo Prigioni was igniting ball movement. But soon, Prigioni was on the bench.

Then, the breakdown occurred. Bargnani lost his man on a pick-and-roll as Evans received a lob in the lane and scored uncontested, giving the Pelicans a 96-93 lead with 2:45 left. Woodson called time out.

Bargnani finished with 17 points and six blocks.

The Knicks played with a lot of energy on defense in the first quarter, holding the Pelicans to 23.8 percent shooting in taking a 20-16 lead.

The Knicks didn't land back home from Denver until 5:45 a.m. Saturday and occasionally energy is an issue on the first game back from a week-long trip. But these Knicks were desperate and they squeezed out a 49-44 halftime lead. It was clear they wanted to spread the offense away from Anthony early on to perhaps keep him fresh down the stretch.

The focus was Bargnani, who scored six of the Knicks' first nine points. He finished off a rare fast break with a slam dunk after Shumpert initiated the pace and led him perfectly.

Bargnani scored 12 points in the half with four rebounds and also had four blocks, including one on Davis and one on a driving Jrue Holiday.

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