Reeling Knicks falter without Jalen Brunson in loss to Warriors to end disappointing road trip

SAN FRANCISCO — The Knicks wrapped up a dreary road trip with a lifeless loss.

With Jalen Brunson in street clothes because of an ankle sprain, they squandered an early 17-point lead and allowed Golden State to dictate the terms of the second half with shotmaking, physicality and Draymond Green’s antics.

Karl-Anthony Towns was in the spotlight without Brunson and playing against two of his longtime nemeses, Green and Jimmy Butler. Towns responded poorly in the 126-113 Thursday defeat, frustrated (again) by foul trouble while attempting just 14 shots. The Knicks center was strong in the first half with a double-double, but disappeared and collected just six points after the break.

And Mike Brown’s defense disappeared again.

So the reeling Knicks (25-16) lost for the seventh time in their last nine games, ending their Western Conference road trip with two duds in Northern California.

Stephen Curry led the Warriors (23-19) with 27 points while Green played the role of antagonist.

It turned chippy in the fourth quarter.

With 11:01 left, Green fell to the court while guarding Towns. Green then grabbed the leg of Towns as the Knicks center drove. Green was whistled for flagrant foul and literally jumped for joy when Towns missed the second free throw.

Towns then was reviewed for a flagrant foul on Brandin Podziemski that didn’t meet the criteria. On a subsequent play, OG Anunoby’s face was bloodied after a loose ball foul from Podziemski.

The aftermath was the Knicks falling down the stretch while Brunson, who sprained his right ankle during Wednesday night’s loss to the Kings, watched. Green mocked Towns at the end by skipping giddily off the court in garbage time.

It didn’t start so ugly for the Knicks. They stormed out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter.

But that dissolved quickly as Curry awakened in the third quarter, pushing New York’s deficit to double digits. The Knicks never recovered.

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McBride got the start at point guard in place of Brunson, a move that theoretically should’ve boosted the defense with four plus defenders in the lineup — McBride, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart.

McBride played well (25 points) and kept his assignment, Curry, somewhat contained. But the Knicks defense remained atrocious.

They were coming off a nasty performance Wednesday in Sacramento, a terrible loss that reiterated they’re a flawed and often subpar defensive outfit. After that disappointment, Hart issued a challenge to his teammates to reinvent themselves at Golden State.

“It’s going to be a good challenge for us in terms of how we respond to it,” Hart said. “At some point we have to take responsibility and take the challenge on the defensive end. We put a lot of emphasis and we’re talking about offense, guys roles and all those kind of things. But the last month we’ve been a terrible defensive team.

“At some point we’ve got to stop making excuses. We’ve got to wake up. We’ve got to make sure we’re locked in on the game plan and put effort in on that side of the ball. When we do that we’re going to flourish offensively, we’re going to get more possessions, we’re going to run faster, we’re going to play our kind of style, everyone’s going to get the ball, everyone’s going to score, everyone’s going to eat. And we need to do that. Guys do what they want individually but it has to be team first, it has to be the defensive side of the ball. And hopefully we take that challenge, so we’ll see what kind of character we have [against the Warriors].”

Their character arrived and left the same — lifeless.