With Derrick Rose absent, Knicks lose third straight at home

Derrick Rose wasn’t at the Garden last night. In fact, the announcement was made just a few minutes before the game according to the New York Times and no one knew or wanted to say where he was.

But, as KC Johnson – a Chicago beat writer – later revealed, he was having a hard time being away from his son.

Regarding Rose, told this isn’t all of it but that being away from his son more is weighing very heavily on him.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 10, 2017

Brandon Jennings replaced him in the lineup and led the Knicks with 20 points in their 110-96 loss to the Pelicans.

With another poor defense, New York allowed New Orleans to score 60 points at halftime, then build a 27 point lead in the fourth quarter that propelled them to their 5th win on the road this season.

Anthony Davis torched the Knicks with 40 points and 18 rebounds in just 29 minutes as he left the game in the third quarter after getting a hard foul from Kyle O’Quinn.

O’Quinn was ejected for the flagrant just under a minute after Carmelo Anthony was also ejected for protests. Melo got his third ejection this season and he is now leading the league.

A photo posted by New York Knicks 🏀 (@nyknicks) on Jan 9, 2017 at 6:20pm PST

Kristaps Porzingis finished with 9 points shooting 3-13 and 4 rebounds and continues to voice his frustration about the Knicks’ defense and called this a rock-bottom situation.

“I feel like once we figure out the defensive part, then we can go up. Right now, we can’t go lower, really. We can only go up right now.”

The Knicks (17-21) will have a practice today before they play the 76ers (10-25) on the road on Wednesday.