Knicks outgunned by 76ers, Tyrese Maxey as losing skid hits three

All of a sudden, the Knicks are in a rut.All of a sudden, a potential Eastern Conference roadblock might have emerged as a matchup problem. They were flat and out of sorts for the second straight night, falling to the 76ers 130-119 Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

Having dropped both legs of this back-to-back — just their third and fourth losses at home all season — the Knicks are stuck in their first three-game skid since the end of October.That was the only other time they had lost consecutive games during this campaign.After winning 11 of 12 games, including their NBA Cup triumph, the Knicks are 4-5 in their past nine games and 5-5 since winning the Cup.

Two of those losses came at MSG to the 76ers, who certainly look capable of making some noise in the East.“We’re in an area that we’re not used to, where you’ve hit a little bit of adversity,” coach Mike Brown said.“I’ve never been part of a team that has not gone through adversity throughout the course of the year, whether we won it at the end of the season or we were in the finals or we had a halfway decent season.

Every team is gonna hit it.“Now for us, it’s about: How do we respond? How do we come out of it? This is a great opportunity for us to see what we’re made of while we’re going through this stretch.”The young and explosive 76ers backcourt of emerging star Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe, the No.3 pick in the draft, has given the Knicks fits.

On Saturday, Maxey recorded 36 points while Edgecombe added 26.The Knicks had no answers for either of them, allowing them to penetrate into the lane at will and find quality looks from deep.Teams with quick and athletic guards are the ones that have most bothered the Knicks this season.

The 76ers have two of the best.When the Knicks cut their deficit to nine points a few minutes into the fourth quarter, Edgecombe blocked Mikal Bridges’ 3-pointer and subsequently went coast-to-coast, beating the Knicks down the floor for ...