If the Knicks’ first Thunder test came down to collapse, this one was a failure. Bombardment.
It was a “terrible” game, Jalen Brunson said.
The Knicks never regained a 14-point lead over the Thunder, or even a lead of more than four points.
They were followed by 30 people.
They only scored 43 points in the first 24 minutes, the second fewest in the first half of the season, but were booed when they returned to the locker room.
They were booed in the tunnel after the 126-101 loss.
Fans packed into the Garden began lining up midway through the fourth quarter.
They had a chance to show off again against the top teams in the Western Conference, but fell short against the Knicks.
Mikal Bridges missed all nine shots.
For the second time in a week, the Knicks tied their season low with four 3-pointers.
The Thunder, who entered the night with the best defensive rating in the NBA, shut down offensive possessions and forced the Knicks to shoot just 38.5 percent from the field.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (39 points) looked like an MVP candidate, but Isaiah Joe, who averages 8.1 points, also appeared to be in the conversation with a 31-point outburst for the Knicks.
“I understand,” Bridges said of the boos. “Missed shots, that’s something you can’t really control. Just keep making, keep coming up. But … on the defensive end, a lot of mistakes, a lack of communication, this is very boo-worthy.”
The Knicks remain an embarrassment after winning nine straight games, and losing four of their last five games has begun to halt their progress.
It took more than four minutes for the Knicks to make their first field goal against a strong Thunder defense.
They scored just 17 points in the first quarter and shot 31.8 percent from the field in the first 12 minutes, making just one 3-pointer.
And during that time, Gilgeous-Alexander flashed the offensive instincts that dot his MVP resume.
Isaiah Hartenstein, who returned to the Garden, blocked Karl-Anthony Towns early in the first quarter and had six points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals.
To some degree, it served as a reminder of the Knicks’ past depth at center (what Hartenstein called a “luxury” before the game), which they no longer had.
But on Friday, none of that mattered.
It got ugly too.
After the Thunder missed a 3-pointer, Aaron Wiggins dove and made a put-back shot with the Knicks within reach.
Then, as the shot clock expired near the end of the first quarter, Joe made a deep three from the Chase logo and watched the resulting broken possession go into the net.
Then, after Brunson hit a free throw late in the first half, the Knicks were slow to get on the floor and Cason Wallace stopped in the corner and sank an open three.
“If you have a lull with three or four bad possessions, they can run away in that time, and that’s what they did,” Tom Thibodeau said.
Thibodeau’s defense gave up 70 points in the first half, matching Oklahoma City’s 60 percent shooting, and Oklahoma City’s offense didn’t have the firepower needed to respond.
At one point during the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander tried to drive baseline against Towns, went high for the shot anyway, and hit a baseline jumper as it faded out of bounds.
Then, after picking Brunson’s pocket and feeding Joe in transition for an easy dunk, Hartenstein’s steal allowed Gilgeous-Alexander to feed Jaylen Williams for a layup.
“If the shots aren’t falling, that means we need stops,” Josh Hart said. “We didn’t get stopped. We didn’t get out in transition. We didn’t play fast. We didn’t make shots. We didn’t really do anything we were supposed to do.”
Twice in the past eight days, the Knicks have looked at the measuring stick.
A chance for the Thunder to show that the challenge isn’t all that difficult and that they can survive even a rough 3-point stretch, an ugly four-game losing streak, and a hole left on the roster.
But the Knicks weren’t able to negate those concerns.
Instead, they were greeted with repeated boos, which further incited them.
