CLEVELAND — Carmelo Anthony called the spate of losing “unacceptable’’ and soon owner James Dolan may decide that too.
The hot seat Mike Woodson resides on is starting to boil after another depressing defeat Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena dropped the Knicks to an appalling 5-15.
The Knicks used to regularly get routed here when LeBron James commanded the stage. At least then, there was hope James would one day become a Knick. Now everything seems hopeless with no future and it just may cost Woodson his job.
Point guard Kyrie Irving and the younger Cavaliers pounded the Knicks and the beleaguered Woodson, 109-94, after the club got buried into another horrifying early hole — 27-9.
The Knicks were hoping this would be a night of redemption to make up for the 41-point embarrassment against Boston Sunday. Instead, the Knicks didn’t defend or do anything well. They play host to the Bulls Wednesday and, ironically, ex-Knick coach and potential coaching candidate Jeff Van Gundy, will be at the Garden as an ESPN broadcaster.
Making matters worse, Raymond Felton pulled his left hamstring in the third quarter, aggravating an old injury that could keep him out a few games.
“I don’t want to keep using [the word] embarrassing,’’ Anthony said. “We had two already — Boston and San Antonio. Right now the losing is becoming unacceptable. Hopefully everybody feels that way. I can’t be the only one feeling like that.’’
Oddly, Felton’s latest injury could help Woodson’s cause of getting a chance to dig the Knicks out of the crevice when they are at full strength. The Knicks played their second straight game without starting defensive center Kenyon Martin (ankle), who is replacing their real starter Tyson Chandler. Chandler could be back in about 10 days.
When asked if he’s confident he will get a chance to steer the Knicks off the iceberg, Woodson didn’t answer directly,
“Hopefully Kenyon will play [Wednesday],” he said. “Tyson [Chandler] is working to make his way back. Hopefully I’ll get a full deck and see where we are.’’
Not only does Woodson’s job appear to be unsafe but nobody on the roster — save Anthony — can be deemed untouchable either, with Dec. 15 approaching. That’s the date when all free agents and draft picks can be dealt.
“I’m not thinking about it right now,’’ Anthony said when asked if changes are on the way. “If that was to happen we deal with it when it comes. We start thinking about that we’d be 5-25.’’
The Knicks were dreadful in the first and third quarters — two signs of a club looking unprepared. They had several different players attempt to slow down Irving, but no one could as the New Jersey-raised point guard ripped them for a game-high 37 points, banging in 13-of-21 shots, continuing his domination of them in his young career.
Anthony was crisp and put forth a strong outing with 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting. But his two wingmen, Andrea Bargnani and J.R. Smith were woeful, combining to shoot 10-of-31.
For the second straight game, Bargnani couldn’t find his jump shot – the sort of inconsistent play that drove Canada crazy when he played for the Raptorsd. Bargnani finished 5-of-17 for 11 points. He’s 6-of-23 in the last two outings and his open-look misses look to be deflating the team.
Smith was 5-of-14. Iman Shumpert was quiet, scoreless until late in the fourth quarter, finishing with two points (1-of-4 shooting).
The Knicks had major confidence issues from the tipoff, starting out with low energy and falling behind 27-9 after 10 minutes. It was all too reminiscent of the wretched way they began the game against the Celtics on Sunday, falling behind 18-1.
The Knicks started 4-of-16 from the field and were timid on defense as the Cavaliers had a parade to the basket and free-throw line. The Knicks committed 10 fouls to the Cleveland’s 3 in the first period.
“I would think [we’d have a better start],’’ Anthony said. ‘That [Boston] game hurt. We wanted to come out and start out differently. We didn’t. We dug ourselves a hole. I don’t have the answer to that.’’
Does Woodson have the answers?
“We got to help him figure it out,’’ Anthony said. “He’s not going to do it by himself. We got to help each other figure this out.
“He’s doing all the right things in practice. We see the effort. We’re more competitive in practice than in the game right now.’’
The Cavaliers led 31-19 after one quarter before the Knicks rallied to tie it at 40 late in the second period after a nifty drive by Anthony. But that’s where their highlights ended and they were blown out in the third.
The Cavaliers outclassed the Knicks to start the third quarter and built the lead back up to 13 points after Irving’s dipsy-doo dribble at the 3-point line where he completely faked out Pablo Prigioni and fired in a 3-pointer. During the Cavaliers run, Smith got out on a fast break but then threw a wretched pass right into the hands of Irving.
“This is all new to me,’’ said Amar’e Stoudemire, who had a strong outing off the bench with 15 points and five rebounds in a season-high 27 minutes.