LONDON — Different continent, same sickening result.
A change of scenery across the pond and the return of Carmelo Anthony did not have the desired effect for the hopeless Knicks.
Great Britain got to see how horrible the Knicks have become two years after they pranced inside London’s O2 Arena as the Eastern Conference’s second-best team and blew out Detroit.
At the outset Thursday, the British fans groaned when the Knicks couldn’t toss the ball into the English Channel as the Bucks romped to a 14-0 start. Milwaukee went on to crush Derek Fisher’s disastrous outfit, 95-79, before a sell-out crowd of 19,000, many of whom wore blue Knicks jerseys and attempted to cheer for the underdogs.
At the season’s midpoint, the Knicks fell to 5-36 — by far the worst halfway mark in their history. They are on pace for a 10-72 season — just off the NBA’s worst record of 9-73 posted by the 1972-73 Sixers.
As Bucks’ cocky young forward Giannis Antetokounmpo guaranteed, the Knicks’ franchise-record losing streak extended to 16 games. Antetokounmpo made sure it would be a rough night for the Knicks, scoring nine of his 16 points in the game’s first nine minutes.
“It’s a recurring act,’’ Anthony said. “The same things happen over and over again. I wasn’t expecting it to be down 14-0 at the beginning of the game. I was surprised by that. We’re the only people who can control that.’’
After a rusty first quarter, Anthony found his groove and finished with 25 points, making 7-of-12 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line, and three assists in 28 minutes in his first game of the new year. But he also committed eight turnovers, including three in the first quarter, when the game was lost. Fisher sat him the fourth quarter.
Anthony said he had observed some troubling things during the six games he sat out to rest his sore left knee. Humbled team president Phil Jackson was in attendance, sitting six rows behind the Knicks’ bench.
“One thing we can control as a team as players is our confidence,’’ Anthony said. “It seems like guys aren’t playing with confidence. I was able to sit back and see what’s going on. As far as a spectator, that’s what I see. I see … at times we don’t have any confidence as players and a team. When we get down, it seems everybody’s putting heads down and fighting an uphill battle.’’
Antetokounmpo, aka “The Greek Freak,’’ declared Wednesday the Knicks “lose 15 now. Tomorrow is going to be 16.’’ Antetokounmpo couldn’t have been more precise and pounded the Knicks early with his athleticism.
Milwaukee has pounded the Knicks four times this season, including a 25-point preseason rout at the Garden — the first sign Fisher was in trouble. In a bit of a coincidence, Bucks coach Jason Kidd is 3-0 in the last three years in London with three different teams (Knicks as a player, Nets and Bucks as coach).
“It’s not good enough, and we have to get better,’’ Fisher said. “We have to work harder than we’re working. We’ve played this team four times now and they’re just better than us. They match up better, they’re faster. We didn’t give ourselves much of a chance in the first few minutes of the game.’’
The Bucks dominated the Knicks 95-82 Jan. 4 at the Garden. Neither Amar’e Stoudemire nor Anthony played in that game. They were back Thursday, but didn’t affect the outcome.
Stoudemire was particularly invisible after sitting out nine straight games with a swollen right knee. He played just eight minutes — all in the first half — and was scoreless, missing his lone post-up, and slow to react to the pace of the game. He sat the second half as newcomer Lance Thomas started, as did new point guard Langston Galloway. Fisher said he didn’t see the point of using Stoudemire during a blowout.
On hand as NBA dignitaries were legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Hakeem Olajuwon and both would have been be roster upgrades — even at their advanced ages.
With Anthony having thrown in the towel, the Knicks reserves made one of their fourth-quarter runs to close to 11 points with 4:40 left after a Galloway 3-pointer, but predictably died thereafter.
Shooting 26 percent, the Knicks trailed the Bucks 31-13 after one quarter. The Knicks missed their first 10 shots, including three on one possession when big men Cole Aldrich and Jason Smith blew easy putbacks.
It wasn’t until Tim Hardaway Jr. scored on a runner with 6:11 left in the first quarter the Knicks broke the ice and the British crowd roared — partially in sarcasm.