Knicks turn in a holiday turkey with blowout loss to Raptors

This can’t be good for David Fizdale’s job security.

Seventeen days after team president Steve Mills hijacked the postgame media availability to announce his disappointment with the Knicks’ performance, the Knicks were absolutely crushed by the Raptors on the road, 126-98.

It represented a fourth consecutive defeat for the Knicks (4-14), who own the worst record in the Eastern Conference. Mills, who is on his fifth coach as either GM or president, has been “laying the groundwork” to fire Fizdale, according to ESPN. Mills has said he’s judging the season in 10 game increments. The Knicks went

2-8 in the opening 10 and are now 2-6 in the second increment.

Their next two games are against top- flight opponents – home against the Sixers on Friday and the Celt- ics on Sunday.

Against another contender Wednesday, the Knicks folded like origami paper. They led by 11 early in the second quarter but then immediately succumbed to a 34-13 Toronto run and never recovered. New York trailed by as many as 32.

If anything, the game reinforced that Dolan should chase Raptors president Masai Ujiri to run his basketball operations.

Ujiri lost his best player from last season’s championship squad — Kawhi Leonard — but still has a contender with a 13-4 record. Toronto gained another superstar through development in Pascal Siakam. The 25-yearold from Cameroon, who was last season’s Most Improved Player, finished with 31 points in just 30 min.

It was a homecoming for RJ Barrett, a Toronto product whose father, Rowan, is the GM of the Canadian national team. Barrett missed the previous game because of an illness but recovered for his big night at Scotiabank Arena, where he scored an inefficient 16 points on 5-of-17 shooting. The rookie said he had about 300 friends and family in attendance.

Before the game, Barrett told reporters he plans to play for the Canadian national team in June at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Barrett skipped the FIBA World Cup last summer.

“One hundred percent. I definitely plan on playing for my country this summer,” Barrett said. “I’m very proud to say that. Try to play every summer, as much as I can, so 100% planning on playing.”