HARDAWAY’S FRUSTRATIONS BOIL OVER
PHILADELPHIA — As reporters entered the visitors’ locker room at Wells Fargo Center late Monday, Tim Hardaway Jr. yelled out an obscenity.
He wasn’t angry at the media but himself. And he let it be known once he began his salty postgame interview.
The Knicks guard continued his horrid shooting streak, particularly from 3-point territory. The $71 million man finished the night 0-for-8 from deep, making him 5-of-44 over the past seven contests — all losses.
He finished the night a depressing 4-of-16 for nine points — his return from a stress reaction in his left leg going disastrously — as the Knicks were beaten 108-92 by the resurgent Sixers for their seventh straight defeat.
“I need to make a f---ing shot,” Hardaway ranted. “It’s too many games in a row. I’m not going to lie and sit here and laugh about it. It’s frustrating and pissing me off. I’m doing everything I can to get out of it. I know how much his team needs me and how important I am to this team.’’
No longer the shame of the league hanging on their “Trust The Process’’ moniker, the eighth-place Sixers (29-25) moved eight games up on the 11th-place Knicks, who fell to 23-35.
The Knicks, held to 13 fourth-quarter points, have just one game left before the All-Star break — hosting Washington on Wednesday — and Hardaway can’t wait for the respite.
“Hopefully after one more game, the All-Star break, everybody will reboot and finish this season off the right way,” Hardaway said.
It was a night their new young point guard tandem of Emmanuel Mudiay and scoreless Frank Ntilikina was outclassed badly by the Sixers’ scrappy backup point guard T.J. McConnell and his triple-double. The Knicks moved to 0-3 since Kristaps Porzingis’ season ended one week ago with a torn ACL.
In his second game as a Knick and coming off a double-double on Sunday, Mudiay scored seven points and dished out two assists in 19 minutes. His largest assist was to the raucous Philly fans when he bricked consecutive free throws in the second half — earning the raucous home crowd a free dessert at a hamburger chain.
Mudiay admitted he wasn’t moving as well as in Sunday’s debut in Indianapolis, twisting his ankle early on. Ankle injuries played a role in his inconsistent seasons with the Nuggets.
“The first couple of minutes I tweaked my ankle a bit,’’ Mudiay said. “I wasn’t moving the way I wanted to move. I was already pissed about that.”
Not as ticked as Hardaway, who is perplexed at his 3-point malaise. In these past seven games, he has shot 24-of-93 from the field — 26 percent.
Hornacek is no longer sugarcoating it.
“We got to have him make some shots,” Hornacek said. “I don’t know what it is. You hate to tell him to stop shooting because he’s a good shooter. I think he’s got to mix it up more.”
“They feel great, man,” Hardaway said of his 3-point stroke. “Some are in and out. They’re all in line. Nothing’s going left. Nothing’s going right. I’m not airballing. They’re leaving my hands great and feels good. It’s not falling. It’s frustrating. You try to not to show it.”
Meanwhile, McConnell, a recent thorn in the Knicks’ side, racked up his first career triple-double with a last-minute rebound that put the crowd into another frenzy. McConnell scored 10 points with 11 assists, 10 rebounds and six steals.
“That can’t happen,” Hardaway said. “We should take a page out of his book.”
Ntilikina didn’t. He was horrible, didn’t score or have an assist in 21 minutes. He was 0-for-4 from the field and recorded four fouls and three turnovers.
“In a back-to-back, you to learn how to play two games in a row with the same spirit and same fire,” Hornacek said. “He’s going to learn that.”