Free-throw shooting proves costly in loss

The Knicks’ season-long failure at the free-throw line cost them again Friday night.

David Fizdale lamented that his team, which entered ranked 30th in the NBA from the charity stripe at 67.2 percent this season, missed 14 of 33 free throw attempts in a 101-95 loss to the 76ers at the Garden.

“Overall, I thought the effort was fantastic, but too many of these close games we’ve shot poorly from the free-throw line and that just continues to be a bug for us right now,” Fizdale said. “You can’t miss 14 free throws in a game against a team like that in a close game and expect to win.

“At the end of the day, I still thought the free throw line was our biggest problem ... With our margin for error, we just don’t have that luxury.”

Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson each clanked multiple free throws in the fourth quarter and combined for nine misses in the game.

Allonzo Trier, who mostly has been glued to the bench for the past two weeks, sat Friday for the seventh time in eight games. Apparently his 10-point outburst in seven minutes of garbage time Wednesday night in Toronto didn’t change his status.

Fizdale certainly didn’t commit to more minutes for the second-year shooting guard ahead of Friday night’s loss.

“I’ve got four, five ‘two’ guards and he’s just got to stay ready,” Fizdale said.

Trier averaged 10.9 points and 22.8 minutes per game last season as an undrafted rookie out of Arizona, earning a two-year contract worth $7 million. Entering Friday, he had appeared in only nine of the Knicks’ first 18 games, averaging less than 14 minutes.