New York Knicks' head coach Jeff Hornacek directs his team...

New York Knicks' head coach Jeff Hornacek directs his team against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Credit: AP / Phil Long

Jeff Hornacek brought up the Knicks’ conditioning for the second straight day, and said he’d like to see them get in better shape.

Hornacek said he wasn’t concerned about the Knicks being fatigued when they completed a back-to-back Wednesday night.

“It may actually be beneficial for us to get into a little better shape,” Hornacek said.

The Knicks didn’t score over the last 5:39 of Tuesday’s loss in Detroit. Hornacek said they expended so much energy on defense that they didn’t have enough left on offense, and attributed that to conditioning.

“You can always get in better shape,” he said. “You can play as hard as you can 48 minutes. Then you know you’re in the best shape you can be in. Our guys are maybe a little bit on the older side. We tried not to kill them in the preseason. I think they are in pretty good shape. I just believe maybe a little bit better shape will help.

“We play a lot of games; I think 16 this month. By the end of the month they’ll be in top shape.”

Rose badly wants win in Chicago

Derrick Rose hopes he receives all cheers when he plays his first game in Chicago Friday, but he knows he won’t.

“That would be a dream,” Rose said. “I know I’m going to get some boos here and there, but it’s all a part of the game, all a part of the sport. It’s not going to affect the way that I play and how bad I want to win that game.”

On the mound

Rose said his 3-year-old son PJ was a good-luck charm for the Cubs. They asked Derrick to throw out the first pitch at a game at Wrigley Field in May, but he wanted his son to do it, so PJ did. A picture of that first pitch is Rose’s cellphone case.

“I always put the spotlight on him,” Rose said. “I took him there just to experience the field, the stadium, because the stadium is like legendary and the park is great. So it was a great day.”

More Porzingis

Hornacek said he probably could have brought back Kristaps Porzingis “a couple minutes earlier” in the fourth quarter in Detroit. But he liked the defense the Knicks were playing. Porzingis played just 3:22. “You can go back afterward and say I could have put him back in a few minutes earlier,” Hornacek said. “Maybe we could have gotten more scoring but maybe we didn’t play as good defense.”

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