Nine-point first quarter costs Knicks

MILWAUKEE -- With so much firepower on the roster, Mike D'Antoni said offense isn't going to be a problem for the Knicks. But then he saw his team score nine points in the first quarter Sunday.

"There was a fleeting moment,'' he said, "where I was like, 'What the heck?' ''

The stunned Knicks (35-34) fell behind 32-9 after a quarter and never caught up in a 100-95 loss to the Bucks at the Bradley Center. The defeat was the fifth in the last six games for the Knicks, who fell to 7-8 since the trade for Carmelo Anthony.

It was fitting that former Knick Latrell Sprewell was in attendance. The Milwaukee resident went through a very similar experience when he arrived in 1999 and the team struggled to find itself during the lockout-shortened regular season. But once they did that, the Knicks became the first eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals.

"We're just fighting our way through, and honestly, I think we're getting better,'' Chauncey Billups said. "Even though you can't tell with the wins, we're losing games, but I feel like we're inching and getting better every single time.''

It was tough to blame the Big Three, who totaled 69 points. Amar'e Stoudemire (11 rebounds) had 25 points, Anthony 23 and Billups 21. The issue was with how poorly the Knicks began the game.

"We dug ourselves too deep of a hole and couldn't get out of the 20-point deficit we started the game out with,'' Stoudemire said. "You can't afford to start off games that way.''

After outscoring the Bucks 32-15 in the second quarter, the Knicks did get within 52-51 and 73-72 in the third and 86-84 with 2:30 remaining, but never tied it.

Carlos Delfino had a career-high 30 points and shot 6-for-11 from three-point range for the Bucks (28-41). Delfino torched the Knicks with 12 points in the fourth quarter, including a three over Anthony with 1:44 left for a 91-84 lead.

"He's been hot these last couple games,'' Anthony said of Delfino, who hit a career-high eight three-pointers in Friday's win over the Nets.

Anthony, who shot 7-for-14, regained his scoring touch a game after producing only six points and 2-for-12 shooting in Friday's loss at Detroit. Before the game, he spoke with some contrition about his frustrations in that game, and after this loss, he talked about "getting everybody on the same page in this next month'' so "when playoff basketball comes, we want to be a fine-tuned machine.''

They were something less than that in the first quarter, shooting 4-for-25. The last time they scored nine or fewer points in a first quarter was Nov. 21, 1956, when they had a franchise-low five against Fort Wayne, according to STATS, LLC.

But just as bad as they were in the first, the Knicks suddenly got untracked in the second half while also toughening up on the defensive end. Billups had 13 points in the quarter as the Knicks cut their 23-point deficit to 47-41 at the half.

The Knicks outscored the Bucks 63-43 in the middle quarters but sputtered again in the fourth. They were down 85-81 when Anthony was called for a questionable offensive foul with 4:06 left in the game. Billups fouled out shortly afterward.

Anthony hit a three with 17.4 seconds left to bring the Knicks to within 95-92, but the Bucks were 5-for-6 from the free- throw line in the final 16 seconds to seal it. Milwaukee was 31-for-37 overall.

The Knicks have lost four straight games to teams with losing records and now host two of the East's top teams -- the Celtics Monday night and the Magic Wednesday night.

"It's more about us than anything else,'' Billups said. "We're playing to get better as a team. The opponent doesn't matter.''