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The six-game road trip across all four time zones is over but, technically, not the road games.
When the Knicks (28-39) visit Brooklyn on Sunday at 1 p.m., it will be their seventh straight game away from the Garden, but it’s a “road game’’ in name only.
Per usual, more Knicks fans will stuff inside Barclays Center for Sunday’s intracity battle. James Dolan’s franchise still dominates the market.
But that won’t make it any easier for the Knicks, who flew back from Memphis, landing in the wee hours of Saturday morning. They will lose an hour for the clock change for Sunday’s national TV matinee against Kevin Durant’s Nets, who just routed the 76ers.
Welcome back to New York, Knicks!
Kyrie Irving can’t play because he has not been vaccinated. And, of course, new “addition’’ Ben Simmons isn’t ready to compete yet.
The Knicks finished a respectable 3-3 on the journey. But there’s no margin for error with 15 games left. The three-game winning streak could have swelled to a season-best four had they protected a 15-point, late-third-quarter lead in Memphis on Friday before being run out of the building by Ja Morant’s blue band. Instead, the Knicks fell 4 ½ games out of the play-in.
“We’re playing the top of the league,’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said of their road trip. “We’re doing a lot of good things. And we’re learning a lot. And we have to keep improving. And so the next challenge in Brooklyn. And they’re coming off a huge win. And they’re sitting on a couple days rest. And [Memphis] was well-rested [Friday]. So we knew we were going to get their best shot. So same thing. We have to be ready every night in this league. That’s why toughness is so important.’’
Asked if he saw the Nets’ Thursday slaughter of the Sixers, Thibodeau said, “I watched a little bit of it. Any team that has that high level of talent you know how they good they are. You watch that game and you look at the three guys that Philly has and the guys that Brooklyn has, that’s high end. That’s tough.’’
RJ Barrett lamented the Knicks’ reverting to an inability to close out a game with a big lead.
“We had a good road trip,’’ Barrett said. “I feel like we’ve been playing very well, also going against the top teams. We’ve given them a run for their money, just with us learning to continue to figure out how to close out games. That’s all we’re gonna try to do.’’
It’s unclear if Barrett was referring to what Memphis’ offense is and the Knicks’ offense isn’t when he said late Friday: “They really know their system. They share the ball. They’re happy for each other’s success, you know what I mean? They’re like a well-oiled machine.’’
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