This was finally what a contender against a tanker is supposed to look like.
For almost two weeks, the Knicks had been playing down to their opposition, repeatedly squeaking by NBA bottom-feeders.
But this was appropriately a laugher that was comfortable pretty much the whole way.
This firmly matched the two teams’ places in the standings, as the Knicks blew out the Wizards 145-113 Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
It extended the Knicks’ win streak to six, and with the Celtics’ loss, brought the Knicks to just a half-game out of the second seed in the East.
It marked their sixth of seven straight games against teams under .500.
Five of those games — including Sunday’s clash — came against teams in the bottom three of their conference.
The Wizards entered Sunday being outscored by an average of 11.3 points per game, the worst mark in the league.
Sunday was their 16th straight loss.
And they didn’t even have Alex Sarr, the 2024 No. 2 overall pick and the only legitimate talent suiting up for the Wizards these days.
Mitchell Robinson, after the Knicks escaped the Nets by just one point on Friday, challenged his teammates to better respect their opponents despite their record and get off to better starts.
And there was no slow start on Sunday for the Knicks, which had been a recurring theme of late.
They jumped out to a 10-point lead with 5:05 left in the first quarter.
“We talked about it,” Brown said. “Our biggest thing is making our opponent feel us and we did a better job in that area. I thought we did a nice job moving the ball and trying to take the right shots. … I thought overall, it was a lot better than what we’ve done in a couple of games.”
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A brief lull in the beginning of the second quarter allowed the Wizards to tie the game, but the Knicks responded with a 16-2 run to take a 14-point lead.
By just over a minute into the third quarter, the Knicks led by 20. By the start of the fourth quarter, the lead was up to 24 points.
They were incredibly efficient — the Knicks shot 58.5 percent from the field and 53.1 percent from 3-point range as the no-name Wizards offered almost no resistance on the defensive end.
It only took the Knicks three quarters to surpass 100 points.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson paced the scoring with 26 and 23 points, respectively. Brunson had 12 in the first quarter to ensure the Knicks came out of the gates better than they had recently.
Towns added 16 rebounds as well.
Brunson did not have to play at all in the fourth quarter.
Towns was able to check out with 8:15 left.
“I think we came out and we played our style,” Brunson said. “They had a decent run where they tied the game back up, but after that we got the lead, played well with the lead and didn’t look back after that.”
Mikal Bridges, with Landry Shamet (knee soreness) out and not there to steal any of his playing time, finished with 14 points — his most since he scored 15 on March 4.
Josh Hart, after missing Friday’s win over the Nets with runner’s knee, recorded 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.
There was not a big need for much from the bench until garbage time, though Robinson did add 10 points — on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field — along with 10 rebounds.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
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Tyler Kolek put on a show to close the game with 11 points in five minutes.
OG Anunoby was the only starter who didn’t reach double figures.
“Our ability to take good 3s was huge,” Brown said. “Good night on both ends of the floor.”
The Knicks have one more game against lowly opposition in this stretch, though the Pelicans are a bit better than the Wizards, Nets, Pacers or G League Warriors.
Then comes the tough part, when they hit the road and face a surging team in the Hornets, the defending champion Thunder and the tough Rockets.
Sunday’s cakewalk should have been the norm during this stretch, but too often — for a supposed contender — they had to sweat out wins.
There was no stress this time around, however.
This is how it’s supposed to look.
