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The Knicks have made a habit of lax perimeter defense this season, usually committing to a strategy of attempting to lock down the paint and daring teams to beat them from deep.

They did just that, daring the Pelicans to beat them from the perimeter on Friday night. And, well, it didn't work at all in the Knicks' favor as they lost, 123-111, allowing New Orleans to shoot a preposterous 47.4% from deep (18-38) over the course of the game.

For perspective, seven players on the Pelicans shot 3-pointers Friday. Not one of them had an individual 3-point percentage below 42.9.

Not only that, New Orleans' interior offense thrived as well. Jaxson Hayes torched the Knicks for 18 points on 7-8 shooting and 10 rebounds, and Jahlil Okafor pitched in eight points on 3-3 shooting in just seven minutes.

All of that is to say, other than forcing turnovers (19), the Knicks' defense couldn't really do anything right against the Pelicans. What's truly concerning about that is that the team was fully cognizant of the Pelicans' abilities from deep coming in, yet couldn't put anything together to defend it.

"They're one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league, we knew that going in," Knicks head coach Mike Miller said after the game. "I think No. 3 in the corners, No. 7 overall. So we wanted to try to do a better job covering the line, and they came out and hit 12 in the first half -- which is what they normally get for a game -- [and] got six in the second half. We really got spread out, and that's obviously how they play, so I'll give them credit for executing and doing what they do." 

Miller was able to pull specific stats off of his head, but the team clearly did not execute whatever gameplan he had in mind. Brandon Ingram in particular torched the Knicks, scoring 28 points on 11-18 shooting and hitting a team-high five triples (along with nine assists from passing out of double teams). With Ingram in at the power forward for much of the game, Miller attempted throwing Bobby Portis and Kevin Knox at him, both of whom were easily dispatched of.

Then in the paint, in what -- on paper, at least -- should've been the most interesting matchup of the night, Mitchell Robinson was soundly outplayed by Jaxson Hayes, giving up basket after basket inside to his fellow young, rim-running center.

Robinson even had trouble with Jahlil Okafor, who torched him a few times in a very limited run of minutes.

That isn't at all to say that Robinson was a total disappointment in this game -- he and Frank Ntilikina flashed some of their growing chemistry on offense, for example -- but his elite defense from just a handful of games ago seems to have taken a step back in recent games.

As a matter of fact, if a Knicks fan was watching this game, the positives were really almost nil, because some of the best performances statistically came from the one-year veteran players that don't figure to have a future with the team.

Taj Gibson, for example, had his best game of the season, pouring in a team-high 19 points on 8-8 shooting and finishing a team-high minus-1 in plus/minus. Gibson offered what words of advice that he could for himself and his teammates after their fifth straight loss.

"Regroup," Gibson said. "Get guys back healthy, get back in the swing of things. The road trip was tough. I been telling guys these last couple of days to regroup. These games are going to happen through some parts of the season. Just got to weather the storm, especially with the number of guys we got down, a lot of guys we got banged up."

RJ Barrett's struggles continued, as the rookie shot 5-15 for 16 points in his second straight poor shooting performance. A highlight steal and dunk did manage to save the day for the rookie, though.

Ntilikina put together another strong game as well, giving the Knicks some semblance of perimeter defense that they sorely lacked for most of the night. While Elfrid Payton provided some highlight steals, his defense on Lonzo Ball was lacking all night, allowing Ball to put 15 points and 11 assists on the Knicks.

Ntilikina also had his third straight game of relatively high production in relatively low minutes, notching seven points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal in just 15 minutes of action.

A lot can be chalked up to the Knicks lacking depth against their last three opponents, with their top scorer (Marcus Morris) out for all three and their second-highest scorer (Julius Randle) out for the last two, but things will need to start changing for the Knicks if they want to return to the highs that they experienced just nine days ago in a rousing New Years' Day win over the Trail Blazers.

Unfortunately, next up is a matchup with the No. 2 team in the East, the Miami Heat, in a matinee this Sunday -- the same team that easily handled a full-strength Knicks squad just a few weeks ago.