Knicks rout Wizards, 145-113, despite another poor first quarter

Clobbering Time was in full effect at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks — in what’s become typical Knicks fashion — were tied, 38-38, against a 16-win team ...

No longstanding NBA scoring records were hurt in the making of the Knicks ’ 145-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday. As for the egos of the players suiting up for the nation’s capital? That’s a completely different story.

Clobbering Time was in full effect at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks — in what’s become typical Knicks fashion — were tied, 38-38, against a 16-win team with 9:05 left in the second quarter, before outscoring the Wizards, 113-86, for their sixth win in a row on Sunday. The Knicks are now the third-hottest team in basketball behind only the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder , who’ve won 11 in a row, and the Los Angeles Lakers, who are riding a nine-game winning streak up the Western Conference standings. And the performance was par for the course for a Knicks team that has struggled in first quarters this season, regardless of the opponent, but the most glaring instances came against teams with little to play for, just like the Wizards.

The Knicks trailed the Brooklyn Nets, 22-14, before winning at Barclays Center, 93-92, on Friday. They lost the first quarter to the Golden State Warriors without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler or Kristaps Porzingis, 35-21, before mounting a ferocious comeback in a 110-107 victory. They barely won each of the first quarters in two recent meetings with the Indiana Pacers, and they lost the first quarter to the Utah Jazz, a 20-win team at the time, by 15 points.