Wizards vs. Knicks final score: Road woes continue with 120-99 loss

The Knicks were just straight up feeling it Tuesday night. When your opponent is that scorching on the offensive side of the court, you hope to buckle down, play with intensity and make some runs to keep things competitive.

The Wizards just couldn't quite provide that effort.

Letting the game get out of control from practically the beginning, Washington got picked apart in a 120-99 beatdown Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. It's the franchise's 10th consecutive loss in New York, a streak dating back to 2006.

Winning games on the road has been an issue for the Wizards all season. Facing a red-hot Knicks team looking for its 13th consecutive victory, getting one Tuesday night was always a long shot with New York constantly playing small and Washington missing key perimeter plays in Bradley Beal and Trevor Ariza.

Once the Knicks found their shooting rhythm from three-point range early, it was lights out for Washington.

With starting center Tyson Chandler sitting out, New York's offensive strategy clearly focused on scoring from the perimeter. Whether the offense initiated with a pick-and-roll or post up, the Knicks spaced the floor and moved the ball quickly to find open shooters beyond the arc.

On the night, New York shot 20 of 36 from three-point range.

Leading the way once again for the Knickerbockers was Carmelo Anthony, who continues to simply torch teams from all over the court. After finishing Tuesday with 36 points on 13 of 21 shooting, he's now averaging 40.6 points on 61 percent shooting in his past five games.

No other player on the Knicks scored more than 18 points, but four other players hit multiple shots from 3 land.

The Wizards have generally defended the three well this season, allowing the fifth-lowest three-point percentage in the league, per NBA.com. Still, this was one of those games when the team needed to step up against an opponent focusing its game plan on long distance shots.

As hot as New York was throughout the game, many of the shots came with little in the way of defense. Playing against a smaller lineup, the Wizards didn't rotate quick enough, didn't switch enough, and didn't close out enough on guys whose scouting reports essentially read, "THREE POINT SHOOTER DUH."

When you let that kind of team repeatedly get open shots, the results will typically be disastrous.

Even an exceptional night from John Wall couldn't keep things close. The point guard finished with 33 points on 11 of 19 shooting, but his fourth 30-point game in the past 15 days felt ho-hum as the rest of the offense stalled.

Looking back, this may end up being the Wizards' worst loss of the season with Wall in the lineup. With just a few games left this season, one has to imagine everyone involved is trying to figure out what's causing this team such issues away from home.

Washington is now 7-32 away from Verizon Center this season. Only the Bobcats have fewer road wins.