Knicks hand the Lakers a sixth consecutive loss, 118-112

With two of their most important offensive pieces back, the Lakers’ offense gave them enough Sunday night.

Their defense did not.

And so the Lakers fell again, this time to the New York Knicks, 118-112. This sixth consecutive loss on the eve of a seven-game, 13-day trip dropped the Lakers to 10-16 while the Knicks improved to 14-10.

“You score 112 points at home, that should be a win,” Coach Luke Walton said. “Too many easy buckets we gave up. Guys got in a rhythm early. Couple miscommunications on switches. It’s tough to win when you can’t get stops. I won’t say we can’t get stops, because we can get stops. It’s tough to win when you don’t get stops.”

Five Knicks scored in double digits. The Lakers focused on shutting down Carmelo Anthony, who scored 13 points and had the Knicks’ worst plus-minus rating at negative-four.

But they allowed Brandon Jennings, who entered the game averaging 7.7 points per game, to score 19 points. They allowed Courtney Lee, who averages 9.7 points per game, to score 16. And Kristaps Porzingis led the game with 26 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Julius Randle, who contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds. “And it’s embarrassing because we have too many good defenders and too many athletic guys on this team to be this bad on the defensive end.”

Knicks point guard Derrick Rose made his first eight shots. He finished with 25 points, having made 12 of 16 shots.

“Pretty much just letting them get to the middle, letting Derrick Rose get to his signature floater in the lane, and just letting players that pretty much don’t score, score 16, 17, 18,” Lakers shooting guard Nick Young said.

There was progress elsewhere.

With their starting backcourt healthy enough to play a limited number of minutes, the Lakers were able to turn to a more regular rotation.

D’Angelo Russell, who sat out 12 games because of a left knee injury, started at point guard and played 17 minutes as the Lakers followed a preset minutes restriction. He only made one of eight shots, but had five assists and two steals.

Young, who sat out six games because of a right calf strain started at shooting guard, also had a minutes restriction, and played 20 minutes.

Backup guard Lou Williams led the Lakers with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists. Starting small forward Luol Deng, who has been increasingly comfortable with the Lakers system, scored a season-high 22 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“I think we showed we could do that early, you know we just got to get back into it,” Young said. “I think some teammates, we’re feeling the pressure of losing and trying too hard to get back and we just got to relax and just play ball again.”

The Lakers have not won a game in December, and will face Sacramento on Monday, then Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Charlotte, Miami and Orlando. They’ll be together on the road for 13 days.

“A lot of times on the road, when you get away from everything else and it’s just you and your teammates,” Walton said. “Some bonding and brotherhood type of activities can [help the team] come together. Other times a seven-game road trip can wear everybody out and people get on each other’s nerves. I’m hopeful and confident that we’ll stick together and get through this.”

Added Williams: “Those are your friends and your family out on the road. It puts you in a position where you have to trust those guys much more, so like I said it’s a positive I feel like that we’re going on the road the next 13 days, see what we can get out of it.”

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli