NEW YORK -- Washington Bullets coach Jim Lynam was attempting to put into words exactly what went wrong in his team's loss to the New York Knicks last night when someone handed him a statistics sheet.
"Worst fears confirmed," was all Lynam had to say.
That's because on a night when All-Star center Patrick Ewing scored three points, the Knicks were still hitting 60 percent of their shots in an easy 111-95 win before a sellout crowd of 19,763 at Madison Square Garden.
The Bullets (5-8) were coming off an impressive win Friday night against Detroit, but were catching the Knicks at the wrong time.
New York (8-5) was coming off its worst loss of the season, 125-100, to the Eastern Division-leading Orlando Magic on Friday and was looking to get that embarrassment out of its system.
So what if Ewing only played 26 minutes (he hit just one of four shots, but did manage 10 rebounds)? Charles Smith and Anthony Mason, New York's small forwards, dominated inside.
Smith scored 23 points in 24 minutes, hitting nine of 14 shots. Mason came off the bench to score 22 points in 28 minutes, hitting eight of nine shots. The two alternated being either too quick or too strong for Washington's small-forward tandem of Don MacLean and Calbert Cheaney.
"Smith and Mason were big-time around the basket," Lynam said. "They didn't go to [Ewing] as much, but they had a lot of guys around the basket."
For the Bullets, Scott Skiles led the way with 20 points. Cheaney had 19 off the bench and Chris Webber 18. But the chemistry and balance that existed in the 115-104 win over the Pistons never developed.
"They're a championship-caliber team -- we just lost to a better team tonight," said Webber, who grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
"We have to take the things they did to us, learn from it and use it to whip someone else."
For the second night in a row, the Bullets found themselves in a 15-point hole in the first half. Only this time there would be no dramatic comeback.
That Washington cut that 15-point deficit to 53-45 at the half was a positive. But things aren't really going well when New York's three all-stars -- Ewing, John Starks and Charles Oakley -- score a combined four first-half points and the Knicks still led.
Ewing was asked afterward if he was used as a decoy.
"A D-something," said Ewing, who scored his fewest points since a two-point game against the Indiana Pacers in 1987. "But, seriously, Charles Smith was having a great game so we called his number a lot. Also, as soon as I got the ball they were double-teaming me. So rather than force the issue and put up a bad shot, I just passed the ball away."
By the half Smith and Mason had 14 points apiece, hitting 10 of their 11 shots.
"Things were going my way," said Smith, who was five of six in the first half.
"I'm just glad my coaches and teammates were confident in me to get me the ball and know I'd produce with it."
MacLean and Cheaney were almost defenseless. MacLean wound up scoring four points in 17 minutes. Cheaney had another big offensive night, but gave up too much in size and strength when matched against either Smith or Mason.
"Smith was on, and he played well," Cheaney said. "Our defensive rotations were off all night. That was our worst output defensively all year."
The Bullets never got closer than seven in the second half, falling behind by as many as 17 in losing their 11th straight -- and 17th of the past 18 -- to New York.
It was the first of 10 road games in the month of December for the Bullets, who will make a four-game trip to Texas and Denver starting Thursday and a four-game West Coast trip later this month. Having lost four of five games on their just completed homestand, it could prove to be a difficult stretch.
"It's difficult," Lynam said. "But we're not the only team that's going to play some road games. When you have home games looking you in the eye, you have to take advantage of them."
The home game the Bullets find themselves looking in the eye now is Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns, a team that the Bullets have lost 12 straight against.
Even in losing, Webber claimed to have seen progress in Washington's play.
"There is no encouragement in losing, but there is encouragement in how hard you work and what you do day in and day out," Webber said. "I felt there was a lot of improvement in our team [last night]. We just have to learn as we go and keep playing hard."
NOTES: Mitchell Butler (injured right index finger) did not play. . . . Washington's bench was outscored, 58-33. . . . Oakley had seven assists in 21 minutes. Greg Anthony came off the bench to record nine points, eight assists and five steals.