The Knicks’ weak offense causes their first loss of the season to the Heat

MIAMI – Mike Brown has often said that the Knicks’ defense is ahead of their offense. Sunday’s 115-107 defeat was a boost.

The defense wasn’t good but the offense was anemic. She barely existed outside of Jalen Brunson.

The game was lost at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, when Brucenon went to the bench and the Heat went on an 11-0 run. The Knicks went 4 1/2 minutes without scoring.

By the time Brunson returned with nine minutes left, the point guard was out cold and the Knicks were nervous. The short-lived recovery momentum to reduce the deficit to single digits in the final minutes was too little, too late.

Andrew Wiggins hit a dagger triple for Miami with 1:20 remaining.

So the first road game of the Browns era was also their first loss. The Knicks shot just 38.8% from the field and 27.8% on 3-pointers. Brunson scored 37 points, but needed 26 shots to get there. Karl-Anthony Towns rode the struggle bus with just 15 points in 31 minutes. He missed six of his eight 3-pointers.

Josh Hart once again lacked confidence in his shooting, attempting just five shots from the field in 22 minutes while badly missing his 3-pointers.

Norm Powell led the Heat (2-1) with 29 points.

Brown announced in the preseason that he would abandon games early in garbage time, and that never happened.

The Knicks trailed by as many as 18 points midway through the fourth quarter, but they held on long enough for the coach to maintain his grip on the rope.

With Myles McBride unavailable for personal reasons — a league source said there was a death in the family — Ariel Hochborty returned to the starting lineup on Sunday for a taller lineup.

But that wasn’t much of a factor, as Hockporty managed just 10 scoreless minutes.

McBride’s absence was felt as the Reserves struggled with just 21 points and ended the third quarter in failure.

The Knicks were experiencing less sleep Sunday after arriving in Miami around 2 a.m., several hours after they supposedly landed from the Westchester airport, league sources said.

The sources said that the cause was a medical emergency involving a member of the plane’s crew that occurred before the plane took off.