Knicks pounded by Jazz at MSG as Spike Lee is conspicuously absent

NEW YORK _ Spike Lee didn't miss anything new or exciting Wednesday night. The Knicks simply lost again.

With Lee announcing his boycott a night earlier, the Garden hosted a much better team, the Jazz, that pounded the Knicks, 112-104, behind 23 points apiece from Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic. Near the end of the blowout, a couple fans in the inner bowl started yelling 'Sell the Team.' They were leaving when they began the chant _ a smart tactic since that's an automatic ejection at MSG _ and an usher quickly approached them to make sure they left.

Lee said he's refraining from attending games the rest of the season but his absence Monday wouldn't have been noteworthy otherwise. Without much buzz this season, the famed filmmaker had only been to about three games (that we can remember _ against Dallas, the Lakers and Rockets). As usual Monday, his courtside seat was occupied by somebody else.

It wasn't just Lee who no-showed Wednesday night. The Garden was uncharacteristically scattered with sections of empty seats. One theory is that the coronavirus kept people at home, although the Knicks are expected to have a sellout Friday and the Jazz are a tough draw. Another theory, although flawed, is that Knicks fans are fed up with a franchise producing just three winning seasons since 2001.

On the court, the second game of the Leon Rose era didn't go so well. The Knicks (19-42) trailed for the entire game, allowing the Jazz to dominate and lead by 20 in the fourth quarter. The Knicks were clearly missing backup center Mitchell Robinson, who was inactive because of a sore groin. Utah center Rudy Gobert punished the Knicks in the paint.

The defeat, occurring with Dolan in his usual courtside seat and Rose on executive row, followed Monday's impressive win at the Garden over the Rockets. That was overshadowed by Lee, the franchise's most prominent fan, getting into an argument with security over which arena entrance he could use.

The Knicks issued a statement saying, among other things, that Dolan walked up to Lee at halftime and resolved the issue. Lee took exception to that characterization and took a media circuit.

"This is Garden spin," Lee said on ESPN's First Take, adding later, "I'm being harassed by Dolan. I don't know why."

MSG responded with a biting statement and the war was on.

The Lee incident, if nothing else, underscored the disconnect between the fanbase and team owner. In late January, the Garden crowd chanted loudly, 'Sell the Team,' prompting Dolan to fire team president Steve Mills and hire Leon Rose as team president. Lee just became the latest spokesman against Dolan.

And as long as they continue to lose like Monday, the vitriol will persist.