The Knicks are falling apart right on schedule

If the New York Knicks were having a rough week, it got rougher on Wednesday. All indications point to the team hitting rock bottom on Thursday.

First, their star point guard Derrick Rose went MIA without alerting the team he wouldn’t be available for their Monday matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, a game they went on to lose badly.

Then, upon Rose’s return, the Knicks took as bad a loss as humanly possible: a 98-97 defeat to the lowly 76ers thanks to a T.J. McConnell game-winning, buzzer-beating turnaround shot. It was the first game-winner of McConnell’s life.

New York held a 10-point lead with 2:24 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Knicks’ already fashionably late defensive effort collapsed in the waning moments.

New York has now lost 12 of its last 15 games, including nine losses in their last 10 efforts. Courtney Lee summed the season up best.

“Keep losing games ... ,” a visibly frustrated Lee told reporters after the game. “Shit is definitely embarrassing.

“We got to change our mentality,” he continued. “It should be defense first. ... Countless amount of times it came down to transition, and they got wide-open shots, they got dunks, they got layups, they did whatever they wanted to do tonight.”

It was around this time last season ex-coach Derek Fisher’s team went on a similar mid-season skid that led to him being fired shortly before All-Star break. The Knicks were 22-22 and in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture — strikingly similar to New York’s 14-10 standing and third-place East placement in late November.

That’s when last season spun out of control. The Knicks went on to lose 12 of 15 games in a stretch between Jan. 20 and Feb. 22. Phil Jackson fired Fisher on Feb. 8, after the Knicks picked up their ninth loss in 10 games.

“I think we have some faults that are reoccurring,” ex-Knicks starting center Robin Lopez said after the Knicks fell to 25-37 last season. “We’re not a consistent team. We’re inconsistent on defense, we’re inconsistent on offense. That’s big for us.”

Jeff Hornacek is at the same point of the season Fisher was last year. The Knicks are 0-6 this season in the second game of back-to-backs and have a Thursday night matchup against the Chicago Bulls, who are without both Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic.

But if history serves as any reminder, which it often does in New York, the Knicks are going to have a tough time competing in Chicago. And if they lose, Hornacek better hope history doesn’t repeat itself again.