Bucks down travel-sick Knicks

New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin, centerm shoots between Milwaukee Bucks' Shaun Livingston, left, and Larry Sanders during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, March 9, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

MILWAUKEE – The reeling New York Knicks lost their fourth straight game on Friday, falling 119-114 to the Milwaukee Bucks to complete a dispiriting four-game NBA road trip.

Ersan Ilyasova scored 26 points and Brandon Jennings and Mike Dunleavy scored 25 apiece for the Bucks — who improved to 16-24 and moved within two games of 18-22 New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Amar’e Stoudemire had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who were without injured center Tyson Chandler for the second successive game.

Carmelo Anthony added 22 points and Jeremy Lin had 20 points and 13 assists.

Jennings’s layup gave Milwaukee a 15-point lead with 7:28 left in the fourth quarter. New York responded by scoring the next 12 points to pull within 108-105. In the last five minutes New York twice narrowed the gap to one point, but they couldn’t get over the hump.

For the second straight game, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni tinkered with his starting lineup.

Landry Fields returned as a starter and contributed 18 points. Also in as a starter was J.R. Smith.

Smith, inked by the Knicks on February 17 after finishing a spell in China, had scored 18 points off the bench in New York’s 118-105 loss to San Antonio. But he scored just three against the Bucks.