A few minutes earlier, Emmanuel Mudiay hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock running down to turn a two-point deficit into a one-point Knicks lead.

And with 0.4 seconds remaining, after Allonzo Trier was called for a go-ahead goaltend that gave the Washington Wizards a 101-100 lead, Mudiay was still confident in himself and his shot.

"I took that shot, so I had all confidence in that shot,'' Mudiay said, according to the New York Post's Marc Berman.

Though Mudiay's shot didn't fall -- he admitted he "slipped a little bit" on his shot at the buzzer as the Knicks lost in London -- he believes he can be a go-to player in crunch time.

"I'm confident in that," Mudiay said. "That's one thing, I'm not afraid of the moment."

He's been that player before. He scored six of his 34 points in an overtime win over the Charlotte Hornets on Dec. 14. He made a game-tying 3 in the final minute in regulation of a Dec. 1 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Yet head coach David Fizdale doesn't think the Knicks currently have a closer.

"A lot of these stuff in these close games is having a closer, a guy that at the end of a game who can carry you for six, seven minutes," he said. "We don't have that."

Though Mudiay's had his share of clutch shots this season, he's been a player on whom the Knicks can rely late. When the Knicks are within three and there's a minute left in a game, Mudiay is a 50 percent field goal shooter, above his .451 shooting average.

Yet Mudiay ranks 23rd in the league, three spots beneath Trier, in clutch points per game (3.0).

Though the Knicks are among the NBA's worst teams with a 10-34 record, six of their losses have been by three or fewer points.

"These close-game losses are the toughest," Fizdale said, "because as a coach you want that game for them."

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