AUBURN HILLS – The distaste dripped out of the mouths of the Knicks one by one following a game Carmelo Anthony dubbed literally — and literarily, perhaps — “a tale of two halves.”  Derek Fisher’s careening team admittedly put forth a complete no-show effort at both ends in the first half on Thursday night, prompting players to use words like “embarrassing” and “inexplicable” to describe it.  That they stormed back from a 27-point deficit to take a brief lead late in the fourth quarter — only to drop a crusher, 111-105, to the Pistons at the Palace — was of little consolation and more of a glum afterthought all around.  FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. "LIKE" US HERE.  “I don’t think we offered any resistance in the first half, didn’t play with any pride in the first half,” Robin Lopez said. “And I like to think there was some semblance of pride out there on the floor in the second half.  “But you’re not supposed to win games when you beat yourself like that in the first half. And all the scrambling, all the rallying in the last two quarters — that’s negated. If we won, I would’ve loved to have gotten the win. But you’re kind of cheating yourself that way, I suppose.”  Lopez finished with season highs of 26 points and 16 rebounds, and Arron Afflalo pumped in 19 of his 24 points in the second half. Still, the Knicks (23-29) ultimately lost for the seventh time in eight games to fall a season-worst six games under .500.  They doubtlessly have hit a major tailspin since evening their record at 22-22 on Jan. 20, falling 4½ games behind Indiana and Detroit, who are tied for the seventh playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as the Knicks enter Friday night’s home game against Memphis.  “I don’t even have an explanation for that first half,” said Anthony, who shot just 4-for-18, with none of his 19 points coming in the fourth quarter.  “We finally woke up and came out at halftime with a sense of urgency and just started playing basketball.  ISOLA: KNICKS NEED POINT GUARD IF THEY WANT TO BE IN PLAYOFFS  “Maybe it was because we dug ourselves a big hole and we felt embarrassed. But it was definitely a tale of two halves and it showed out there.”  Anthony added that Fisher “really got on us” at intermission, “which he’s really supposed to do when you have a half like that.” Fisher countered that “it doesn’t matter what I said, as a player you have to decide to do it.”  Point guard Jose Calderon started after missing four games with a groin injury, but he contributed very little — zero points and three assists in 13 minutes.  The Pistons (27-24) netted the first nine points of the game on three 3-pointers, while the Knicks shot just 28% through two quarters, trailing by as many as 27.  To sum up the collective effort in the opening half: Following a made free throw by Anthony with four seconds left, Brandon Jennings collected a pass behind the entire Knick defense for an uncontested layup and a 60-36 Detroit lead at the break.  FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. "LIKE" US HERE.  “We weren’t ready,” said Kristaps Porzingis, who scored five points on 2-for-9 shooting. “We got kicked in the face in the first half, and then the second half we fought our way back. We can’t let that happen in the first half, period.”  The Knicks woke up and furiously slashed the deficit to seven by the end of the third quarter. Langston Galloway registered 12 of his 17 points in the fourth, including a left-side three-pointer to get the Knicks within 89-88 with 5:10 to go and then a straightaway triple for a 95-95 tie with 2:45 left.  Lopez finally gave the Knicks their first lead with a putback 30 seconds later, but Anthony Tolliver drained a three and Reggie Jackson (21 points) buried two more in the final two minutes. All-Star big man Andre Drummond finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while rookie Stanley Johnson netted a career-best 22 for Detroit.  “No explanation, we just didn’t come to play to start and we put ourselves in position where we had to have everything go right for us,” Fisher said. “It’s just hard to put yourselves in that position. …You’re just asking for trouble.”
Losing because of one of their ugliest starts of the season probably would have been easier to take than going down like this for the Knicks