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The Knicks have been more ping-pong — i.e. careening toward the lottery — than bing bong lately, dropping seven of 11 games since rolling to a 5-1 start to enter Tuesday’s home game against the Lakers (minus LeBron James) just a game above breakeven at 9-8 overall.

With a daunting upcoming schedule featuring additional games over the next three weeks against the Suns, Hawks, Nets, Bulls (again), Nuggets, Bucks and Warriors, here are five questions Tom Thibodeau’s squad suddenly must answer to get back on track.

What’s up (or down, more aptly) with RJ?