There were plenty of references Tuesday night at Citi Field to the Knicks run to the NBA Finals.

Anything, it seems, to distract from what’s happening on the field.

And with the Mets having lost five straight — including 7-2 to the Reds on Tuesday — expect the Knicks to deliver a cease-and-desist order sometime soon.

The Mets were bad on the mound, as David Peterson allowed a career-high 11 hits and may see his brief return to the rotation coming to an end, and they were arguably worse at the plate, scoring two or fewer runs for a sixth consecutive game.

It’s their longest such streak of offensive ineptitude in a decade.

And they were sloppy, as Bo Bichette made a throwing error on Tyler Stephenson’s run-scoring double in the sixth, made worse by Peterson’s failure to back up home on the play.

Carlos Mendoza said there would be conversations about what to do the next time through the rotation, as the Mets continue to try to put together a puzzle of mismatched pieces among their underachieving starters.

“We’re gonna need all of them,’’ Mendoza said. “[Peterson] will throw important innings [as] an opener or out of the bullpen, especially with the rotation losing some guys.”

That could mean a return to starting for Sean Manaea, who was effective in relief of Peterson. He gave up one run in three innings, victimized by soft contact in the eighth, when Cincinnati added an insurance run.

Mendoza said he was impressed with Manaea’s ability to get right-handed batters out Tuesday was encouraging.

But as long as the lineup fails to produce, it almost doesn’t matter who’s pitching in what role in Queens.

This one was fairly predictable, as the Mets were shut down by Cincinnati’s Chase Burns.

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The 23-year-old right-hander had allowed just two runs over 25 innings in his previous four starts.

He gave up a one-out double to Luis Torrens in the third, and after he was stranded at second, the Mets didn’t pick up another hit until Bichette singled with one out in the sixth.

Juan Soto, sporting a new hairdo — back in the lineup after missing two games with an illness — followed with a two-run shot to get the Mets on the board.

A.J. Ewing singled to end Burns’ night.

Mark Vientos pinch-hit for Jared Young against left-hander Sam Moll and hit into an inning-ending double play.

“I feel we’ve been a little unlucky,’’ Soto said of the Mets’ inability to score runs. “We’re hitting balls hard, but it’s been tough. We were crushing balls in Miami that were getting caught. It’s a tough stretch, but there are positives. We had good at-bats, we’re working counts and we can start from there. I think we’re gonna be fine.”

He has almost no choice but to think that.

Too often, though, Soto is just a one-man lineup, as he’s homered five times in his last six games.

Asked about the poor offense, Mendoza said, “It’s a combination of a lot of things. We thought we got out of it the last homestand [when they won five of six]. Since Miami, it’s been a battle, a struggle to figure this out. It’s hard to win games when you’re not scoring runs.”  

So things were already not shaping up well when Peterson’s first-inning woes continued.

A leadoff walk to Blake Dunn was erased when Torrens threw him out trying to steal second, but a two-out single by Sal Stewart was followed by a walk to Spencer Steer. 

Eugenio Suárez delivered a two-run double to left-center, and Peterson only escaped the inning when MJ Melendez threw out Suárez at home on a Dane Myers single to left.

Peterson has allowed eight earned runs in the first inning in his seven starts.