Clippers Throw a Get-Well Party for the Knicks

The travels and travails of the New York Knicks reached comedic proportions last Friday when the Atlantic Division leaders tried to get to Cleveland for the next day’s showdown with the Cavaliers, the best team in the Central Division.

The Knicks were supposed to leave on a 4 p.m. flight at LaGuardia Airport, only to have it cancelled because of bad weather. After checking into a hotel, they were re-booked on a 10:30 p.m. flight out of Kennedy Airport. That plane did leave--at 2:15 a.m., putting the Knicks in Cleveland at 4 a.m., which, as it turned out, may have been the highlight of the day since they got blown out by the Cavaliers.

The thing is, they have nothing on the Clippers, who, as if it’s not already obvious, have gotten lost so many times on the road that they should be sponsored by the Auto Club of America.

Following a 35-point loss at Indiana, the National Basketball Assn.’s cure for the common slump were bombed Sunday night by the Knicks, who hit 5 3-point shots in the second half, and 7 in all, in a 134-100 victory before a crowd of 16,853 at Madison Square Garden.

It was a close game at halftime, with New York leading, 54-48, and the Knicks needed a 16-6 run in the second quarter for that cushion. But the Clippers broke down in the second half, never able to find the right gear and not exactly looking like they were close, either.

The Knicks went ahead, 62-52, early in the third quarter and had a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

“We’ve lost our continuity,” Coach Gene Shue said.

Added forward Joe Wolf: “I think we’re just trying to find ourselves again.”

The Clippers, who lost their fifth straight game on this trip to drop to 10-22 overall, got hurt at every turn.

Patrick Ewing had 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting, 11 rebounds and a season-high 7 assists. Johnny Newman also had 26 points, hitting 11-of-15 shots, including all 4 from 3-point range. Charles Oakley had 17 rebounds and 12 points, Mark Jackson 14 points and 10 assists. The Knicks (21-11) finished the night by outscoring the Clippers, 42-22, in the fourth quarter.

“We made a New Year’s resolution that we’d be one of the hardest-working teams in the NBA in the second half, and tonight we proved that,” Coach Rick Pitino said after the Knicks won their 11th consecutive at home and beat the Clippers for the sixth straight time.

The evening became complete with a fourth-quarter appearance of this town’s latest basketball super hero, who isn’t really a hero, just a second-round draft choice who surprised a lot of people by making the team. Still, who could have imagined this, the biggest ovation of the night going to Greg Butler, direct from Rolling Hills High School and Stanford.

The city game once dominated by Willis Reed and Walt Frazier and, more recently, Ewing and Jackson, now has a cause celebre in Butler. The crowd began its lusty chant in the fourth quarter, cheering, “We Want Butler,” over and over.

They got him with 6:47 left when Ewing went out with the Knicks ahead, 111-92. That brought a roar, but nothing compared to when he grabbed Ken Norman’s missed free throw. Forty-one seconds later, he scored his first basket on a fall-away baseline jumper, and the crowd erupted again.

Final totals in his first appearance in 4 games: 7 minutes, 6 points, 3 rebounds. And another night of unexpected fame.

Would they believe this in Rolling Hills and his next-door hometown of Rancho Palos Verdes? The area referred to in-house as The Hill has another social climber.

“It’s a culture shock,” Butler said of the transition from Californian to New Yorker, shaking his head in amazement and smiling at all the attention. “I’d grown up in L.A. and then I went to Stanford, and for me that was cold.

“In L.A., everyone’s so laid back. Here, it’s like a different world. One of my first days I was walking along the street and some guy bumped me real hard. I was ready to turn and say something to him, but then it happened again. I realized it must be an every-day occurance.”

He has adjusted, though. Unlike the team he helped beat Sunday, albeit a minor contribution, he is succeeding away from home.

Clipper Notes

Quintin Dailey scored 26 points to lead the Clippers, who had no one with more than 9 rebounds or 5 assists. . . . Tests will be run Tuesday to determine the extent of Danny Manning’s injured right knee. . . . Center Benoit Benjamin met with his agent, Larry Fleisher, Sunday afternoon but said no decision was made whether he should re-sign with the Clippers after this season. Fleisher has said he would like Benjamin to play elsewhere after becoming a free agent because “I don’t think the chemistry is working.”

Ken Norman hit only 2-of-18 shots from the field, missing mostly from the outside, after going 5 for 14 against Indiana. “Basically, I really want Ken’s game to start down at the low post,” Coach Gene Shue said. “That’s where I want him to get it started. When his shots are not falling from the outside, it’s like he wants to prove he can do it.” . . . The Knicks are 13-1 at home, the lone loss coming Nov. 22 against the Lakers.