Clippers Can’t Make Skid Disappear : Pro basketball: They shoot only 23.9% in the second half and the Knicks hand L.A. its sixth loss in a row, 98-77.

When Bob Weiss was hired to coach the Clippers last summer, he didn’t anticipate that the job would be such a challenge.

But this has been Weiss’ biggest challenge.

He has tried mini-camps, meetings and motivational speeches, but nothing has worked.

“It’s been much more difficult than I thought to get this team where I want,” Weiss said. “It’s frustrating.”

An accomplished amateur magician, Weiss can’t seem to find the right trick to help the Clippers end a losing streak that reached six games with a 98-77 loss to the New York Knicks before a sellout crowd of 19,763 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

The Clippers shot a season-low 38.3%, including 23.9% in the second half, and scored a season-low 77 points, including a season-low 33 points in the second half, and lost for the 10th time in the last 12 games.

“We’re just not playing real well right now, for who knows what reason,” Weiss said. “We’re just having trouble shaking out of it.”

Clipper center Elmore Spencer, who had played well against top centers such as Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal, couldn’t contain Knick center Patrick Ewing, who scored 31 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked a season-high six shots. It was the third game in a row that Ewing has scored 30 or more points.

“It was vintage Patrick,” said Clipper guard Mark Jackson, who spent the first five seasons of his NBA career in New York before he was traded to the Clippers last season.

Ewing, who had 20 points in the first half, doesn’t believe that he is playing well because he is missing too many easy shots. He made 13 of 25 shots against the Clippers.

“I’m still missing easy shots, but now in the last three games, I’m just playing my game, not the way people want me to play,” Ewing said. “I’m just playing the way Patrick Ewing knows how to play.”

The Knicks (22-9) embarrassed the Clippers on the boards, out-rebounding them by 56-39 en route to their fourth victory in their last five games. Knick forward Charles Oakley, who had averaged 12.5 rebounds in his last 10 games, had a team-high 15.

After playing tenacious defense in the first half as the Knicks shot only 34.7%, the Clippers broke down defensively in the second half. The Knicks shot 51.3% in the second half and outscored the Clippers by 54-33.

After the score was tied at halftime, 44-44, the Knicks blitzed the Clippers by 21-9 in the first eight minutes of the third quarter to take command.

“For some reason in the third quarter, (the Clippers) changed their attitude about how they were going to go about the game defensively,” Knick Coach Pat Riley said.

Clipper guards Ron Harper and Jackson, who have been inconsistent this season, played poorly against the Knicks.

Harper missed seven of nine shots and scored seven points and Jackson missed four of five shots and scored three points. It was Jackson’s second-lowest point total of the season.

Harper, who is rarely at a loss for words, wouldn’t talk after the game.

“I ain’t got no quote, man,” Harper said.

Turnovers and poor free-throw shooting, which have plagued the Clippers all season, continued to bother them in the opener of a six-game East Coast trip.

The Clippers, who are averaging a league-high 19 turnovers, had 24 to set up 17 points for the Knicks. The Clippers made only 67% of their free throws.

Clipper Notes

A flight attendant from Memphis, Tenn., said she plans to file a $6-million paternity suit against Clipper guard Ron Harper in Los Angeles Superior Court Friday. Michella Davis, who said she has known Harper for three years, alleges that Harper fathered her nine-month-old daughter, Pagge. “He’s seen the child. He knows she’s his daughter,” Davis said. “She’s his twin. She looks just like him. But he’s cheap. He doesn’t want to pay anything.” Douglas Davis, the attorney for Davis, said he plans to ask for $4 million in support for the child and $2 million in emotional distress that his client has allegedly suffered. Harper declined to comment.

Clipper rookie forward Harold Ellis and Knick forward Eric Anderson each drew technical fouls for a shoving match with 1:07 remaining. After being shoved by Anderson underneath the Clipper basket, Ellis delivered a forearm shiver to Anderson’s head at the other end of the court.