OK, It’s Over, Starks; and You Were Saying. . .

New York Knick guard John Starks is known for his erratic jump shot, and his ability to predict is not much better.

Starks assumed the role of prophet when he told the New York media the Knicks would rally from a 3-1 deficit and win their best-of-seven series against the Indiana Pacers.

“I’m only saying one thing,” Starks said in the Knick locker room after their blowout Game 4 defeat by the Pacers in Indianapolis. “We’re going to win this series. That’s my statement and I’m not talking anymore until the series is over.”

*

More Bricks: Starks’ guarantee was probably not taken too seriously by New York fans who remember his Game 7 performance in last year’s NBA finals. As the Knicks lost to Houston, Starks was two for 18 from the field, including zero for 11 on three-point attempts.

*

Trivia time: Fifteen years ago today, what 16-year NBA veteran all-star became player-coach of the Clippers?

*

No love lost: There was no taunting, no rejoicing in the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers’ locker room over the news of former coach Mike Keenan’s first-round elimination in St. Louis, but there were plenty of smiles.

“I don’t think too many guys wasted time and effort thinking about [the Blues],” Glenn Healy said. “Only the guys in this room know the full tale of last year. Is it a surprise they’re out of the first round? No. [Keenan] was instrumental in our team winning [but] he was not a guy to make a save or score a goal--it’s the players.”

*

Teen Speed: UCLA won its fourth consecutive Pacific 10 Conference men’s track and field title Saturday but its 1,600-meter relay team finished fourth with a time of 3 minutes 11.10 seconds. Ten years ago, Mike Marsh, Michael Graham, Sean Kelly and Henry Thomas of Hawthorne High set a national prep relay record of 3:07.40, which would have placed the Cougars second to Arizona State, which had a 3:04.95 in this year’s Pac-10 meet.

*

Trivia answer: Paul Silas was named player-coach of the then-San Diego Clippers. Silas, who spent three seasons with the Clippers, never had a winning season and finished with a 78-168 record.

*

Quotebook: Left fielder Luis Gonzalez of the Houston Astros on pitcher Darryl Kile, who was ejected from a game last week for hitting Montreal’s Roberto Kelly with a pitch, an inning after Pedro Martinez hit Gonzalez: “I was one of the first ones there to congratulate him. If he gets fined and the team doesn’t pay it, I’ll pay for it myself. We’re all Darryl Kile fans here.”