Clippers Held Spellbound in Loss to Knicks

To the NBA’s brightest stage, the one and only Madison Square Garden, the Clippers brought their playoff aspirations, their dreams of a potentially season-defining sweep of a three-game November trip.

And Gotham shrugged.

Two nights after their franchise-record rout of the Indiana Pacers at Indianapolis, the Clippers fell flat in a 110-96 loss to the New York Knicks.

Stephon Marbury, perhaps their greatest nemesis, burned them for 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. It was a standout performance but hardly spectacular compared to the almost-impossible-to-duplicate standards he set against them last season, when he averaged 35 points on 55.8% shooting and 8.8 assists.

On the other hand, this time he sat out the fourth quarter.

The Knicks jumped out to a 13-2 lead and the Clippers, on the way to 21 turnovers, never got closer than seven points the rest of the way, the Knicks at one point pushing their advantage to 21 points.

Elton Brand said he was “dumbfounded” by what he called the Clippers’ lack of effort. Marko Jaric said they’d played as if under a spell.

“I thought we were going to win this game,” Jaric said. “If we want to get serious, if we want to have a shot to get to the playoffs, we need to win these kinds of games. I mean, congratulations to the Knicks; I think they’re a good team. But I think we’re a better team and we’re supposed to win these kinds of games. I’m very frustrated that we lost. We missed an opportunity.

“Two days ago, we kill Indiana over there by [34] points. We play the best defense maybe the NBA saw so far in this early period of the season and then we come over here like we’re hypnotized.”

The Knicks, who made 42.8% of their shots in losing two of their first three games, made 50% against the Clippers, the first Clipper opponent to do so in six games. Led by Marbury, six Knicks scored in double figures, among them reserves Michael Sweetney, Anfernee Hardaway and Jerome Williams, who combined for 37 points on 12-of-22 shooting. Jamal Crawford scored 19 points, making three of six three-point shots, and Tim Thomas scored 15 on six-of-eight shooting.

“We weren’t defending the way we’ve been defending and they had too many easy open looks,” Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “The focus wasn’t there.”

Brand couldn’t understand it.

On his way out of the locker room, headed toward tonight’s trip finale against the Chicago Bulls, the Clipper co-captain said, “We played such a great game in Indiana, such great defense. Not to bring it here, I’m just dumbfounded.... We felt like we had an opportunity to make it a great trip. We still have an opportunity to make it a good trip, but we wanted to have a great one.”

Corey Maggette, on his 25th birthday, scored a season-high 29 points to lead the Clippers. Brand had 20 points and nine rebounds, Chris Wilcox 21 and nine. But Wilcox had five turnovers, as did Bobby Simmons, who missed seven of nine shots. And the reserves combined for only nine points.

On the bright side, rookie Shaun Livingston left with his head still attached after being knocked hard into the seats midway in the fourth quarter.

No foul was called and Livingston said he was knocked cold, filmmaker Spike Lee motioning over to the Clipper bench to come tend to him.

“It’s crazy, man,” said Livingston, who said he landed neck first under the empty seat next to Lee. “I can’t get no type of breaks. That’s just the way it is. Clearly, I didn’t just fall all the way into a seat like that.”

He stayed in the game but reported stiffness in his neck afterward. Trainer Jasen Powell said Livingston had suffered a whiplash-type injury.

He’ll be reevaluated today.