Just as remarkable, New York –which has settled into third place- had an opportunity to move within four games back of the idle Toronto Raptors. By contrast, Los Angeles, which owns third place of the Pacific Division, trail the front-running Phoenix Suns by a whopping 14 games.

That’s how it goes for the Knicks [22-28], winners of two straight –and now eight games better than the 2005-06 team-, after stomping the Clippers, 102-90, in front of 18,539 delirious fans, who ‘waved’ in delight on Wednesday evening.

Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford each tallied 23 points. David Lee –sporting a shiner beneath his right eye after absorbing Tim Thomas’ elbow- scored 16 points and concluded his 30^th game of 10 or more rebounds on a terrific hustle play with :32.6 seconds remaining. Stephon Marbury finished with 15 points and tossed in a game-high seven assists; it was the 26^th time he has topped New York in that category.

“Tonight, they had a line-up that was able to hit shots,” observed Elton Brand, who put in ten of his own for 22 points, with 13 rebounds. “Curry is so efficient in the paint. Crawford hit from the corner. Marbury hit a big three in the third [extending the Knick lead to 60-55].

“On our side, we tried to play unselfishly. But, we couldn’t hit our shots. That was the difference.”

While Los Angeles was outshot by less than two percentage points, a look at the stat sheet reveals another story. The Clippers [24-24] won the battle on the boards, 41-39. Their reserves outscored the Knicks’, 41-26. And, both in the paint [46-40] and on second-chances [26-10], they were superior.

The only true disparity was on the free throw line, where New York hit 36-of-44; L.A. was a paltry 14-of-20.

Earlier in the day, Isiah Thomas had spoke of his latest creation. Jerome James was set to help Eddy Curry on the defensive end, and contribute whatever he could on the offensive side. Except that, to the surprise of very few, James didn’t stay on the floor very long.

Just 3:15 into the game, he was gone, with his second personal foul. Soon, it would be Clippers 10, Knicks 1, and the beginning of a very long half. Though New York would eventually tie the game at 17, following Curry’s lay-up, Los Angeles was sparked by a pair of Thomas dunks en route to an 11-2 run over the final 2:33.

The Clips, ahead 28-19 after twelve minutes, quickly extended to a 12-point lead when Thomas, a former Knick, drained a trey. Even at the break, they were still on the long side of a 53-43 score. But, Marbury’s 12-point spurt in the third allowed New York to assume a 70-64 advantage to start the final quarter.

“They just turned it on,” said Thomas, who complemented Brand’s effort with 22 points, including six threes. “They made their shots. Tip your hat to them. They did a good job of making it a game. Then, once they got back into it, they made their shots down the stretch.”

The other Thomas, the Knicks’ coach, viewed the third quarter from a different aspect.

“Defensively,” he noted with a smile, “it was very impressive. We held them to 11 points. They were shooting well in the first half, [whereas] we were a little out of rhythm. I wanted to make sure that we were still confident and disciplined.”

Sometimes, the numbers don’t lie.

Previously, New York had won just two of 29 games when the trailed at the half. They are much more successful when holding a lead into the fourth, as they are now 18-0 when closing out a game.

“Our defense,” Brand told the Associated Press after the Los Angeles Clippers’ 90-80 victory against the New York Knicks, “is what we pride ourselves on, and that’s what kept us in ballgames. So we’ve got to be out there blocking shots, deflecting balls and rebounding. That’s how we win.”

Brand had tallied 15 points before the game was eight minutes old, but didn’t score his next field goal until tipping in Cuttino Mobley’s errant 12 foot shot midway through the third quarter. In between, however, he blocked seven New York attempts; as a unit, Los Angeles blocked 16 shots. The Clippers, which opened to a 51-38 advantage at the half, extended their margin to seventeen as a result of Brand’s defensive excellence.

“It didn’t have anything to do with tired legs,” said David Lee, who led the Knicks with nine rebounds. “We just had poor execution.

“We don’t have anyone who can score 50 points on his own, so we need to really work hard, and have all five guys in the right spots.”

While Los Angeles has won the first two games of their three-game homestand, New York is winless on the road over the last five. They remain one game behind both New Jersey and Toronto in the Eastern Division. The Knicks [13-20], 0-8 when they play the Clippers at Staples Center, resume their five-game road trip when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.

At that point, they will re-introduce themselves to the leather ball. Three weeks ago, it was announced that the NBA’s microfiber basketball experiment would officially end on December 31.

“Whenever we tried to move the ball to the weak side, we had poor spacing,” New York’s Isiah Thomas said. “When we drove the ball, it was contested, and we had to take tough shots.”

A few of those shots went to Mardy Collins, who was making his return to the line-up following a six-game suspension for his part in the brawl with the Denver Nuggets on December 16. Collins was actually one of the few players to perform well, as he hit for a career-high 11 points in 22 minutes.

“After sitting out, I just wanted to get back out there,” he said. “The NBA decided that six games were enough, so I had to deal with it. We’re still short-handed at guard, so it’s time for me to get some playing time, and show people that I can actually play basketball the right way.”

“We were a united group before the brawl, so we didn’t need an artificial stimulus to unite us,” the coach defended. “They’re better men than that.”

Collins’ presence was a fair enough reason to sit Steve Francis, who -because of tendinitis in his right knee- has seen a mere 46 minutes of game action in the past three games.

“I was just trying to hold on until one of our other guards came back,” said Francis. “So, I was grateful that Mardy was able to return today.”

Los Angeles [14-16], winners of both games against the Knicks last season, has now beaten them in four straight, five of six, and eight of the past 11 meetings. They remain 7½ games in back of the Pacific-Division leading Phoenix Suns.

New York finished the month with nine wins in 16 games, and has not had a winning month since December 2004, when they were 9-7. However, it is a significant improvement from a year ago, when they dropped 12 of 14 to close 2005.

“We were 3-0 on the homestand,” Brand said, “and we’re getting our swagger back. There’s no better time than now, as we go back east for six games. Every year since I’ve been here, this trip has been a make-or-break stretch for us.”

The same can also apply to the Knicks, who have now stumbled on the road after splitting its first ten games away from the Garden.