LOS ANGELES - So, for something different.
An ESPN audience and a crowd of 17,422 watched as the NBA's hottest team lost and the league's coldest team went on to win Sunday night at the Crytpo.com Arena, where the New York Knicks played a 116-93 SmackDown wire-fight against the confused Clippers. Two-wire led.
Tyrone Lew's Underman squad -- now 34-32 -- had won five consecutive NBA-highs against the Lakers' 132-111 on Thursday.
New York got into the middle of its worst run of the season, losing an NBA-worst seven straight games and losing 14 of its last 16 games.
"He played well and we played poorly, so that combination, you get a 30-point blow," Lew said. "They were hungry for a win... so we knew it was going to be a tough game; we didn't play our best and they played really well."
Although the Knicks are just 26-38 this season, they have the number of the Clippers. In two games against New York, LA never took the lead—including the Knicks' wire-to-wire 110–102 victory on January 23.
Knicks wing RJ Barrett - who averaged 30 points per game in his four outings since returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of four games - had 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the first half.
The Knicks' young star finished with 24, leaving six New Yorkers in double digits.
And though the Clippers had five players in double digits, none of them scored more than Amir Coffey, who scored 16 points. Isaiah Harttenstein (14), Terence Mann (11), Luke Kennard (11) and Reggie Jackson (11) were the others, as the Clippers scored just 33 for 88 (37.5%) off the floor.
A game after recording a plus-44 in a win against the Lakers last week, Jackson outscored the Clippers by 33 points in 27 minutes played on Sunday. He, Marcus Morris Sr. and Nicolas Bottom put together 37 runs for 6 runs.
And the Knicks were capable enough — shooting 42 for 88 (47.7%) from the field and 13 for 3 for 29 (44.8%) — and physical enough to capitalize on.
"We didn't shoot early enough that they were out in the transition, which enabled them to score a lot in the paint," said Lew, who began his postgame news conference by saying he wasn't worried. . Anything.
That said, "we definitely have to play better than we are tonight."
The Clippers - who remain without injured All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as well as recently achieved standout Norman Powell - were pushed around. He was outscored 50-36 in the paint and was dismissed 57-43. In the first half alone, the Knicks went to the free-throw line 21 times - though he made just 12 of those foul shots.
Meanwhile, the Clippers, taking 2 for 5 from the Stripes in the first half, struggled to regain the momentum from the start. He scored 16 for 50 in the first half (including just 7 for 28 in the second quarter when he missed his first 13 shots).
Luckily for them, New York scored just 20 for 49 (40.8%), but still led 59-40 at halftime.
The Clippers' deficit extended to 26 points when Mitchell Robinson's putback layup made it 74-48 in the third quarter with 7:47.
But when Robert Covington hit a 3-pointer - which became a four-point play after Kennard's technical foul shot (made possible by Barrett), the difference was only 20 - 78-58 on the 4:20 mark.
In the last 25 seasons, the Clippers have been the only team to overcome the deficit of 24 points or more than three times in a season.
Being able to make a comeback as the Clippers, they are also often troubled by aggressive lulls, such as in both the second and fourth quarters on Sunday.
The Clippers were down just 80-68, but then began the fourth quarter with seven consecutive misses, and when Brandon Boston Jr. checked in to score his first bucket with 7:10 to play, the Clippers 95- 73 behind.
The Clippers will try again when they play in a game on TNT at Golden State on Tuesday.
"But I think from this loss, we have a bad taste in our mouths," Coffey said. "So the next game, we will come out and work hard with energy. You know, win or lose. But of course, we have some things to look at."