Brand, Clippers befuddle Knicks

Shaun Livingston added 15 points and seven assists for the Clippers, who won their third straight contest. Corey Maggette chipped in with 14 points off the bench for Los Angeles.

Eddy Curry topped the Knicks, who lost for the third time in four games and dropped their fifth straight on the road, with 15 points. Stephon Marbury tallied 14 points and eight assists and Channing Frye had 12 points in the loss.

The Clippers took a 28-22 lead after the opening 12 minutes and extended their advantage to 13 at intermission, 51-38.

Los Angeles continued to play stingy defense in the third quarter as they slowly distanced themselves. Livingston’s turnaround jumper closed the scoring in the stanza with the Clippers comfortably on top, 74-55.

The Knicks finally awoke in the fourth quarter and slowly began to chip away. Mardy Collins capped a 9-0 run with a jumper at the 3:37 mark to draw New York within 10 points, 84-74.

But, the Clippers answered with three straight buckets over the next two minutes to put things away. Livingston buried a jumper and Brand got loose for a driving dunk and a jumper of his own to make it a 90-74 game with just 1:32 remaining.

Game Notes

The Knicks are 5-10 away from Madison Square Garden this season...The Clippers own a 12-6 record as the host this season...Collins finished with 11 points for the Knicks while Jerome James had 10 in just over 13 minutes of action.