NEW YORK _ The last time the Clippers were in the Garden, Charles Oakley was dragged out in handcuffs and the Knicks descended into the darkest days of a dim season.
Less than year later, the vibe has changed, a franchise Unicorn has emerged, and the result flipped. About the only consistency was James Dolan slouched in his courtside seat.
MSG has turned into a true comfort zone for the Knicks, who Monday pummeled the Clippers, 107-85.
Porzingis wasn't spectacular _ he finished with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-20 shooting _ but the Latvian outplayed a frustrated Blake Griffin, who fouled out after missing 11 of his 17 shots. The Knicks (9-7) improved to 8-3 at the Garden, and are benefiting from a schedule with the most home games to start the season in the NBA.
They're now 9-4 since their discouraging start. They also recovered nicely from Sunday's blowout defeat in Toronto.
"I think they're resiliency (is the difference from last year's team)," Jeff Hornacek said. "We started off 0-3 and they could have dropped their heads but they didn't. They kept working hard in practice. They kept going after it. If you play hard and buy into playing together as a team and not worry about stats, not worrying about what you're going to do, just figure out what you're going to do to help the team win things usually turn out pretty well. So I think that's what our guys have done. We've had some losses that we've bounced right back from, have won the next game."
The Knicks led by as many as 26 and were never threatened in the fourth quarter by the Clippers (5-11), who've lost nine straight and look the part. Their post-Chris Paul existence isn't going so well.
Despite a sore foot that coach Jeff Hornacek said may be caused by plantar fasciitis, Tim Hardaway Jr. logged 26 minutes Monday and contributed 13 points in 26 minutes.
Porzingis did most of his work in the third quarter when the Knicks went on a 17-4 run to break open the game. For the first time a while, Frank Ntilikina was benched in the fourth quarter and struggled over 11 minutes. But he was picked up by strong play from Jarrett Jack (11 points, 7 assists), while Ramon Sessions took the reins in the final period.
Griffin's night ended on sequence that underscored his frustration. He picked up his fifth foul by bowling over Hardaway Jr. with 6:19 remaining. He received a technical for arguing. Less than two minutes later, Griffin tripped Porzingis and was sent to the sideline.
"Blake is going to attack," Hornacek said before tipoff. "KP has to use his length, make Blake shoot over the top. We got to get back on defense so we're in position to help on him. And you know, Blake will be physical with him but that's something KP has gotten much better since last year. So I think he's ready for a bounce back game."
