http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/sports/basketball/ny-knicks-carmelo-anthony-phil-jackson-fresh-start-yields-a-familiar-result.html 2015-01-01 03:40:38 Knicks’ Fresh Start Yields a Familiar Result Andrea Bargnani, J. R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony all started for the Knicks, who lost again anyway, this time to the Los Angeles Clippers. === LOS ANGELES — As the New Year begins, a handful of “It’s bad for you,” said Early, saying he had been thinking of doing so for some time, and was following the lead of the veterans As the Knicks closed the door on 2014 in fitting fashion — with a 99-78 loss to the Despite the promise of a fresh start, the New Year’s Eve game at Staples Center displayed the Knicks’ continuing problems. Although Andrea Bargnani (calf, hamstring) played his first game of the season, J. R. Smith (foot) returned from a 10-game absence and Carmelo Anthony started after being bothered by a sore knee, the Knicks looked much like they have all season, and their record fell to 5-29. The Knicks have lost nine games in a row, and 19 of their last 20. Anthony scored 19 points in 29 minutes and did not play in the fourth quarter, but no other Knick scored in double figures. The defense did little to contain J. J. Redick, who finished with 20 points, or anyone else on the perimeter, allowing the Clippers to make 15 of 34 3-pointers. Bargnani checked in for the first time this season with 5 minutes 24 seconds left in the first quarter. He moved his feet surprisingly well on defense, outfought an opponent for an offensive rebound and sank a jumper. Then Bargnani was confounding, as he has been throughout his career. He shot an air ball, fumbled away a defensive rebound to Jordan Farmar, who sank a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer, and clattered into Redick while he was shooting a 3-pointer. The Knicks’ performance came with the team’s president, Phil Jackson, in attendance. He sat not far from the Knicks’ bench in the first half, then followed the team toward the locker room at halftime. Jackson then retreated to a suite where he joined his fiancée, the Lakers executive Jeanie Buss, and Linda Rambis, the wife of the Knicks assistant coach Kurt Rambis.