Clipper Comeback Fizzles at Buzzer : Basketball: Los Angeles does everything right in second half until Knicks’ Wilkins slips in for game-winning tip-in.

The Clippers thought they felt bad after back-to-back blowouts.

Then came this.

A comeback from a 14-point deficit in the second quarter that turned into a one-point lead with 5.7 seconds to play ended as a heart-breaking 112-111 loss to the New York Knicks Saturday night before 12,116 at the Sports Arena.

The defeat came even though Knick Rod Strickland missed two free throws with 2.5 seconds left and the Clippers leading, 111-110.

Gerald Wilkins, Strickland’s teammate, figured Strickland might miss his second attempt. He was near halfcourt for the first shot, and moved right behind the shooter for the second. When Strickland released the ball, Wilkins charged down the left side of the lane.

Strickland’s shot hit the rim, bounced to the backboard, then to the left, and Wilkins was there to reach over Clipper Joe Wolf and tip in the winning basket.

“Just a great athletic play on his part,” Knick Coach Stu Jackson said of Wilkins’ maneuver.

“I don’t know where he came from,” Wolf said. “I had Eddie Lee (Wilkins) boxed out.”

That he did. But no one picked up Gerald Wilkins.

“I felt that after he (Strickland) missed the first shot, it would be tough for him to make the second, with the crowd on their feet and all that,” Gerald Wilkins said. “I ran to the top of the key. By the time the ball hit the rim, I was at the top of the lane. The ball flew to the left and I just went over (Wolf).”

More than giving the Clippers another defeat, their third in four games, it meant a crushing loss.

“We had the game,” said Reggie Williams, a key part to the comeback who finished with 24 points, second only to Ken Norman’s game-high 26. Norman made the go-ahead basket and subsequent free throw with 5.7 seconds left to give the Clippers their 111-110 lead. “One rebound away from winning the game and we let it slip away.”

Coach Don Casey apparently took this loss as hard as any during his 48-game tenure. He certainly was as demonstrative as ever on the sideline, and then, in a rare move, bolted from the locker room after a quick statement.

“This goes to show you that hustle and effort are one thing . . . but intelligence is another,” he said. “We told the guys not to foul, and then we did not block out.”

Gary Grant’s foul, after Norman had put the Clippers ahead, set up the Strickland/Wilkins play. A series of events necessitated the furious charge to get back in the game.

Charles Smith’s return from a strained hip muscle was, if nothing else, an emotional pregame boost to a team badly in need of one.

The Clippers lost the two outings he missed by a combined 48 points, and Dallas, in the last game, exposed the weakness of depth on the front line. With Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley, the Knicks had the potential to cause similar problems.

But with Williams as aggressive on the boards as any Knick, size was not the problem as the Clippers fell behind by 14 early in the second quarter. It was Los Angeles hitting nine of 28 shots (32%) in the first quarter.

The Clippers cut the deficit to eight on two occasions in the second quarter before going into halftime trailing by 10, 62-52. Norman scored 10 of their final 12 points, en route to 15 at intermission.

Ewing also had 15 for the Knicks, along with nine rebounds, and he would finish with 20 and 11, respectively. New York (3-2) shot 55% in the first half, compared to 37% for the Clippers.

Then they came out of the locker room like a different team.

Like most Clipper rallies, defense was the catalyst--the Knicks were held to seven points in the opening 4:15 of the third quarter.

And this time, the Clippers didn’t miss when they had the chances--they scored on 10 of their first 11 second-half trips down court.

Finally, with seven minutes to play in the quarter, they went ahead, 72-71, as Grant scored on a back-door layup. New York got the lead back temporarily, but the Clippers responded again, going up, 84-77, with 1:45 left in the third.

They weren’t getting blown out for a change, but that merely set them up for another kind of agony.

Clipper Notes

Tom Garrick will be examined today to determine the extent of his injured right knee, now being termed a sprain but possibly worse. “It could be as serious as a torn cartilage,” trainer Bernie LaReau said. “But we’re hoping it’s just that (sprained). We’re hoping it’s just a bruise that is causing inflammation in the joint.” Garrick, backup to Gary Grant at point guard, suffered the injury when he bumped into Jeff Martin in practice Monday and re-injured it during Wednesday’s loss to Dallas. Andre Turner, signed off waivers from Charlotte the day before the season, should get additional playing time in Garrick’s absence. . . . New York forward Kiki Vandeweghe, still living in Southern California, attended the game but set no time table for a return from chronic back problems. The former UCLA star missed most of training camp and has yet to play in a game this season.