Riley Sees Familiar Clippers

Magic and Pat were back in Los Angeles together Saturday night, like old times. More like them than the Clippers care to remember.

Pat Riley was on the sidelines with his New York Knicks and Magic Johnson was in the stands, drawn to the game from Hawaii by his former Laker coach. When the evening was over, Johnson had withstood being besieged by autograph seekers in his first Sports Arena visit as a fan, and the Knicks had withstood the Clippers, 100-93, who lost their 11th in a row to New York, dating almost six years.

Riley said he tried to treat this like any other game in his first return to Los Angeles since parting company with the Lakers.

Ewing certainly did. A night after getting 35 points and 21 rebounds at Golden State, he scored 34 points--26 during the second half--and had 14 rebounds.

“He’s taking over ballgames,” Knick guard Mark Jackson said. “That’s what Patrick Ewing is all about.”

Riley didn’t take over anything but the spotlight, at least until Ewing wrestled it away with 16 points during the third quarter, two fewer than all of the Clippers.

“It really wasn’t,” Riley said when asked if this game was especially significant. “I wanted to win, but I tried to keep it in perspective.”

Johnson went to his seat about 10 rows behind the sideline between the Knicks’ bench and center court 8 1/2 minutes before tip-off, accompanied by polite--but not overwhelming--applause. Longtime Laker teammate Michael Cooper soon joined him.

The Clippers, who lost their third in a row, took a 21-10 lead. The Knicks closed to 47-46 late in the second quarter, but trailed the entire first half as the Clippers shot 51.2%. It was hardly a quiet two quarters, however.

Midway through the second period, Danny Manning and Ewing tangled going for a rebound. They exchanged shoves, but left it at that . . . for the moment.

After Xavier McDaniel’s miss on the next Knick possession, the two locked arms again. This time, they had to be separated by referee Dan Crawford.

Olden Polynice came in to add Clipper muscle, but the incident did not go beyond finger-pointing and double technical fouls for Ewing and Polynice.

During the third quarter, trailing by 66-60, the Knicks put together a 10-2 run. The capper was John Starks giving Anthony Mason a wrap-around pass that Mason turned into a dunk and a 70-68 lead that also prompted a Clipper timeout.

Tempers flared again with 1:10 to play in the third quarter, when Starks took exception to a hard foul by James Edwards and apparently said so. Charles Oakley came to Starks’ defense, and when Oakley put a hand on Edwards, he slapped it away. Edwards said Greg Anthony was close by with his fists clenched.

“I told him to get his little rookie . . . out of there,” Edwards said.

That started some pushing, the Clipper bench cleared and all but three Knicks left their sideline. Riley and Clipper Coach Mike Schuler were in the middle trying to play peacemaker. The toughest job belonged to Harper and referee Tom Washington, who restrained an obviously upset Edwards.

Clipper Notes

Magic Johnson on recent reports that the Australian Olympic team is considering a boycott if he plays this summer at the Barcelona Games: “I’m not going to get into that. There’s nothing to really comment on. As long as the doctor for the Olympic committee clears me, that’s all I’m concerned with.” . . . Doc Rivers, taking another step in his rehabilitation from a strained left hamstring, ran two miles through his Santa Monica neighborhood, but did not test the injury with any sprinting. The Clippers’ aim is to have Rivers back in the lineup Friday.