Stephon Marbury had the hot hand against the Clippers.

The Clippers had no answer for their former Western Conference nemesis as Marbury abused Marko Jaric and the rest of the Clipper defense through four quarters Sunday night. He was on fire from behind the arc, hitting 4-5, and finished the game 15-20 from the field for his second 40+ point game this season. His other 40 point game also came against the Clippers when he was with Phoenix.

The game got off to a quick start with the Knicks hitting their first five shots and the Clippers hanging tough, going 4-6 from the field. Marbury and Thomas then executed on a beautiful pick and roll to put the Knicks up 14-13 midway through the opening quarter. Elton Brand kept the Clippers in the game by scoring eight points and grabbing three steals, but Kurt Thomas hit all six of his shots and Marbury added seven to keep the Knicks ahead, 31-25.

Both teams struggled to put up points in the second quarter. After Thomas hit his seventh straight shot, Marbury completed a three-point play to put the Knicks up 42-33. Meanwhile, Keith Van Horn was basically taken out of the game by picking up his third foul with over 7:00 to play in the first half.

Marbury continued his torrid shooting pulling up from about 35 feet to his a three-point bomb with three minutes left. The Knicks finished the half shooting 64% from the field and led 58-51.

The third quarter proved sluggish with both teams going cold. Dikembe Mutombo then became the go-to guy, scoring eight of his nine points in the quarter. Shandon Anderson's back-to-back threes kept the Knicks ahead, 80-79 going into the final quarter.

That's when Marbury took over. He scored 17 of the Knicks' first 19.

Stephon had the entire Madison Square Garden audience on their feet and dreaming of the playoffs after pulling a razzle-dazzle move in the lane and practically breaking Maggette's neck as he got spun around looking for the white #3 uniform. Marbury completed that three-point play, but he wasn't done.

He hit another acrobatic pull-up jumper to seal the deal and give the Knicks their fifth straight victory. Marbury and Thomas finished off impressive nights proving to the league that the Knicks are contenders. Van Horn finished with only six points and sat on the bench most of the second half.

The Clippers posted a balanced scoring offense with Maggette and Brand both going for 28 and Quentin Richardson putting up 14. Chris Wilcox gave the fans a glimpse of what might have been, scoring 13 and grabbing 6 rebounds.

The Knicks play at Dallas and at New Orleans before taking off for the All-Star game.

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