"There was a new face on the Garden court last night and it wasn't the resurfacing of banished Nate Robinson. The fresh blood was Jonathan Bender, who played his first game in four years and stunningly stopped the Clippers' first-half rampage.

With the unlikeliest Knick stabilizing the sinking ship late in the first quarter, the club regrouped long enough to batter the Clippers in a 30-14 third quarter and hang on for a wild 95-91 victory before a roaring sell-out Garden crowd last night.

In changing the tone of the night, Bender had nine points, three rebounds and blocked a shot in 14:15.

"I was excited," Bender said. "I had a lot of adrenaline out there. Once I hit that first shot, I got that off my back."David Lee made Bender's great work stand up as he capped his giant second half with the game-winning tip-in with 28 seconds left that broke the Knicks' two-game losing streak.

"This was a must-win for us," Lee said. "The last two games were wins we should have gotten.""