In their season opener Wednesday night, the Knicks battled the Celtics to a standoff through four quarters only to collapse in overtime, 114-100. Friday night was a sickeningly similar performance, but this time the Knicks collapsed in regulation time.

After falling behind by 19 in the first quarter and driving the once-enthusiastic crowd to exasperated boos, the Knicks scuffled to tie the score at 61 after three.

Then they fell apart in the fourth, managing only 14 points and missing 6 of 10 shots from the free-throw line.

Welcome to New York, Mr. Brown.

"I understand what it means being coach of this team, in this environment," he said. "It's important that we play with some passion and some enthusiasm."

No, it's important that you win.

The game was preceded by a circus-like buildup in which a video of the July news conference at which Brown was introduced as the new Knicks coach, followed by a bunch of neon-encrusted acrobats on pogo sticks, was used to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

But within 11 seconds of the tip, the first turnover of the night was committed by Stephon Marbury. Three minutes later, the first boos of the Larry Brown Era were heard as the home team fell behind by seven points.

If there was any doubt that Brown wasn't in Detroit anymore, that opening sequence erased it. Back there, he had the law firm of Wallace & Wallace as his defenders, but here, the law firms sit in the stands.

Nobody in a Knicks uniform could jump nearly as well as the guys on the pogo sticks. His point guard, Marbury, couldn't seem to find anyone on the floor he would rather see with the ball than himself. He managed only three assists and the Knicks totaled just 11, which was less than half their number of turnovers: 23.

They hit only 32.9 percent of their field-goal attempts. And although the Knicks pulled down an impressive 29 offensive rebounds, they managed to score just 22 points off them.

"That's not the stat you want to see,'' Brown said.

Nor is an 0-2 start to a season that is supposed to be different, the start of a new era that already is looking frighteningly like the old one.

Brown was asked if he is "horrified" by his new team's abysmal start.

"No, I would have been horrified if we hadn't battled back," he said. "I'm actually pretty proud of the way we came back."

That sounded familiar, too. Like Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens and Herb Williams before him, Larry Brown sounded like one more guy in a suit without any real answers.

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