Jamal Crawford, back in a reserve role, scored eight of his 10 points in the final 1:07 as the Knicks handed the Sacramento Kings their season-high sixth straight loss, 102–97 yesterday.

Stephon Marbury scored 25 points and Eddy Curry added 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who won for the fourth time in five games. David Lee finished with 15 points and 12 boards.

Kevin Martin scored 30 points for Sacramento, on its longest skid since dropping the final seven games of the 1997-98 season. Shareef Adbur-Rahim had 25 and Ron Artest, playing in his hometown for the first time in nearly three years, finished with 12. He shot 4-of-15, missing a potential tying 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left.

The Knicks put Quentin Richardson back into the starting lineup and returned Crawford to a reserve role. The move figured to give New York a badly needed defensive boost after it allowed Charlotte to shoot 59 percent in a 126-110 loss on Friday.

Crawford had only two points heading into the final minutes, but he has been perhaps the Knicks’ best clutch player during the last two seasons.

With the Knicks trailing by three, he banked in a shot with 1:07 remaining, then found Lee under the basket. Artest fouled Lee, who made both free throws to give New York a 96–95 lead with 37 seconds left.

Abdur-Rahim put the Kings ahead for the final time, but Crawford came right back with a floater to provide the Knicks a 98-97 advantage with 18 seconds to play. After a timeout, the Kings turned it over on an illegal screen, and were forced to foul Crawford. He made both to make it 100-97, then added another pair after Artest’s miss.

The weary Kings, who traveled across the country overnight Saturday after losing at home, lost another close one. Three of the defeats during their skid, including Saturday’s, came in overtime.

***

NETS 105, PACERS 95 Vince Carter scored 31 points, Jason Kidd added 19 and narrowly missed his second triple-double in three games and New Jersey defeated Indiana 105–95 yesterday.

With Toronto’s 104–86 win over Philadelphia, New Jersey remained percentage points behind the first-place Raptors in the Atlantic Division. Al Harrington led Indiana with 18. Carter and Kidd started the fourth quarter on the bench after helping New Jersey build an 88-63 lead through three quarters, then had to return to the game when Sarunas Jasikevicius’ 3-pointer pulled Indiana to within 15 (95-80) with less than six minutes remaining.

Mikki Moore, who had 19 points off the bench, scored five consecutive points and Carter added his fifth 3-pointer of the game to help New Jersey pull away. Indiana closed the gap to 11 with 2:09 left, but ran out of time.