The Knicks had a new coach, a few different looks on the court, and the same old result in the end.

Desmond Mason scored 22 points to lead six Milwaukee players in double figures, and the Bucks held off the free-falling Knicks 101-96 yesterday, spoiling the debut of coach Herb Williams.

The Knicks have lost 10 of their last 11. This one came a day after Hall of Fame coach Lenny Wilkens stepped down and Williams assumed the head job for the rest of the season.

Williams immediately set to work putting his imprint on the team. He gave rookie Trevor Ariza the first start of his career, used several different lineup combinations and played some zone defense in an effort to find a way to get the Knicks back on the winning track.

“I’m going to keep things a little more towards defense,” Williams said. “Lenny was really good at running offense, but I think you have to shut teams down in this league.”

Stephon Marbury had 33 points and Jamal Crawford added 20, but it wasn’t enough to stop Milwaukee from picking up its fifth road win of the season.

It was another close loss for the Knicks. Coming into the game, four of their previous five defeats had come by a total of 11 points.

“I know we are better team than this,” Crawford said. “We have lost our last four by a combined 10 or 11 points. We just came out on the short end of those games.”

The Bucks, who have won three of their last four games, led 75-70 after the third quarter, and increased the lead to 85-76 with about six minutes left. The Knicks, behind Crawford and Marbury, got within 91-89 with just over two minutes remaining.

But the Knicks couldn’t make any defensive stops when it had to. A basket by Maurice Williams and 3-pointer from the right corner by Michael Redd put Milwaukee up 96-89.

The Knicks never got closer than four after that. Michael Sweetney came off the bench to finish with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Kurt Thomas added 12 points.

The Knicks have a grueling schedule upcoming. They have two games left on their four game homestand – Phoenix and Cleveland – before hitting the road for a six-game trip that includes stops in Detroit, Sacramento, and Phoenix. They will then return home to play the Miami Heat.

“Right now, the only thing that is going to get us out of this is better defense,” Marbury said. “Having these lapses at the end does not translate into winning.”