Derrick Rose, Reggie Bullock help Knicks defeat Clippers to stay in fourth place in Eastern Conference

They Knicks would love to nail down the fourth seed and at the very least stay away from seventh and the play-in tournament in their long-awaited return to postseason play. They helped their cause against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday at Staples Center.

After winning the first two games on the trip, they had dropped two straight, against Denver and Phoenix. But they beat the Clippers, another Western power, 106-100.

So the Knicks will finish up against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night before returning home to play their final three games of the regular season against San Antonio, Charlotte and Boston.

The Knicks are 38-30 and sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, where no one expected they would be and where home-court advantage in the opening round awaits. They are one game ahead of Atlanta and Miami and now three ahead of seventh-place Boston.

Derrick Rose paced the Knicks with 25 points and eight assists off the bench, and Reggie Bullock hit five threes on the way to 24 points. Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers (45-23) with 29 points.

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