Knicks coach Larry Brown came close to waving the white flag on the season during yesterday's morning shootaround.

And then his players made a full surrender last night, quitting in the second half of the disgusting 120-101 blowout loss to the Hawks (12-31) at the more than half-empty Philips Arena.

Team Titanic, which fell behind by 30 points early in the fourth quarter, is not deserving of being part of tonight's big show at the Garden when Kobe Bryant and the Lakers come in. The way the Knicks defended against the Hawks, Bryant just might rack up his 100 points tonight.

Brown was livid afterward, saying his team quit.

"Looked that way, didn't it?" Brown said. "Looked that way to me. The second half we looked like we wanted to get home."

In losing last night, the Knicks, owning the highest payroll and with its president embroiled in a sexual harassment suit, have the NBA's third-worst record, falling to a season-worst 15 games below .500 at 14-29.

"We didn't compete at all as far as trying to win the game," said Stephon Marbury.

Before the game, Brown made his strongest statement the Knicks are focusing on next season and not on making a playoff push. The Knicks' coach acknowledged it's time to look at the future, spotlight the young guys, even the obscure 20-year-old center Jackie Butler, the only man who showed up to play (15 points, four blocks).

"The way the season's going, [Butler] may have to play more and more," Brown said beforehand. "We're 14-28. It might be in this team's best interests to think about playing guys like him."

Maurice Taylor was stunned at Brown's quitting assertion.

"Throwing in the towel, that's ludicrous," Taylor said. "It's a bad game granted. It's too bad of a conference to do that. We have [39] games to go. No reason for us to quit."