The angst had dissipated somewhat in recent days. But it came roaring back as Madison Square Garden turned into Madison Square Harden on Wednesday night. 

After two games breezing past lowly opposition in the Wizards and shorthanded Mavericks, the Knicks stepped back up in weight class Wednesday night.

And they failed yet another test against teams in playoff contention, falling 126-113 to the Clippers. 

They fell to 5-5 without Jalen Brunson, with their five wins coming against sub-.500 teams.

It continues a worrying season-long inability to beat quality foes, which has only been exacerbated without Brunson. 

The Knicks are now 11-18 against teams over .500, compared to 34-9 against teams under that mark. Wednesday’s loss also cost them a chance to clinch a playoff berth. 

Harden turned back the clock and torched the Knicks for 29 points and 10 assists, including scoring 11 straight Clippers points late in the third quarter.

It sparked a 16-6 run for Los Angeles, taking a tied game to a double-digit lead entering the fourth quarter. 

“It’s tough,” Josh Hart said of the third-quarter run. “We started off playing well, got the ball moving. That team’s playing extremely well right now. You’ve got to give them credit. They started knocking down shots and really dictated the pace. Give them credit. We knew this was going to be a tough one.” 

Kawhi Leonard took it from there, scoring the first 10 Clippers points of the fourth quarter to increase the Los Angeles lead to 18.

He finished with 27 points, seven assists and 10 rebounds.

Norman Powell chipped in 19 points as well. 

The Clippers also hurt the Knicks on the offensive glass, recording 13 offensive rebounds to the Knicks’ seven.

They turned that into 19 second-chance points compared to nine for the Knicks.

The Knicks turned the ball over 10 times, which the Clippers converted into 18 points.

The Knicks scored just nine points off five Clippers turnovers. 

“I thought we had good movement, we had the 35 assists, and the turnovers weren’t high,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “But the points we gave up off the turnovers were [high]. … When you’re shorthanded, that’s probably the difference in the game. Our margin of error is small.

“We gotta play extremely hard and smart, but those hustle points are huge.” 

Karl-Anthony Towns did everything he could to keep the Knicks in it, following up his triple-double showing with 34 points and 13 rebounds.

Hart was much quieter than his own triple-double on Tuesday, recording seven points, six assists and six rebounds. 

And the Knicks offense struggled when Cam Payne exited with a left ankle sprain, leaving Tyler Kolek as the only healthy true point guard available with Miles McBride still sidelined due to a groin contusion. Payne had gotten off to a red-hot start before his injury with 15 points.

It prompted more playing time for Kolek, but he did not score, though he had seven assists.

He was hunted on the defensive end, however.

Little-used Delon Wright also saw more minutes than usual, though he did little with it, also failing to score. 

Kolek pointed to himself for the third-quarter run. 

“I feel like I just gotta be better getting us organized,” Kolek said. “They kept coming at that high two-man game, putting me in the action, I gotta be better defending that. We went to a show [defense], I was getting out there and split a couple of times, they just were getting loose for 3s. Definitely gotta be better on that end.” 

The Knicks’ lack of depth, which has been a season-long theme, was exposed as well.

The Clippers outscored the Knicks 24-12 in bench points. 

After a bit of respite, all the season-long concerns surrounding the Knicks reemerged.

They only have 10 games left before the playoffs to fix them.