Greenburgh, N.Y. ? Larry Brown hears the boos, too.

Bad shots. Awful defense. Poor decisions. And a whole lot of frustrated fans at Madison Square Garden.

“This is much more difficult right now than I ever imagined,” the New York Knicks coach said Thursday after practice.

More than a quarter of the way through his first season in charge of his hometown team, the man who preaches doing things the right way is stuck with a bunch of players doing just about everything wrong.

New York has lost four in a row, falling to 6-15 heading into tonight’s game at Atlanta. Worse, after playing well during a recent trip out West, the Knicks haven’t been competitive in two games since returning home.

“We’re just not doing it,” Brown said. “We’re not matching the energy of our opponent. We’re doing the same things we’ve done all year. We turn the ball over too much, don’t make simple plays, and don’t execute very well.”

Never was that more evident than recently. In double-digit home losses to Milwaukee and Orlando, the Knicks committed 38 turnovers – they rank last in the league in that category – and left shooters wide open while struggling to defend pick-and-rolls. The Bucks and Magic combined for 23 three-

pointers, many of them uncontested.

“They had like miscommunication out there. They didn’t help each other,” Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu said after the Magic’s 105-90 victory Wednesday.

“I think they have a bunch of young guys there and they’re still learning, so that’s why they messed it up. You can’t leave guys who are making shots in a row like that, you have to do something.”

Brown isn’t the only New Yorker tired of the lapses. The Knicks were booed during both games, especially in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s loss.

“I don’t tune them out at all,” Brown said. “I hear it all. I’m embarrassed. I know how much they love basketball and love this team and want us to do well. And when we play poorly, I hear it, and it kills me because I’m responsible.”

Brown, a Brooklyn native, knew things weren’t going to be easy. While the Detroit team he coached to the last two NBA Finals was a veteran club, the Knicks have mostly young players on a mismatched roster that went 33-49 last season.

But he was expecting more veteran help. Instead, he watched Allan Houston retire during training camp. And the Knicks traded Tim Thomas, previously coached by Brown, before the season started.

Combined with injuries to newcomers Eddy Curry and Jerome James, that has left Brown forced to experiment with combinations featuring younger players. He has already used 15 different starting lineups.

The inexperience is showing on both ends of the court.

The turnovers are of the biggest concern to Brown. The Knicks are committing 18.1 per game – some in ways Brown can’t even explain.

“I’ve seen turnovers that they’re trying to make the right play,” Brown said. “We had two or three dump-down passes that were good passes that we didn’t catch. To me, that’s a guy trying to make the right play.

“But then we have five or six turnovers where we’re ahead on the break and throw it behind us, or we try to throw a crosscourt pass and it goes into the fifth row. I mean, there’s things that I’ve never seen before.”