- In similar fashion to last week's win at Oakland over Golden State, the New York Knicks took advantage of some atrocious shooting to steal another win on the road.
Latrell Sprewell led with a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds, with Patrick Ewing posting his second double-double of the year (18 and 11), as the Knicks held the Orlando Magic to a season-low shooting percentage in a 100-89 victory. With the win, the visitors kickstarted their first winning streak of the season -- after a back-and-forth first quarter, they opened the second with a 17-4 run to take a 42-32 lead; they were never behind again. Sprewell had eight points during the run, including two easy layups in the fast break. "It wasn't pretty, because we needed the other team to miss a lot of open shots, but a win is a win," Sprewell said. "Still, our second quarter was more than fine. Hopefully we can build on those twelve minutes from now on." With Orlando's Ben Wallace playing limited minutes because of foul trouble, the Knicks' 38-28 lead in the paint was key. "Even with them shooting poorly, I think we would have lost without Patrick's inside presence and Latrell's drives to the rim," head coach Jeff Van Gundy commented.
The Magic held a 56-46 rebounding advantage but shot a season-worst 33 percent (29-of-87), including a dismal 5-of-28 from 3-point land. Darrell Armstrong and rookie Corey Maggette combined to sink just 9-of-43 shots -- 2-of-18 from beyond the arc. "I was completely out of sync," said Maggette, who started the game 2-of-8, finishing 7-of-27, for just 17 points. Armstrong had his worst performance of the season with nine points, as Ron Mercer made just two Magic players in double figures with 23. "Ron carried us on this one," said Wallace, who finished the night with ten boards and five steals, even with less than 20 minutes of playing time. "If you ask me what went wrong, those shots didn't fall. It's as easy as that," head coach Doc Rivers said. "Because I think we did some things pretty well. Our bench was active, we worked the glass, we made them turn over the ball. I guess we just had to lose this one."
Play was sluggish for both teams in the final period, as both teams combined to make seven field goals in the first seven minutes. A hook shot by Bo Outlaw (eight points) rimmed the Knicks' lead to 90-86 with 6:21 to go, but New York closed the game with a 10-3 run. "I guess Latrell and Patrick made up for me," said Allan Houston, who was 6-of-14 for 14 points, just a game after his 20-point outing against Atlanta. Marcus Camby, who notched in 12 in the same game, posted just two tonight. "I do not care about myself as long as we rack up victories," said Camby. "We've been getting off to slow starts every game so far, but we've been fighting, trying to get back into every single one of them. I hope we continue to do that.'' The Knicks were, for the fourth time in five games, outrebounded by double digits, but were able to start their three-game road trip on a good note -- the short tour wraps up with back-to-back stops, Thursday and Friday, at Miami and Indiana.