It was a busted play, busted by Latrell Sprewell, who had carried the Knicks to their big fourth-quarter lead but suddenly had a brain cramp at the wrong time. Only Patrick Ewing would save him. After a Vince Carter-inspired
Raptors’ comeback knotted the score at 86 with 41.2 seconds, the Knicks, despite Spree’s earlier heroics, needed one more magical basket. Who ever thought it would come from Ewing, who hadn’t scored since early in the third quarter.
And Sprewell nearly blew it, as he took a pass from Larry Johnson on the left wing. He was supposed to go to the low post with it for Allan Houston. Instead, he fed it back to Johnson at the top of the key and LJ was visibly ticked, yakking at Sprewell as he tried to return the ball to him unsuccessfully.
The Knicks were scrambling. Making the most of a bad situation, Johnson dribbled to the right wing and gave Ewing a bounce pass in the lane. Ewing, who had taken just two shots the entire second half, rose up in the air and let fly his patented fallaway.
If ever there deserved a Marv Albert “Yes!” on this night, this was it. Ewing had hit the biggest shot of his young season with 21.3 seconds left and the Knicks never surrendered the lead.
It was all net as the wheezing Knicks grabbed an 88-86 lead, propelling them to a 91-90 Garden victory over the Raptors in a game that saw them blow a 15-point, fourth-quarter lead.
The victory made them 2-0 since Van Gundy began using his “Big Guard Lineup” and 6-1 since Ewing’s return.
The Knicks (17-10) have won seven of eight games and have taken the first two games of their three-game test against the Eastern Conference elite, the Charlotte victory being the first. But they never manage to do it without a last-second sweat.
Ewing finished with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and eight rebounds, taking just five shots on the night in 33 minutes.
“You practice this situation and when it comes, and you come through, it’s very rewarding,” Ewing said. “I always want it, especially in that situation.”
Jeff Van Gundy said Ewing was not in the offensive flow mostly because the Raptors chose to double-team him when he got the ball. The Raptors played single-coverage on Ewing’s big basket.
“He’s hit a lot of big shots in his career and this was just another one,” Van Gundy said.
Sprewell was high man for the Knicks with 25 points, including 14 of 16 Knick points spanning the third and fourth quarters. At that point, he simply took over the game.
The Knicks’ lead got to 15 points but naturally, as is their style, they let the Raptors back into the game. Sprewell drove for a layup and a 15-point lead, 82-67, with 8:33 remaining before the Raptors went on a 19-4 run, complete with ex-Knick Doug Christie staring down the Knick bench after sinking a 3-pointer during the surge.
Van Gundy went with the big lineup to start the game, to start the second half and then went with it again for the final 2:12 as Larry Johnson replaced point guard Charlie Ward, even though the Knicks were plus-4 using a point guard and minus-3 without one.
Camby hit a huge left-corner jumper with one second left on the 24-second clock to make it 86-82 and snap Toronto’s run. Then the wondrous Carter (36 points) drove past Johnson for a slam to make it 86-84 with 1:25 left and Carter tied the score with 40.7 seconds remaining on a pull-up 18-footer from the right side, again eluding LJ.
It was looking bleak, especially after Sprewell had muffed the Houston low-post play and Johnson was audibilizing.
“I blew that one,” said Spree, adding he thought he was supposed to find Houston on the weak side, not the low block.
Sprewell never shook out of it, missing three of four free throws in the final 4.1 seconds to keep the Raptors alive, even if he purposely bricked the final one per Van Gundy’s instructions.
It still gave the Raptors, without timeouts, a chance to win it with a three at the buzzer. Christie got the rebound of Sprewell’s intentional miss with two seconds left, dribbled past midcourt and heaved a 45 footer that knocked off the rim.
“It’s not the kind of win we want,” said Camby, hitting just one field goal all game but a big one. “We have to close a team out better.”
The Knicks trailed most of the half but went on a 10-0 run to close the second quarter, giving them a 48-45 lead at halftime.
The run coincided with Camby’s return. Camby, who started for the second straight night, left with 1:45 left in the first and didn’t come back until late in the half. Camby snuffed the Raptors on the defensive end, drawing a charge, grabbing a rebound and blocking a shot.