Knicks 89-Wizards 86 12.30.99
WASHINGTON-The New York Knicks keep finding ways to play down to the level of their opponents. Of course, that's going to happen when both Patrick Ewing and Latrell Sprewell are struggling. Larry Johnson picked up the slack by matching a season-high with 24 points, and Ewing benefited from a call and a no-call in the final 90 seconds as the Knicks broke a two-game losing streak with Thursday night's 89-86 victory over the Washington Wizards. "LJ carried us definitely tonight," said Sprewell, who was 5-for-18 with four turnovers and is 9-for-34 over his last two games. "We've only played a couple of games where we've put teams away. We've let teams back in the game all this year really, so we have to do a better job of closing teams out." For the second night in a row, the Wizards missed a 3-pointer on the game's last shot. Mitch Richmond had one bounce in and out at the buzzer in Wednesday's 96-94 loss at Cleveland, and Chris Whitney struggled to get free of Charlie Ward before launching an air ball with 1.4 seconds left Thursday. But what left the Wizards grumbling most were the two breaks they felt the officials gave Ewing late in the game. First, Ewing drew a foul on Jahidi White while losing the ball in paint with the score 85-80 and 1:26 to go. Then, with 13 seconds left and the score 87-86, Ewing and Richmond bumped, causing Richmond to lose the ball while driving to the basket. No whistle blew. Richmond, who led the Wizards with 24 points, was upset. "It was a one-point game and we were fighting our butts off and trying to get a shot," Richmond said. The game was tight all the way. The teams were separated by two points after one quarter, one point at halftime and two points after three quarters. Neither team led by more than eight. Johnson was hot early and late, getting 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first quarter and seven points on 2-for-3 shooting in the fourth. Ewing scored 13 points, but was called for a technical foul while protesting a call 12 seconds into the game. He also missed his share of layups as well as five straight free throws. "I think my game is coming," said Ewing, playing his 10th game since returning from an Achilles injury. "I'm not discouraged. I think it's going to start falling on a consistent basis." The Wizards got their chance to win after Richmond and Tracy Murray both hit 3-pointers to close to 87-86 with 40 seconds left. Charlie Ward missed a jumper with 25 seconds to go, but then Richmond lost the ball on the no-call. Sprewell got the ball, was fouled and made two free throws to make it 89-86 with 9.3 seconds to go. The Wizards offered little support for Richmond, other than four 3-pointers from Murray, who had 15 points. Washington outrebounded New York 47-30, but had 18 turnovers to the Knicks' eight. "It wasn't one of our good showings," Ewing said. "We were able to make the plays down the stretch and get the win. The last few games we've been up and down
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