Knicks 91-Raptors 90 12.22.99
NEW YORK-Out of a broken play came the type of breakthrough basket that Patrick Ewing hadn't made in a long, long time. Ewing hit a turnaround 14-footer with 21.3 seconds left and the New York Knicks, despite blowing another big fourth-quarter lead, overcame Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors 91-90 Wednesday night. It was the biggest shot of the season for Ewing, who was playing in just his seventh game since recovering from a partially torn Achilles tendon. He finished with eight points — just the 36th single-digit scoring night of his 984-game career — and eight rebounds to support a 25-point effort from Latrell Sprewell. "I can't remember," Ewing responded when asked when was the last time he had made such a clutch shot. "Last year because of the (injured) wrist I missed some, so it's good to hit one. "My shot is back," he said. Carter scored a crowd-pleasing 36 points, the highest total by a Knicks opponent this season, and the Raptors had a chance to win after Sprewell missed two free throws, the second intentionally, with 2.9 seconds left. But out of timeouts, the Raptors could only get a shot off from midcourt, a heave by Doug Christie that barely missed. It was the second straight tough home victory for the Knicks, who moved seven games above .500 and into contention with Miami, Charlotte and Indiana for the best record in the conference. Allan Houston scored 18 points and John Wallace, playing against his former team for the first time, added 14. Ewing's shot broke an 86-86 tie and gave New York the lead for good, but it wasn't supposed to happen that way. "The play wasn't for me, it was to get the ball to Allan," Ewing said. Sprewell was supposed to make an entry pass to Houston in the low post, but he instead swung the ball to Larry Johnson at the top of the 3-point arc. Johnson shot a nasty look at Sprewell, dribbled a step to his right and bounced an entry pass to Ewing near the foul line. "Larry got stuck with it, he gave the ball to me and I made the play. That's my shot and I took it," said Ewing, whose basket was greeted by a roar of approval from the sellout crowd. Carter then missed a 3-pointer and Johnson hit two free throws for a 90-86 lead. After a dunk by Antonio Davis, Sprewell missed one of two from the line with 4.1 seconds left. The Knicks then fouled Carter before he could get a shot off, and he made both to cut the deficit to one with 3.3 seconds left. "He's not good enough yet to carry us when our second unit is playing bad," Raptors coach Butch Carter said of Carter. After scoring the Knicks' final four points of the third quarter on a 16-footer and an 8-footer, Sprewell had eight points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter on a pair of 3-pointers and a jumper as the Knicks opened a 78-66 lead. A turnaround by Kurt Thomas made it 84-71 with 6:12 left, but that would be New York's last basket until Marcus Camby hit a long jumper as then 24-second clock expired, making it 86-82 with 1:48 left. Carter then blew past Johnson for a dunk, Sprewell missed a 6-footer and Carter hit a high-arching 18-footer to tie it and set the stage for Ewing's clutch jumper. "I've said it since he was hurt: We need Patrick if we're going to go all the way," Sprewell said.
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