Knicks 94-Magic 86 01.07.00

Player of the Game:EWING-18 Pts,9 Rbds,3 Bs,32 Min Best Scorer:Allan Houston-23 Best Rebounder:Larry Johnson-10 Best Passer:Latrell Sprewell-5

ORLANDO-The New York Knicks have had trouble closing out victories, and Friday night was no different. The Knicks didn't just stop hitting shots, they couldn't hold on to the ball long enough to give themselves a chance to score down the stretch against the Orlando Magic. The defending Eastern Conference champions turned the ball over on seven of eight possessions, blowing most of a 16-point lead before escaping with a 94-86 victory. Allan Houston scored 23 points and Latrell Sprewell had 19 for the Knicks, who missed their only their two shots from the field and were 2-for-6 from the foul line in the final 4:56. "We got a little complacent out there. We acted like the game was over before it actually was," Sprewell said. "We really didn't play well at all down the stretch, and it was terrible on our part. We obviously want to finish the game better than we did tonight." The victory was the 10th in 13 games for the Knicks, who improved to 9-3 since Patrick Ewing returned to the lineup after being on the injured list for the first six weeks of the season. Ewing had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while reserve Kurt Thomas finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. New York shot 78 percent in the third quarter, making 14 of 18 shots, and pulled away during a 21-10 run that built its lead from two to 13. It was 75-64 going into the fourth quarter, and the closest the Magic got in the final period was six with just under a minute to go. The loss was the sixth in seven games for Orlando, which broke a five-game losing streak with a victory over Vancouver on Wednesday night. The Magic scored 10 straight to pull to 92-86 before Larry Johnson made two free throws to stop the momentum with 21.7 seconds to go. Darrell Armstrong led Orlando with 16 points. Corey Maggette had 14 points, while reserve Chris Gatling added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Magic, who outrebounded New York 58-39 but suffered because of 18 turnovers. "Unforced turnovers killed us," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said. "We're not good enough offensively to overcome all of those unforced errors." The Magic stayed close early, trailing 23-22 after one quarter and 41-40 at the half despite shooting 31 percent from the field. They made up for the poor marksmanship by outrebounding the Knicks 33-22, with Gatling coming off the bench to grab nine before halftime. Sprewell, Houston and Ewing led New York's torrid shooting in the third quarter, scoring 29 of the Knicks' 34 points in the period. Sprewell had 12 on 5-for-6 shooting, while Houston (4-for-5) had nine and Ewing (3-for-5) eight. The Knicks led 50-48 before they went on their decisive run. Sprewell and Ewing each had six points in the surge, while Charlie Ward delivered a 3-pointer for his only points of the game.