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Tuesday, Dec. 7 7:30pm ET
Warriors suffer 10th straight loss | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
NEW YORK (AP) -- John Starks blew kisses to the crowd, only to have Latrell Sprewell make him feel like he was anyplace but home. In his first game at Madison Square Garden since being traded, Starks couldn't stop Sprewell when they were matched head-to-head. Sprewell scored all 21 of his points in the first half Tuesday night and the New York Knicks defeated Golden State 89-83, sending the Warriors to their 10th straight loss.
"I wasn't just going at John, I was going at whoever," Sprewell said. "I wanted to have a better game than I had in Golden State." It was the second meeting of the season between Sprewell and P.J Carlesimo, the coach he once choked, and it was a different atmosphere from the night 2+ weeks ago in Oakland when Sprewell spurned Carlesimo's attempt at a pregame handshake and engaged in a vulgar dialogue with hecklers. Most of the hype this time surrounded Starks' return to the arena where he played for eight seasons. "It was nice to just have a basketball game without the buildup," Carlesimo said. "Spree was able to play, and I could just coach." Starks, the first player introduced prior to the game, blew kisses to the crowd as they gave him a 10-second standing ovation. But that warm moment was one of the few ones for Starks, who missed his first four shots and his final five and was helpless early on when he had to defend Sprewell -- the player he, Chris Mills and Terry Cummings were traded for on Jan. 21. Starks finished with seven points on 3-for-12 shooting with five fouls. "It felt good. I didn't know what to expect," he said. "It was good to hear the fans show their appreciation. It was a happy time, a lot of memories were going through my head of the good games and exciting moments in this building." Sprewell drove baseline on Starks for a three-point play that gave him 10 points just 6+ minutes into the game. He finished the first quarter 7-for-8 from the field with 16 points after making a jumper over Starks on an isolation play with 2.2 seconds left. Sprewell had another three-point play against Starks early in the second quarter for a 37-24 lead, and after the Knicks missed 10 straight shots Sprewell checked in and scored on a drive with 4:07 left to up the lead to seven points. That, however, would be he final basket for Sprewell on a night when the Knicks barely managed to hang on. The Warriors pulled within two points with 4.1 seconds left, but Chris Carr intentionally missed a free throw that would have cut the deficit to one and the Knicks went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 29 seconds for the final margin. "I think everyone is a little disappointed that we let this team come back," Sprewell said. "I thought it would be close to the emotion level of the first game, but it really wasn't. It was a lot more mild-mannered, or I was at least." Sprewell said he refrained from shaking Carlesimo's hand because such a gesture would have been staged and insincere. "Something like that should be more personal and private. When I do talk to him, if it ever happens, I would rather it would just be he and I," Sprewell said. Starks didn't get his first basket until early in the third quarter, but he did manage to cause a stir by scoring five points early in the fourth as Golden State pulled to 74-68. Marcus Camby had two high-flying dunks in a subsequent 5-0 run that put New York back ahead by double digits, and the Knicks ended up needing the extra cushion as Cummings scored nine straight Warriors points to pull them to 81-77 with 3 minutes left. With the Knicks up 85-82 with 5.4 seconds left, Allan Houston missed two foul shots that would have iced the victory. Rather than let the Warriors -- especially Starks -- try to tie it with a 3-pointer, the Knicks then immediately fouled Carr. Houston and Larry Johnson finished with 15 points apiece, Kurt Thomas had 14 and Camby 13. Antawn Jamison led Golden State with 25, and Cummings had 15.
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Golden State Clubhouse New York Clubhouse No animosity as Carlesimo, Sprewell meet again
RECAPS Toronto 101 Cleveland 98
New York 89
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