RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Latrell Sprewell's shooting stats through his
first 2½ games: 1-for-9, 5-for-12 and 1-for-7.
|  | | Latrell Sprewell scored 15 points Friday night, including nine in a key stretch in the final quarter. |
Sprewell's numbers for a 2:09 span in the fourth quarter Friday
night: A game-winning 3-for-3.
Sprewell accounted for all nine of his team's points in the only
run of an otherwise close game as the New York Knicks defeated the
Washington Wizards 80-76.
"I'm man enough to admit my shot isn't where I want it to be
right now," said Sprewell, who finished with 15 points on 4-for-13
shooting. "But I got in a bit of a rhythm there and it did feel
good."
Marcus Camby scored 20 and carried the Knicks through the first
half. Allan Houston scored 12 of his 18 in the second half, and the
Knicks' defense compensated for the team's 39 percent shooting.
"When you shoot as bad as our main guys are shooting right now,
that's OK if you play defense like that and compete that hard,"
coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "And we really competed hard."
With the Knicks leading 65-64, Sprewell hit a short jumper on
the baseline and followed with a 3-pointer, two free throws and a
14-footer to make it 74-68.
The Wizards cut the deficit to two on Felipe Lopez' layup with a
3:54 left, but that was their last field goal until Juwan Howard's
meaningless layup just before time expired.
Mitch Richmond led the Wizards with 18 points. Howard had 15
points and 12 rebounds. And, notably, the effort under new coach
Leonard Hamilton was enough to keep the usual boos and hisses from
the home fans to a minimum.
"We don't want to start accepting moral victories," Hamilton
said. "But what we want you to understand is we got beat by a team
that played a little better than we did, that I was encouraged that
our guys want to represent the city in a proper way. If they keep
that attitude, we're going to straighten this out."
Both teams entered the game looking for consistency after a poor
first game and a better second one. The game itself turned out to
be a mini-version of the same: bad first half, better second half.
The Knicks took their biggest lead at 62-55 early in the fourth
quarter, but Richard Hamilton responded with a jump shot, a
three-point play after stealing an inbounds pass, another jumper
and an assist to Richmond for a 3-pointer to tie the game at 67-67.
The sequence energized what had been a subdued home opener
crowd. Thousands of New York fans chanted, "Let's go Knicks,"
which infuriated the home fans enough to get them in the game.
The teams were almost interchangeable in the first half, trading
bad shots from cold shooters in a close but low-scoring game. If it
weren't for Camby and Howard, the half would have been a scoring
disaster: They were the only two players to make more than two
shots in the half, and they combined for 16 of the 30 points scored
in the second quarter.
Camby shot 7-of-10 and had 18 points at the break, while Howard
was 5-for-8 with 11 points. Sprewell started 0-for-5, Charlie Ward
0-for-4 and Allan Houston, Richmond and Rod Strickland were all
2-for-7.
Camby felt he made a statement for those who felt he couldn't
handle big Wizards center Jahidi White. White scored just six
points and had six rebounds.
"I'm getting tired of all the criticisms, saying I can't do
this and I can't do that," Camby said. "So I took it as a
challenge tonight to show what I can do."
Game
notes
Prosecutors on Friday dropped a misdemeanor charge of
unlawful entry Strickland. Strickland was arrest last Saturday
after refusing to leave a restaurant that was being shut by fire
marshals. ... Wizards forward Popeye Jones underwent surgery on the
broken index finger of his left hand. He'll miss at least two
months. ... Entrance poll: The Wizards gave fans mock presidential
ballots as they entered the arena. The results: Gore 70 percent,
Bush 24 percent, Nader 6 percent. ... Earl Lloyd, who became the
first black player to play in the NBA when he suited up for the
Washington Capitols on Oct. 31, 1950, was honored at halftime as
part of a series of tributes marking the 50th anniversary of the
breaking of the color barrier.
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NBA Scoreboard
New York Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
RECAPS
New York 80
Washington 76
Boston 93
Toronto 91
Charlotte 83
Miami 79
Philadelphia 87
Orlando 80
Sacramento 100
Detroit 93
New Jersey 92
Chicago 82
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