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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
NEW YORK (AP) – Jeff Van Gundy 224, Pat Riley 223.
|  | | The Knicks' Latrell Sprewell, right, drives to the hoop in front of the Celtics' Eric Williams. |
Van Gundy surpassed Riley to become the third-winningest coach
in Knicks history as Marcus Camby scored a season-high 27 points
and grabbed 17 rebounds to help New York outlast Boston 95-88
Thursday night.
"Everybody knows how I feel about coach Riley. I think he's the
best coach in team sports history," Van Gundy said. "I'm honored
to coach here in New York, I like the guys on the team and love the
guys I work for in Scott (Layden) and Dave Checketts and I feel
very fortunate that I'm here."
In his sixth season as head coach, Van Gundy still trails Joe
Lapchick (326) and Red Holzman (613) for career coaching victories
in New York. He has a career winning percentage of .596 (224-152).
"Sometimes I'm disappointed in myself when I can't get them to
play at the level they need to play at," Van Gundy said. "So
that's sometimes the frustrating part of coaching."
That was the case in this game as the Knicks, despite
controlling things through the first three quarters and leading by
as many as 16, found themselves leading by just one point after
Antoine Walker hit two free throws with 5:36 left.
Camby tipped in his own miss to make it 87-84, and Walker missed
a pair of free throws for Boston. Camby then got his third assist,
threading a pass underneath to Larry Johnson for a layup and a
five-point lead.
Pierce missed a tough shot inside and the Knicks pushed the ball
upcourt to Latrell Sprewell for a jumper. A bad pass by Eric
Williams led to a fast-break layup by Sprewell for a nine-point
lead with 2:59 left.
The Celtics pulled back within five and had a chance to get
within three after forcing a 24-second violation, but Randy Brown
missed two free throws with 16.4 seconds left to end their last
hope.
"We missed some timely free throws," Walker said. "It was a
tough loss."
Johnson added 21 points, Kurt Thomas had 16 and Sprewell 13 for
the Knicks, who won their third straight. Camby reached double
figures in rebounds for the eighth consecutive game.
"With Marcus, the stats are unbelievable. The numbers are
really unbelievable numbers," Van Gundy said. "What I think you
are seeing is a player who has improved consistently from the first
day he has been here and has made a major jump this year."
Paul Pierce had 23 points and Eric Williams 21 for the Celtics,
who lost their fifth consecutive road game and dropped to 13-11
since Jim O'Brien replaced Rick Pitino as head coach.
Game notes
O'Brien said the team has no interest in signing point
guard Rod Strickland if he clears waivers. ... Brown started at the
point for Boston and had two points on 1-for-6 shooting with three
assists. Knicks point guard Mark Jackson shot 1-for-8 and had nine
assists... Camby's previous season high was 24 points at Detroit on
Feb. 21.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
New York Clubhouse
RECAPS
Seattle 101
Cleveland 99
New York 95
Boston 88
Houston 108
Milwaukee 91
San Antonio 91
Phoenix 71
Portland 94
LA Clippers 81
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