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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kobe Bryant returned to action Sunday, but
was pacing in the locker room when the Los Angeles Lakers needed
him the most.
|  | | New York's Latrell Sprewell shoots over Shaquille O'Neal and Brian Shaw on his way to a 19-point night.
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Marcus Camby scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth
quarter, and also had 15 rebounds to lead the New York Knicks to a
79-78 victory over the Lakers, giving them their first sweep of the
defending NBA champions in six years.
The Lakers had a chance to win after Shaquille O'Neal rebounded
Glen Rice's missed shot with 5.6 seconds remaining, but the Knicks
collapsed around O'Neal, and Derek Fisher missed a 15-foot jumper
with about two seconds left.
"I had told Phil during a timeout, 'Make sure I get it,' "
O'Neal said, referring to Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "But they
weren't going to let me get it. Coach Jackson drew up a pretty nice
play, but they put their defense one guy behind me, one guy in
front of me, which forced Fish to shoot a tough shot."
New York's Kurt Thomas got the rebound, and time expired before
the Lakers could foul him.
"We just packed it in and tried to make somebody else make a
play," Camby said.
"We've got to make them beat us from the outside," said New
York's Allan Houston, who scored 16 points. "We can't let Shaq
beat us from the inside, even if we pack five people around him."
The Knicks certainly couldn't have done that had Bryant been
playing. But Bryant, playing for the first time after missing five
games because of an injured left ankle, left for good late in the
first quarter.
"I was able to slide defensively, but certain movements set my
ankle back a bit," he said. "It was just a little too early. I
hope to play Tuesday (at Utah), just have to see how it goes."
Bryant went scoreless, missing four shots.
Latrell Sprewell, who scored 19 points, made a jumper with 2:40
left to give the Knicks a 79-74 lead. O'Neal made two free throws
with 1:02 to play, and after a turnover by Sprewell, Brian Shaw's
layup with 32 seconds remaining cut New York's lead to one point.
Rice, a former Laker, missed from long range as the shot clock
expired, giving the Los Angeles a final opportunity.
"They just kind of sat in Shaq's lap and made somebody else
take the shot," Shaw said.
The Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak, matching their
longest since April 1999 when they lost four in a row. They had
lost their previous two games, at Vancouver and Portland, by a
total of 38 points.
"The difference is when we defend and rebound, we're going to
have a chance to win," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "When we
don't, we won't."
O'Neal led the Lakers with 31 points and 11 rebounds. Rick Fox
added 11 points, and Horace Grant had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
"It's a victory for us, I get some satisfaction out of it,"
said Rice, who scored seven points in 29 minutes.
Rice averaged 15.9 points a game for the Lakers last season,
when they won their first championship in 12 years.
"They could use it, they're not getting it," he said with a
chuckle about his offensive firepower. "They keep pretending they
don't need me."
The Lakers lost for the fifth time in eight games, but remained
in fourth place in the Western Conference, 1½ games behind
third-place Utah and a half-game ahead of fifth-place Portland.
The Knicks went ahead for good by scoring eight consecutive points
capped by a jumper by Camby as the shot clock expired for a 72-68
lead with 5:15 left.
Bryant, the NBA's third-leading scorer with a 29.2-point
average, started and played nearly 11½ minutes before leaving with
the Lakers leading 21-14.
He wouldn't return, instead going to the locker room for
treatment.
"I knew I wouldn't come back," Bryant would say later.
The Knicks shot just 40 percent, but that was better than the
Lakers, who made 33.8 percent of their field-goal attempts.
Game notes
President Clinton attended, sitting in one of Staples
Center's 160 luxury suites. ... O'Neal made 15 of 22 foul shots,
giving him 77 of 109 in his last seven games, raising his season
percentage to 49 percent. ... Rice played against the Lakers in Los
Angeles for the first time since last season, and was booed by many
in the capacity crowd of 18,997. He is averaging 12.1 points off
the bench for the Knicks. ... Lakers forward Robert Horry fouled
out with 5:56 left after playing only 12 minutes. He shot only
1-for-7 and scored three points. ... The Knicks, who outrebounded
Los Angeles 43-39, beat the Lakers 91-81 in New York on Super Bowl
Sunday. O'Neal missed that game with a strained right arch.
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NBA Scoreboard
New York Clubhouse
LA Lakers Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 104
Indiana 93
Charlotte 80
Boston 79
Minnesota 99
Portland 95
Utah 92
Vancouver 73
New York 79
LA Lakers 78
Orlando 104
Toronto 101
Detroit 104
Golden State 87
New Jersey 101
Houston 98
Phoenix 106
Milwaukee 99
Dallas 119
Sacramento 107
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