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Tuesday, Dec. 14 8:00pm ET
Ewing old self, scores 20 points | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- This was what the New York Knicks had been waiting to see: Patrick Ewing back in control. Ewing scored 20 points, including 14 in the first quarter, in his best game since coming back from an injury as the Knicks won their fourth straight game, 101-90, over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night. "My game is starting to come around," Ewing said. "My shot is starting to fall and I was getting killed, hearing about my 0-fers. I'm trying to stay focused and not let the distractions bother me. I have a lot of basketball left in me." Latrell Sprewell, playing despite the flu, scored 11 of his 22 points in a tight third quarter before the Knicks pulled away in the fourth. Allan Houston also scored 20, including 10 in the third period. Ewing, who shot a combined 3-for-19 in his first two games after missing the first 20 games of the season recovering from a partially torn Achilles' tendon, shot 6-for-10 from the field and 8-for-8 from the line. "I thought he looked good," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "He showed a lot of confidence. Sometimes you have a perception of what a player should be. He's a top 50 player and we're going to win with him." "I thought Patrick Ewing played well tonight," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "He's been struggling with his shots but he didn't tonight." New York led for most of the first half but the Rockets cut the Knicks' lead to 48-45 at the half, and a 10-7 third-quarter start tied it at 55-55 with 8:41 to go. Sprewell then hit three straight baskets and the Knicks held a 76-70 lead at the start of the final quarter. A 17-8 run to start the fourth quarter was enough to put the Rockets away. "He (Ewing) gave us some inside scoring in the first half and when we were stopped it helped us take advantage of some other things," Van Gundy said. "Patrick has never lacked confidence and we never doubted his value to us." Steve Francis led the Rockets with 20 points and Shandon Anderson and Matt Bullard had 12 each. The Knicks jumped on Houston from the start and led 28-23 after the first quarter. The Rockets countered with a 16-11 run to start the second period, tying it at 39-39 on consecutive 3-point baskets by Bullard. Francis hit a fast break layup with 1:49 left in the first half for Houston's only lead of the half, 43-41, but a 3-point basket by Larry Johnson and consecutive baskets by Houston put the Knicks back in the lead. "We don't have enough manpower right now and they wore us down," Tomjanovich said. "We did a pretty good job to stay in the game for most of the game, but we didn't do a good job with our fast breaks. "We had some situations in which we didn't finish. We had a period in the second quarter when we had some wide open shots and didn't make them."
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard New York Clubhouse Houston Clubhouse RECAPS Utah 101 Washington 80
New York 101
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