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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The New York Knicks have had trouble
closing out victories, and Friday night was no different.
The Knicks didn't just stop hitting shots, they couldn't hold on to the ball long enough to give themselves a chance to score down the stretch against the Orlando Magic.
|  | | Latrell Sprewell lofts a shot over Ben Wallace. Sprewell finished with 19 points for the Knicks. |
The defending Eastern Conference champions turned the ball over
on seven of eight possessions, blowing most of a 16-point lead
before escaping with a 94-86 victory.
Allan Houston scored 23 points and Latrell Sprewell had 19 for the Knicks, who missed their only their two shots from the field and were 2-for-6 from the foul line in the final 4:56.
"We got a little complacent out there. We acted like the game
was over before it actually was," Sprewell said. "We really
didn't play well at all down the stretch, and it was terrible on
our part. We obviously want to finish the game better than we did
tonight."
The victory was the 10th in 13 games for the Knicks, who
improved to 9-3 since Patrick Ewing returned to the lineup after
being on the injured list for the first six weeks of the season.
Ewing had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while
reserve Kurt Thomas finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
New York shot 78 percent in the third quarter, making 14 of 18
shots, and pulled away during a 21-10 run that built its lead from
two to 13. It was 75-64 going into the fourth quarter, and the
closest the Magic got in the final period was six with just under a
minute to go.
The loss was the sixth in seven games for Orlando, which broke a
five-game losing streak with a victory over Vancouver on Wednesday
night. The Magic scored 10 straight to pull to 92-86 before Larry
Johnson made two free throws to stop the momentum with 21.7 seconds
to go.
Darrell Armstrong led Orlando with 16 points. Corey Maggette had
14 points, while reserve Chris Gatling added 11 points and 10
rebounds for the Magic, who outrebounded New York 58-39 but
suffered because of 18 turnovers.
"Unforced turnovers killed us," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said.
"We're not good enough offensively to overcome all of those
unforced errors."
The Magic stayed close early, trailing 23-22 after one quarter
and 41-40 at the half despite shooting 31 percent from the field.
They made up for the poor marksmanship by outrebounding the Knicks
33-22, with Gatling coming off the bench to grab nine before
halftime.
Sprewell, Houston and Ewing led New York's torrid shooting in
the third quarter, scoring 29 of the Knicks' 34 points in the
period. Sprewell had 12 on 5-for-6 shooting, while Houston
(4-for-5) had nine and Ewing (3-for-5) eight.
The Knicks led 50-48 before they went on their decisive run.
Sprewell and Ewing each had six points in the surge, while Charlie
Ward delivered a 3-pointer for his only points of the game.
Game notes
The Magic is the only team in the NBA with a winning record
on the road (9-8) and a losing mark at home (7-9) ... The Knicks
shot 50 percent in the fourth quarter, but only took 16 shots while
being limited to 19 points ... Ewing is 108 points shy of 23,000
for his career ... The Magic re-signed guard Kiwane Garris to a
10-day contract.
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NBA Scoreboard
New York Clubhouse
Orlando Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 101
Sacramento 93
Chicago 110
Washington 103
Atlanta 105
Toronto 97
Vancouver 101
New Jersey 91
New York 94
Orlando 86
LA Lakers 87
Charlotte 83
San Antonio 102
Phoenix 83
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