RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

NEW YORK (AP) _ Nine months later than they needed to, the New York Knicks defended their home court against the San Antonio Spurs with the zeal of a championship team.

Latrell Sprewell scored 24 points, Patrick Ewing added 21 and Allan Houston had 20 as the Knicks beat San Antonio 93-80 Sunday in the Spurs' first visit to Madison Square Garden since winning the title there in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The Knicks dominated throughout, maintaining a double-digit lead most of the second half to end San Antonio's three-game winning streak and stay one game behind Miami in the Atlantic Division.

Perhaps the biggest factor was the way the Knicks contained Tim Duncan, the MVP of last year's finals when multiple injuries limited the number of defenders New York had available against him.

Coming at Duncan with double-teams every time he got the ball, the Knicks held him to 15 points on 7-for-19 shooting and never let him get into a groove. David Robinson led San Antonio with 22 points, although just 10 came after the first quarter.

Larry Johnson added 13 points, Ewing had 15 rebounds and moved into 14th place on the NBA career scoring list, and Sprewell had eight rebounds and seven assists. The Knicks outrebounded their fourth straight opponent after being outrebounded in seven straight games.

Ewing passed Robert Parish (23,334 career points) for 14th place on his second basket of the game, a corner jumper over Robinson midway through the first quarter for an 18-12 lead.

Sprewell had 14 points in the first quarter, scoring almost at will against defenders Antonio Daniels and Jaren Jackson. But the Knicks went into a slump when Sprewell took a rest early in the second quarter, watching a 34-22 lead shrink to 42-41.

After Robinson picked up his third foul and coach Gregg Popovich got a technical for arguing, the Knicks closed the quarter with a 12-6 run _ including a 3-pointer by Chris Childs at the buzzer _ for a 54-47 halftime lead.

Ewing took over in the third quarter, scoring 11 points as the Knicks steadily built their advantage. Ewing started a 7-0 run with a corner jumper and ended it with a pass to Houston for a jumper that made it 71-55.

San Antonio got its deficit down to nine early in the fourth quarter, but John Wallace spun in for a layup and Johnson hit a 3-pointer on the fast break to restore a 14-point lead.

The Spurs pulled to 89-80 with 2:06 left, but Robinson missed a jumper in the lane and Johnson wrestled the rebound away from Duncan to end the threat.

Notes: Sean Elliott still expects to return to the lineup for San Antonio on Tuesday against Atlanta, making him the first professional athlete to come back from a kidney transplant. "I don't know if I have anything left to be afraid of," he said. "It can't be harder than what I went through last August." ... Antonio Daniels made his first start of the season, with Mario Elie moving from shooting guard to small forward and Jerome Kersey moving to the bench. ... San Antonio guard Terry Porter, sidelined for four games with a strained knee ligament, is targeting Thursday or Saturday for his return. ... New York forward Marcus Camby, out with a bad knee, has had his recovery slowed by the flu. ... Charles Barkley, with 23,755 points, is the next player ahead of Ewing on the career scoring list.