KNICK NOTES
PHILADELPHIA – As Latrell Sprewell lit up the Sixers in the fourth quarter, scoring four straight baskets, racing to the hole, making pull-up jumper after pull-up jumper during a manic surge, Allan Houston just tried to stay out of his way.
Houston’s return from a three-game absence was hardly an Easter epic. Houston finished with 15 points but shot just 5-of-16 from the field, missing six of his first seven shots.
“He looked fine,” Jeff Van Gundy said. “But we’re going to need better from him to win against good teams.”
Houston had sat out with a bruised thigh, having last played last Sunday in Miami. “I felt good moving around on it,” Houston said. “I wasn’t rusty. I just didn’t have lift to my legs. I was just getting used to not getting the same lift.”
Houston did convert a 3-point play with 1:41 left to bring the Knicks within three but that was more freaky than fluid. He shoved in an off-balance prayer of line drive shot from 14 feet that somehow found the net. “I was a little surprised,” Houston said. “I was just trying to get a foul and get the ball up but it was on line even from 15 feet.”
If there ever was a time for Houston to go off, it would be tonight in Cleveland. Last month, he scored his career-high 39 points against the Cavaliers in a stellar performance.
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The Magic Number for the Knicks to clinch the fourth seed and homecourt for the first round is one – either a Knick win or Raptors’ loss will clinch. The Knicks could still claim the third seed, currently held by the Heat, as both teams have two games remaining and the Knicks own the tiebreaker after taking the season series. The Heat, who are playing the rest of the regular season without Tim Hardaway, have a rough ending – hosting Milwaukee, then facing Orlando on the road. If the Knicks get the No. 3 seed, they’d face either Orlando or Charlotte in the first round of the playoffs. The fourth seed brings them Toronto.
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Othella Harrington had another nice game, with 14 points and eight rebounds in 35 minutes. Harrington started his second straight game as Larry Johnson (back) sat out again. Said fellow Georgetown alum Dikembe Mutombo “He’s playing very well, carrying on the legacy. He plays hard every night. That’s what it is about with Georgetown.”
