Knicks78

Bulls71

After Othella Harrington bulled inside for another layup to build the Knick lead to 17 points with 10:07 left in the first half, Bulls coach Tim Floyd called time and ripped his club in the huddle in a profanity-laced tirade.

“It’s a bleeping layup drill out there,” Floyd roared. “Othella Harrington shouldn’t be kicking our [butt] on post-ups.”

Well, Harrington did. Had Harrington and Travis Knight not provided their unforeseen contributions, the Knicks may have done the unthinkable – lose to the Bulls at the Garden yesterday.

As it was, they almost did. After getting off to a rousing start, the Knicks collapsed. They even allowed the Bulls to take a one-point lead in the third quarter and then let them hang around down the stretch of an uninspiring 78-71 victory.

“Realistically, it’s just a win,” said Latrell Sprewell, held to five points for the second straight game. “We had a great first 16 minutes and we let them back into the game. They were right there. Nothing we can be too happy about.”

With the paper-thin frontcourt losing another big man yesterday in Felton Spencer, who started at center, the Knicks (6-8) needed Harrington’s buckets desperately. He was a demon inside, scoring a season-high 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting, getting the ball on the block and barreling to the hole.

Jeff Van Gundy, meanwhile, inserted Knight in the second quarter and the 7-1 garbage timer contributed six points and five rebounds in seven minutes, including a tip-in and an 18-foot jumper from the right wing.

With Marcus Camby missing his 13th straight game and Clarence Weatherspoon out, Van Gundy is not going to complain about any victory, even if the Knicks had to struggle against the 1-11 Bulls, who beat them three weeks ago.

“Certainly if the Bucks can be taken to four by them at home, we should too,” Van Gundy said.

Allan Houston, his jumper true all game, scored 24 points, grabbed seven rebounds and defended fiercely against Ron Mercer (5 of 17). But it was Harrington’s inside work that negated the marvelous game from Bulls center Brad Miller, who finished with 23 points and nine rebounds and showed why GM Scott Layden has tried to bring him to New York for the last 16 months.

“I need to be more aggressive in general,” Harrington said. “I have a lot of confidence in what I can do when I have the ball in my hand. Nobody’s ever had to tell me to look for my shot.”

Spencer injured his left shoulder going after a loose ball and smacking into Charles Oakley. He left the court in agony, heading straight toward the tunnel, though X-rays revealed just a bone bruise. Spencer said his shoulder went “numb.”

“They told me it’s going to hurt for a while,” Spencer said.

Spencer could miss a couple of games, which means Knight may be called upon again to supply another jolt, even if Marcus Camby returns tomorrow night at the Garden against Atlanta.

“I thought he did a great job,” Van Gundy said. “It’s hard for a lot of guys in this league to stay upbeat and positive when they’re not getting opportunities to play. Travis is an intelligent guy and player. Right now we’re struggling inside in a lot of areas in bodies. He’ll probably get more opportunities, too.”

Spearheaded by a 12-0 run late in the second quarter, the Bulls erased a 17-point deficit and closed within 41-37 at halftime. They took a 44-43 lead at 6:54 of the third. The Knicks’ defense, Houston’s perimeter shooting and Harrington inside carried them back. TWo free throws by Houston with 16.1 seconds left iced it.

“I’m just trying to make a special effort to get more shots up,” said Houston, who canned 10 of 22 attempts.