ATLANTA – Bring on the Pacers. Put the Hawks out of their misery.
Energized by the continued laser bench play of Latrell Sprewell, the Knicks took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series last night by beating the low-flying Hawks, 77-70 at the Georgia Dome.
The Knicks can finish off the Hawks at the Garden Sunday and Monday. Twenty times the Knicks have led playoff series 2-0 and have only lost two of them.
There was a slight plot twist from Game 1 where Allan Houston and Sprewell combined to bury the Hawks. This victory was achieved through the play of benchmates and soulmates Sprewell and Marcus Camby.
They came off to rescue a simply putrid game where both teams’ starters slogged through their paces. Sprewell finished with a pulsating 31 points for the second straight game while Camby added 11 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks in 27 minutes and a ferocious fourth-quarter dunk over Dikembe Mutombo, a dunk he predicted before the game.
Complimented Patrick Ewing, “The bench saved us.”
The Knicks have much grander plans than just getting by the second round for the first time in five years. “Everyone in here thinks we can go all the way,” Camby said as he dressed in his corner of the Knicks’ locker room. “It’s just a fact of taking it one game at a time. You’ve got to come ready. We didn’t come ready to play tonight in the first quarter and it showed. It took us a while to get going.”
“I don’t know if I envisioned the playoffs this way,” said Sprewell, who had never won a playoff game before this season. “Watching in the past I always said I wanted to be part of this. We’re playing very well. The game tonight wasn’t our best game, though, it was a little ugly to be honest.”
Early in the day Sprewell reiterated that he would prefer to start and then once again showed why, simply being the most dynamic player on the floor. “I’m not worried about if I can do more or less,” he said of his role. “All I want to do is go out and play hard.”
In two games Sprewell has saved the Knicks by scoring 62 points. He is a weapon the no-depth Hawks have no defense for in the series. Houston, who had 34 points in Game 1, only had two points last night. The Hawks shot 29.6 percent. “When you shoot like that,” noted Lenny Wilkens, “it makes it very difficult to win.”
Sprewell scored 15 points from the line as he continued to aggressively attack the Hawks. The last time Sprewell went to the line, the thousands of Knick fans in the stands were chanting “Spree! Spree! Spree!”
When the buzzer sounded, Sprewell and Camby gave each other a huge hug. “That’s my guy, one of my best friends on the team,” Sprewell said. “I’m happy for him.”
Camby’s dunk, where he started from the top of the circle, a la Michael Jordan, keyed a game-deciding 15-4 run early in the fourth. He flew over Mutombo for the vicious slam and face job. Mutombo had guaranteed a Hawk victory in the series. “He did a lot of finger-waving, but I told myself I was going to get him this series,” Camby said.
“That was the best dunk of the year,” Chris Childs said. “Not taking anything away from Vince Carter, but he was so high, it was unbelievable.”
“That was a 10,” Sprewell said. “A 10,” noted Larry Johnson.
Sprewell had his own impressive dunk at the end of the third, followed by The Face, when he juts out his lower jaw in defiance. “I don’t know what you call it,” Sprewell said of The Face, “but that’s me.”
Everything you needed to know about the Hawks’ offense came on a fastbreak after a Houston turnover with 6:30 to go in the third quarter and the score tied at 42. Chris Crawford hit Steve Smith with a perfect lead pass that Smith fumbled out of bounds. If Smith were a student at Northwestern, he might be under investigation by now. He missed 13 of his first 14 shots and finished 2-for-16.
Meanwhile, the Knick confidence soars like Camby flying through the lane.
“There was a time when we thought we weren’t going to make the playoffs, but everyone stuck around each other, circled the wagons and started gaining trust in each other,” Camby said. “Now we’re going out there just having fun.”
Camby said vast improvements have been made because the Knicks are getting their running game going. “We’re definitely a better team,” he said. “We’re getting out on transition more. I think that’s a big part of our success, getting out and getting some easy buckets. We’re having fun and that makes the game easy.”
Sprewell and Houston combined for 17 points in the first half, all 17 by Sprewell. Houston was 0-for-4 in 13 minutes, but Sprewell saved the day again for the Knicks as they stumbled out of the gate, missing their first seven shots and 13 of their first 14.
The Knick game plan goes something like this: Fall behind early and let Latrell pick up the slack. When he entered this affair, the Knicks trailed 9-2. He started slow, misfiring on three of his first four shots, but at the end of the half he was 5-for-10 from the field and 7-for-10 from the line. His 17 points at the half were six more than the entire Knicks’ starting unit.
“We’re home now,” Sprewell said with a smile. “We just have to handle business.”
