KNICK NOTES
ATLANTA – Latrell Sprewell’s focus is clearly on the Hawks and the second round of the playoffs and that was evident by another big game last night in the Knicks’ 77-70 victory, but he also wants to make a stand for his fellow players.
And that’s why he is behind the Players Association’s grievance to fight his $25,000 fine imposed by Garden boss Dave Checketts against Sprewell for comments made by Sprewell’s agent Robert Gist to the Post several weeks ago. On Wednesday night the union filed the grievance.
Sprewell said yesterday that he does not want players to be fined in that manner. The Knicks took the money from Sprewell, but Sprewell was reimbursed by the sneaker company And 1.
As for the union filing a grievance, Sprewell said, “It’s something more or less that they are going to do. It affects other players. Right now I’m in a little different situation where I can say that I just want to focus on basketball but if it happens to somebody else, I’m sure they would come out and [fight it].”
“It was not unexpected,” Checketts said last night of the grievance. “I had been on a flight with Billy Hunter, going to Miami. So we had talked about it. I really didn’t know whether they would or not. I think they had to do it to protect their right to grieve it. They thought it needed to be explored. But I’m not sure what action they’ll take.” *Allan Houston on his 1-for-8 night and two-point performance following his 34-point outburst in Game 1: “We got a win. That’s all that matters. I’ve said all along that we have guys who can pick us up. We’ve got a lot of good players on this team.”
Houston did a great job defending Steve Smith. “I wasn’t hitting shots, so I was doing whatever I could to do something out there,” he said. *As expected, Chris Crawford was in the starting lineup for the Hawks. He said the team’s mood beforehand was “definitely like a Game 7.” But they played like it was Game 7 of preseason. Crawford, who scored 26 points off the bench in Game 1, manged just 10 points last night – with eight coming from the foul line. He shot just 1-of-8. “They made us shoot tough shots and when you do that, you won’t shoot a high percentage,” Crawford said.
The Knick bench again held a commanding lead in stats, outscoring Hawk reserves 46-19 and outrebounding them, 22-3. *Tradition is definitely not on the side of the Hawks. In their history in Atlanta, the Hawks have been down 0-2 in a series 13 previous times. They are 0-13 in those series. The last time a team has come back from 0-2 was in 1995 when Houston rallied to snuff Phoenix. The Rockets went on to win the title that year … Last night’s 70 points were the second-fewest points the Hawks have scored in in their playoff history. And the lowest total also came this year. They had 63 in Game 3 against Detroit in the first round. *Steve Smith said it before, and he said it again before last night’s game. The Hawks don’t want to see Patrick Ewing in foul trouble and off the court for the Knicks. Because that means Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell play together and make the Knicks a tougher matchup, Smith claimed.
“They’re different,” Smith said. “For us as guards, we hope Patrick doesn’t get into foul trouble. They pound the ball in and you can stand there. When Patrick’s out, they need offense and they bring in Sprewell and and with Houston [they] play them at the same time and they get to running. And if they’re running and scoring well, that’s their game plan. If it’s not, then it’s to our advantage.”
