Knicks 96 Celtics 78 The Knicks reached the halfway point of their season yesterday by finally finding some excitement at the Garden.

On the day Patrick Ewing returned to the lineup, Latrell Sprewell came off the bench to score 27 points and powered the Knicks to a 96-78 slaughter of the Celtics.

This was the second meeting of the year between the teams. Boston won the first matchup 94-80 at the FleetCenter. That day the Knicks had no answer to the press and no Sprewell. He was out with a stress fracture of the right heel.

It was Sprewell, though, who put the selfish Celtics on their heels yesterday. The Knicks were down five when Sprewell entered for Larry Johnson at the 4:58 mark of the first quarter.

The Knicks were down eight and then Sprewell went to work with 55 seconds remaining in the quarter when he buried a 3-pointer.

That ignited an 18-point second-quarter explosion and the Knicks were up 10 at the half, 55-45. One man overmatched the Celtics. The lead ballooned to 20 in the third quarter.

In that second quarter, the Knicks who have been pounded on the boards all year, pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, thanks in part to Sprewell, who had three while Marcus Camby added six offensive rebounds.

The Knicks did not have an offensive rebound in the first quarter. Coming off Thursday night’s horrendous loss to the Magic, the Knicks need a Sprewell shot of energy.

Ewing finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and three blocks. He made 3-of-9 shots. Charlie Ward tied a season-high with 18 points. Sprewell made 10 of his 17 shots.

Sprewell is doing so well, maybe he can even break back into the starting lineup. Sprewell is not happy with the sixth-man role, but is trying to make the best of it.

Before the game Jeff Van Gundy addressed the situation. Sprewell, who started the first two games, has let it be known to Van Gundy that he would rather be starting.

”Obviously I wish he was,” Van Gundy began before veering off into this direction, ” …let me say this, I expect everyone to want to start and want to play every minute, knowing that my feeling that this is in our best interests right now I would like for him to be a little bit more accepting and yet, the same time, I can understand the difficulty he has with it after being a starter his entire NBA career. That’s a huge sacrifice. And I don’t think it’s detracted in any way from his game or his effort.

”That he is maybe less than pleased,” Van Gundy continued, ”I would expect that almost and I’m not as worried about it.

”I’m just worried about, you know, you have to make some tough decisions as a coach and you ask that your guys go along with them. For the most part, exceot for some off-handed, let me know that he ain’t happy totally type of comment, I think it’s best for our team.”

There you have it.

”This move had nothing to do with him, it had more to do with him as a team. I didn’t feel we had balance on the floor the first two games. That’s not to say he won’t be back there [starting] sometime, but I don’t know.”

As for where the 15-10 Knicks are at in this point in the season, Van Gundy said, ”I really don’t know where we’re at. I’m not sure if we’re heading this way,” Van Gundy said, moving his right hand in an upward motion, ”or this way” staying flat, ”or this way,” pointing down.

”I’m not really sure. It’s so hard when you don’t have a great feel and I don’t think you can have a great feel with as many new people as we have and with so little time as we’ve had.”

”Not knowing the personalities and the characteristics of the team are we going to get better as the year goes on, tougher, is a little adversity going to get us sideways, do we understand where we’re at and what we need to do to get better. I’m hopeful about that.”

The Knicks entered the game tied for sixth in the East, although Van Gundy told his team they were ninth.

”We just have to worry about ourselves,” Van Gundy said, however then noting how much the Hornets have improved themselves and how dominant Allen Iverson is on the floor.

”It’s all very close,” Van Gundy said. ”We’re one loss from being in the playoffs and one win from being third or fourth. We’re going to be in a struggle all year … I’m not always pessimistic, I really think I’m more realistic.”

Playoff success looks more realistic for the Knicks when Sprewell is on the floor.