New York ? Palms were sweaty, throats were dry, and the Knicks didn’t mind admitting it. When you’ve been wandering in the desert losing game after game the way the Knicks have been and you fight back from a 16-point, second-quarter deficit and can see a victory shimmering on the horizon like a beautiful mirage, well, you better believe the pressure and fear start to well up inside.
As he watched an eight-point, fourth-quarter lead shrink to one, Knicks Coach Herb Williams said: “In the back of your mind, you kind of wonder, `Is it going to happen again?’ I was holding my breath with about 20 seconds left, and I didn’t stop holding it until Penny got the rebound.”
With the Knicks clinging to a one-point lead over a Cleveland team playing without injured MVP candidate LeBron James, Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed a 19-foot jumper from the top of the key, and Penny Hardaway grabbed the rebound with 2.8 seconds left. Two more foul shots by Jamison Brewer sealed a 99-96 win that broke the Knicks’ seven-game losing streak Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
“It feels good to win,” point guard Stephon Marbury said, breathing a sigh of relief. “It feels like an elephant just got lifted off our chest. But we can’t celebrate because we’ve got to go to the next game and do the same thing.”
The next game is Saturday night in Detroit against the NBA champion Pistons, and it starts a brutal six-game trip that will take the Knicks (18-24) to Los Angeles to play the Clippers and continue with games in Denver, Sacramento, Phoenix and Utah. So even though the victory over the Central Division-leading Cavaliers (25-17) was just one small step forward, it meant so much more to the Knicks after 11 losses in their previous 12 games. It was the first win for Williams in three games since he replaced Lenny Wilkens.
“I was getting scared, to be honest,” Jamal Crawford said, thinking of how the Knicks lost three other games that went to the last possession in this hard-luck stretch. “I was a little nervous because we’ve been in that position three or four times and got the short end of the stick.”
Consecutive baskets by Crawford, who had 22 points, gave the Knicks their biggest lead at 85-77 with 8:10 left in the game. But lacking the perimeter threat and slashing game of James, the Cavs went inside to Ilgauskas, who had 12 of his 24 points in the final period, and Drew Gooden (21 points, 14 rebounds). Three times, the Cavaliers cut the Knicks’ lead to one point.
It was 95-94 when Marbury (22 points, five assists) started to penetrate on the right side of the lane and caught a glimpse of Hardaway standing open to his left and passed. Playing for the first time after spending 10 games on the injured list, Hardaway dropped in a 21-foot jumper for a 97-94 lead with 36.3 seconds left.
“In the huddle, I told Steph to watch for me,” Hardaway said. “I kept getting into Steph’s view, and if he needed me, I’d be there.”
Trying to double-team Ilgauskas at the other end, Marbury fouled the 7-3 center, who hit two free throws with 31.1 seconds left to make it a one-point game again. When the Knicks tried to put away the game, Hardaway lost the ball in the lane, and center Nazr Mohammed (21 points, 10 rebounds) grabbed the loose ball and rushed a jump shot with nine seconds left on the shot clock that missed, giving the Cavs a chance for the go-ahead basket.
Ilgauskas got a good look from the top of the key to win the game, but said the ball came off his hand “funny” and hit the right side of the rim.
