Football player honored for GPA

The Wrestling Report

By Jason Caesar Consolacion
Sports Editor

It's a series again! Well, for now, anyway.

The New York Knicks finally came out of their shell, beating the San Antonio Spurs 89-81 at Madison Square Garden in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston led the way, once again, for the Knicks, combining for 58 points on 19-of-46 shooting. But it was the New York defense that won the game, forcing 20 San Antonio turnovers.

This is only the fifth loss in the Spurs' last 50 games and only their second loss in the playoffs. San Antonio rolled through 12 straight playoff games, an NBA record, prior to Game 3.

"Obviously this is a huge win for us," Houston said, "but now it's time to concentrate on Game 4. This win won't mean anything if we lose Game 4 because we sure don't want to be down 1-3."

Actually, the Knicks' Game 3 win does mean something: There will be no sweep in this year's Finals.

When the matchup between New York and San Antonio was finalized after the Knicks eliminated Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals, many said the Spurs would roll right through New York, possibly even sweeping them, especially with the Knicks playing without Patrick Ewing.

Games 1 and 2 were clearly dominated by the inside presence of David Robinson and Tim Duncan, but the offense of Sprewell, Houston and Larry Johnson, together with New York's stifling defense, proved to be too much for the Spurs in Game 3.

"Those guards did a good job on (Spurs point guard) Avery (Johnson) tonight," Duncan said. "(Chris) Childs and (Charlie) Ward did their best to take the ball out of his hands and that seemed to faze us a bit."

Johnson scored 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting, but committed six turnovers in the game.

The one surprise for the Knicks on Monday was the change in the starting lineup. New York head coach Jeff Van Gundy chose to insert Marcus Camby at center, but unfortunately the change backfired.

Camby brought energy and athleticism to the game, but his hyper play caused him to get into early foul trouble, limiting him to only 16 minutes of play. He scored five points, grabbed four rebounds and eventually fouled out.

The one bright spot for Camby was an emphatic offensive rebound that was slammed right back into the basket, a play that earned him three replays on NBC.

The Knicks will look to even the series tonight in Game 4, but it will definitely not be easy. San Antonio didn't play well in Game 3, but a team that has lost only five times in the last three months is sure to adjust to New York's new energy.

Robinson played his best game of the series Monday, scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Duncan put out a "lackluster" performance by his own standards, scoring 20 points on 8-for-16 shooting, grabbing 12 boards and committing five turnovers.

However, that's all the Spurs were able to get. Beyond Johnson's 10 points, no other Spur scored more than eight points and the 20 turnovers led to 18 New York points.

Sean Elliot has had a mediocre series, averaging only 8.0 points on 10-of-27 shooting. Elliot is guarding Sprewell on the defensive end, and that has probably taken away from his game offensively. Nevertheless, he missed four open three-pointers Monday and the Spurs are going to need his shooting skills if they hope to get back on the winning track.

New York must continue to take it to the hole. The Knicks attempted 30 free throws in Game 3 while only taking 33 trips to the line in Games 1 and 2 combined. The way New York is shooting free throws (82 percent), they should be looking for more ways to get to the line.

Also, the guards must continue to defend San Antonio's backcourt as they did Monday. Putting the clamps on Johnson, Mario Elie and Jaren Jackson takes away the extra scoring that Robinson and Duncan cannot provide.

It looks more like a series now, but whether New York can hold on or not remains to be seen.