When Buck Williams was ejected in the second quarter with his second technical foul, Allan Houston had some advice for his New York Knicks teammates.
“I told everybody, `Let’s make this work,’ ” Houston said. “I just wanted to make sure they didn’t take advantage.”
Charlie Ward followed Houston’s advice perfectly, scoring 18 points as the visiting Knicks used a 12-0 fourth-quarter run to beat the Toronto Raptors 93-82 Saturday.
“If you give enough, eventually you’re going to receive,” Ward said. “I’ve been giving all season and today it finally came back to me.”
Larry Johnson led the Knicks with 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Houston added 23 points. But it was Ward, 5 for 5 from the field in the first half, including four three-pointers, who came up big when it counted, at both ends of the court.
“Damon (Stoudamire) burned us badly last time,” Ward said. “Today I wanted to make him work for his points. But the key was, as a team, we played better defense and tried to let somebody else beat us.”
After Doug Christie hit a three-pointer and Lloyd Daniels followed with a layup, cutting the Knicks’ lead to 72-71, Houston and John Starks hit threes during the decisive run, taking the Raptors and a crowd of 18,898 out of the game and putting the Knicks up 84-71 with 5 minutes 45 seconds remaining.
“We got it down to one point and once they got it back up again it was tough to recover,” said Stoudamire, who had 16 points and 10 assists.
Marcus Camby led the Raptors with 22 points. He added six rebounds and six blocks.
With the Raptors leading by five points early in the third quarter, Ward hit consecutive threes, giving the Knicks the lead for good. Ward sparked a 21-6 run that culminated with Houston’s layup for a 56-45 lead with 9:02 left in the period.
Nets 97, Hawks 81: Keith Van Horn scored 23 points and host New Jersey held Atlanta to a season-low 10 points in the third quarter in ending the Hawks’ six-game winning streak.
Kerry Kittles added 19 points, Sherman Douglas had 18 points and 10 assists and Jayson Williams had 15 points and 23 rebounds as the Nets bounced back from a disappointing loss at home to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Steve Smith led the Hawks with 17 points, but his streak of scoring at least 20 points was stopped at eight games. Dikembe Mutombo added 12 points and 11 rebounds, but Atlanta looked tired playing for the second straight night and the fifth time in seven days.
Smith was 4 of 15 from the field and Christian Laettner, who finished with nine points, shot 2 of 9 as Atlanta hit just 39 percent from the field.
Kendall Gill added 17 points for New Jersey, which outrebounded the Hawks 49-41. The Nets had a season-low five turnovers.
Wizards 108, Clippers 99: Chris Webber had 31 points and Tracy Murray came off the bench to score 20 as Washington beat another Western Conference team.
The Wizards improved to 12-2 against teams from the West. They are 9-18 against Eastern Conference teams.
Los Angeles rallied to cut a 16-point deficit to six with 1:28 left, but the Wizards sealed the win by scoring the final three points.
Clippers coach Bill Fitch remained at 937 career wins, one shy of second-place Red Auerbach on the NBA’s career list. Los Angeles fell to 1-15 against Eastern Conference teams and 3-22 when allowing 100 or more points.
Juwan Howard added 21 points for the Wizards. Webber had 10 rebounds.
Rodney Rogers scored 22 for the Clippers before leaving in the third quarter after getting poked in the left eye. James Robinson scored a season-high 20.
76ers 112, Warriors 84: Allen Iverson scored 15 of his 28 points in the first quarter as host Philadelphia handed Golden State its 10th straight loss.
Iverson was 6 for 8 from the floor in the quarter as the 76ers opened a 35-15 lead. Philadelphia extended its lead to 25 in the third quarter and 28 in the fourth. The 28-point margin of victory was Philadelphia’s largest of the season.
Derrick Coleman added 18 points and nine rebounds, Tim Thomas had 15 points and six assists and Jim Jackson added 13 points for the 76ers, who have won three straight for the first time this season.
Erick Dampier led the Warriors with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Donyell Marshall had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
