In the shadow of Patrick Ewing’s return from injury, Latrell Sprewell led the Knicks to victory.
Sprewell scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the first half as New York sent the Celtics to their eighth straight road loss.
“I thought his aggression was good,” Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said of Sprewell. “He was on the offensive board in the first half, with Marcus (Camby), so we got more shots. And I think our point guards are doing a good job of advancing the ball to him on the break. He’s obviously a good finisher.”
Ewing scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 27 minutes as he returned to the Knicks’ lineup after missing six games because of left Achilles’ tendinitis.
“I felt fine,” said Ewing, who wore an apparatus on his injured leg. “I was a little rusty in the first half, but I got in the flow a little better in the second half.”
