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April 27, 2000 By Ian Browne SportsLine.com Staff Writer |
NEW YORK -- Latrell Sprewell had merely spent the final frantic quarter Wednesday night chasing down Vince Carter Sprewell comes through for Knicks against Raptors Knicks-Raptors series overview Complete NBA playoffs coverage Audio: Vince Carter says the Knicks wouldn't allow him to take the final shot Audio: Carter says the Raptors can still win the series Audio: Jeff Van Gundy talks about Toronto's final shot Audio: Marcus Camby says he is surprised Vince Carter didn't take the final shot for Toronto
at one end, and carrying his New York Knicks with sheer will at the other.
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Most men would have been spent.
Then again, Sprewell, the one-time national public enemy turned Madison Square Garden hero has never had much in common with anybody.
He is a rare commodity. The same rage that once led him to put coach P.J. Carlesimo in that ill-fated choke hold in Golden State is now directly channeled to helping these Knicks win big basketball games in the spring.
So when it came time for Jeff Van Gundy to call on a savior in those closing seconds in Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors, the coach's search was hardly an exhaustive one.
By that point, as the Knicks had whittled the Raptors' 16-point lead all the way down to one with 25 seconds left, Van Gundy and just about everyone else at the buzzing Garden knew that the only thing left to do was pound the ball into Sprewell one more time.
"I just really liked how he attacked the basket in the fourth quarter," Van Gundy said. "He got to his spot, got his shot. "
So Sprewell cradled the basketball and blasted to the middle of the paint. Carter, who had five fouls, followed him every step of the way and could only watch with horror as Sprewell buried the 6-foot running jumper in his face with 7.9 seconds left.
That put the Knicks up one, their first lead since way back at 4-2.
Naturally, Raptors coach Butch Carter tried to free up Vince for one last dagger that would send the series back to Canada tied 1-1.
However, Sprewell was there, waiting, as he has been seemingly every time Carter has touched the ball in this series. And Chris Childs came flying over to double team, forcing Air Canada to air out a pass to a wide- open Dee Brown, who shanked the 3-pointer that could have brought a deadlock to the series.
Instead, it was the Knicks winning their second nail-biter in succession at 84-83. It was the Knicks who once again rode Sprewell to the finish in this, their biggest comeback in the playoffs since Game 4 of the 1973 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics.
It was more than a tad ironic that this entire series seems to be coming down to Carter, the league's anointed hero of the present and future, and Sprewell, the one-time villain.
Though Carter did outscore Sprewell 27-25 in Game 2, Sprewell has made all the big plays in both games.
In fact, the veteran Sprewell has exploited the young Carter at both ends, and that is why the Knicks have three chances to win one game and advance to the next round while the Raptors are hanging by the flimsiest of threads.
One person who hasn't been heard complaining about the ridiculous amount of down time between games is Sprewell, who has expended virtually every ounce of energy on offense and defense.
"I'm getting a little tired of chasing Vince around," chuckled Spree in the aftermath of the comeback victory. "He's tough."
But not tough enough to wear down the Knicks' tenacious two-way star, who played 46 minutes in Game 2, including the entire second half.
It wasn't as if Sprewell staggered off the court after his game-winner. You get the feeling if there was an overtime, he would have had plenty of legs to drill a couple more shots.
"I'm in great shape," said Sprewell, a statement that is certainly backed up by his bony physique. "It's the playoffs now and you're riding on adrenaline."
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| Latrell Sprewell is greeted by Patrick Ewing after scoring the winning basket against Toronto. (AP) |
But on this night, as the action drew to a close, it was the Knicks riding Sprewell.
On a team that also has future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, clutch warrior Larry Johnson and sharp-shooter Allan Houston, you sometimes forget the full array of Sprewell's talent. Or the way he can just take a game over when the Knicks need him to.
"That is how you take over a game and that's what he did," said Houston, the man who played that role quite a few times for the Knicks in last year's playoffs. "That's why when you have guys like Spree who can play at both ends, it really helps your team. That's what the playoffs are about. Playing both ends of the floor."
Truth be told, Carter isn't there yet at the defensive end. And Sprewell made him pay for it.
But before Sprewell became the story of Game 2, it was LJ who made it a game. He spent a long stretch of the fourth quarter pounding the ball inside, scoring tough layups and putting home free throws to get that deficit down to a reachable place.
So when LJ fouled out with 5:09 left and the Knicks down five, Sprewell started cooking.
A 24-foot jumper kept the Knicks close at 73-70. And a 12-foot floater made it 75-72. Then there was the 13-footer that made it 75-74.
Finally, it started sinking in to the Raptors that Sprewell wasn't going to miss. So they started fouling him. No problem for Spree, who knocked home four consecutive free throws, the last of which tied it up with 2:27 left.
He wouldn't be heard from again until that last grand finale.
"The last one was vintage Latrell," credited Van Gundy. "Two dribbles, pull up and shoot."
"Latrell is Latrell," LJ said. "This cat sat out a whole year and took us to the Finals (last year). He's a warrior. Latrell is fearless. I don't see him backing down from anybody."
Especially not Carter, who is learning the hard way from Sprewell what the playoffs are all about.