Rest of the Knicks Are Taking Cue From King

The New York Knicks have dramatically turned around a January scoring slump, although the change has had no effect on the National Basketball Assn. standings.

The Knicks engaged in a shootout with the San Antonio Spurs, the No. 3 scoring team in the league, and escaped with a 129-122 decision Tuesday night.

The high point total gave New York a 112-point scoring average in 15 games since they broke a string of eight straight games without reaching the century mark.

A corresponding improvement in the standings has not accompanied the scoring binge, however. The Knicks were 2-6 while averaging 92 points per game from Jan. 7-22, but they are only 5-10 during the current high-scoring streak.

“It’s fun to win whether it’s high-scoring or not,” said Bernard King, the NBA scoring leader, who had 41 points against the Spurs. “If we score less than 100 and win, that’s fine. I don’t get any satisfaction from scoring a lot of points if we lose.”

With King and Pat Cummings, who added 24 points for the Knicks, on the bench for a rest early in the fourth period, New York scored seven straight points for its largest lead at 100-89 with 9:41 left.

“The way the second unit played was kind of reminiscent of the way it was around here for a couple of years,” Knicks Coach Hubie Brown said. “Periodically, we showed some good signs on defense. But San Antonio is a high-powered team and they showed it.”

Two three-point goals by Johnny Moore highlighted a 12-4 San Antonio run that cut the deficit to 104-101 with 6:16 to go.

By that time, however, Spurs stars George Gervin and Artis Gilmore were on the sideline with injuries and San Antonio got no closer than three the rest of the way. Gervin played only nine minutes and scored just two points in the second half because of an arm muscle strain, while Gilmore sat out the last 7:11 with a back muscle spasm.

“When Gilmore left the game, it left the way open for us to penetrate and we exploited that,” said King, who scored 14 points in the last 6 1/2 minutes, eight of them on free throws. “They made a run at us, but we kept our composure and didn’t fold.”

Mitchell led San Antonio with 29 points, while Gilmore had 25 and Gervin 20. No other Spurs player was in double figures.

Mitchell had 12 points in the third quarter to help San Antonio rally from a 64-57 halftime deficit to tie the game on four occasions, the last time at 80-80. A three-point play by King gave the Knicks the lead for good with 3:12 left in the quarter.

Spurs Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said the status of both Gilmore and Gervin is uncertain.