Everything Goes the Knicks’ Way

The New York Knicks made all the right calls.

Patrick Ewing tested his sore left arm and determined he could play, Coach Jeff Van Gundy decided to defend Penny Hardaway with Larry Johnson, and Buck Williams came off the bench to slow down Rony Seikaly.

The cumulative result was a 101-86 victory over the Orlando Magic Sunday at Orlando, Fla.

The victory kept the Knicks ahead of Detroit and Atlanta in the race for the third playoff spot in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

Ewing scored 33 points and Chris Childs had 19 for the Knicks, who had lost five of their previous eight games. The Knicks have won all three of their meetings with Orlando this season and improved to 13-1 when Ewing scores at least 30.

Ewing’s status for the game was questionable after he pulled a muscle in his left arm during the Knicks’ 92-86 loss to the New Jersey Nets Friday night.

He wore a black rubber sleeve on his upper arm that looked a lot like the braces he wears under his familiar knee pads and played 38 minutes without any apparent difficulty.

Ewing made 13 of 23 shots, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots. Allan Houston scored 13 and Williams had 11 while playing solid defense.

“I tested it out in warmups,” Ewing said. “I was making left-hand layups, dribbling with my left hand, and it felt fine. I was just trying to keep it away from any awkward positions.”

Nationally televised games at home usually bring out the best in the Magic, who embarrassed the Lakers on NBC last week.

But little went right this time after Childs made an improbable catch of a three-quarters length of the court inbounds pass and made a three-point shot at the buzzer to make the score 23-23 after one quarter.

Hardaway led Orlando with 21 points, but only made eight of 25 shots in failing to take advantage of the Knicks’ decision to defend him with Johnson.

Toronto 102, Miami 97--Damon Stoudamire tied his career high with 35 points as the Raptors snapped a five-game losing streak and ended Miami’s eight-game winning streak with a victory at Toronto.

The Heat shouldn’t feel too bad. The Raptors have now beaten the NBA’s top three teams this season: Chicago, Utah and Miami.

The Heat, meanwhile, saw their lead atop the Atlantic Division shrink to 2 1/2 games over the Knicks.

Stoudamire, who had one of his best shooting performances of the season, made 12 of 18 shots from the field, including five of six from three-point range and six of six from the a free-throw line.

“That’s just a hot game,” said Stoudamire, who also had 11 assists. “The only people who shoot 60 or 70% on a consistent basis are the big men.”

Miami’s big man, Alonzo Mourning, probably would have been happy to shoot 50% from the line.

Although he led the Heat with 27 points and had seven blocks, he was seven for 16 on free throws. Miami shot just 59.3% (16 of 27) from the line.