Everything Goes the Knicks’ Way

The New York Knicks made all the right moves.

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 on 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 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 points.

Ewing’s status for the game was questionable after he pulled a muscle in his left arm Friday night. He wore a black rubber sleeve on his upper arm and played 38 minutes without any apparent difficulty.

Philadelphia 96, Detroit 92--Doug Overton filled in for the injured Allen Iverson with a season-high 19 points and 10 assists, and the 76ers had a late comeback to shock the Pistons at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Grant Hill had a triple-double, with 22 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, but missed two free throws in the final 10 seconds that would have tied the game.

Iverson missed the game because of a sprained left ankle.

Phoenix 107, Seattle 106--Rex Chapman scored 25 points and made a key defensive play after purposely missing a free throw with 1.7 seconds left at Phoenix as the Suns won their sixth in a row.

After Chapman missed his first free throw, he chose to send the second awry on purpose. Sam Perkins got the rebound for Seattle, but Chapman got a hand on the ball to knock him off-balance and Perkins fell to the floor.

Toronto 102, Miami 97--Damon Stoudamire made five of six three-point shots and scored 35 points as the Raptors snapped a five-game losing streak and ended Miami’s eight-game winning streak with a victory at Toronto.

Minnesota 113, Golden State 102--Kevin Garnett scored 33 points and Tom Gugliotta added 31 as the Timberwolves, after nearly blowing a 22-point third-quarter lead, won at San Jose to hand the Warriors their seventh consecutive loss.

Minnesota shot 58.1%.

Cleveland 84, Dallas 80--Tyrone Hill returned to the Cavaliers’ lineup after a two-game absence and scored 17 points at Cleveland to help the Cavaliers snap a three-game losing streak.

Hill, who had missed two games to return home to Cincinnati to be with his ill father, teamed with Terrell Brandon to lead a fourth-quarter comeback.

Denver 99, Milwaukee 97--Kenny Smith made a three-point shot with 3.1 seconds left and added a free throw with less than a second remaining for the Nuggets at Denver.

Glenn Robinson scored 30 points for the Bucks.