Ewing Goes Down, so Do the Knicks

The franchise hit the floor, and the pain was unlike anything Patrick Ewing--or the New York Knicks--had ever experienced.

Ewing suffered a dislocated bone in his right wrist when he fell hard Saturday night and the New York Knicks went on to lose, 98-78, to the Milwaukee Bucks at Milwaukee.

“It’s killing me,” Ewing said. “There was so much pain. Pain in my wrist. Pain in my back. I was just trying to wait for it to subside.”

X-rays revealed the dislocation in Ewing’s right hand. The Knicks said he would be evaluated when the team returned to New York after the game. There was no word on how long he would be sidelined.

Ewing, attempting to dunk on an alley-oop pass from Charlie Ward with 24.9 seconds left in the second quarter, was fouled by Andrew Lang and broke his fall with his arms before landing on his tailbone. Visibly in pain, he rolled onto his side for several minutes.

Ewing went to the foul line after regaining his composure, but all he could do was cradle the ball and shoot it with his left hand. He missed both attempts.

“Charlie threw me an alley-oop,” Ewing said, who admitted he wasn’t watching anything but the ball coming toward him. “I went up to dunk it and he hit me. I hit the floor. I hit the back of the stanchion.

“I’ve hurt it before, but never like this,” he said, wearing a splint on his right arm.

Ewing had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds before leaving.

Ray Allen had a career-high 35 points and Glenn Robinson had 27 as the Bucks ended a five-game losing streak.

“When Ewing left, it really hurt them,” Robinson said. “That took the post away.”

Washington 94, Toronto 92--Chris Webber, whose defensive miscue nearly cost the Wizards the game, jammed in Rod Strickland’s miss at the buzzer at Toronto to lift the Wizards to their fourth consecutive victory.

“I guess you could say we escaped,” said Webber, who led all scorers with 28 points. “They should have had a score at the end, but [Oliver] Miller looked like he just dropped the pass.”

Miller, left alone by Webber, was wide open under the basket when Damon Stoudamire threw him a pass that Miller bobbled and lost to Strickland, who called time out with 14.1 seconds left.

Strickland let the shot clock run down before putting up a short jumper that caught the front of the rim and bounced high in the air for Webber to slam down as the horn sounded.

Chicago 100, New Jersey 92--Dennis Rodman had a season-high 24 rebounds and Michael Jordan ignited an 11-point fourth quarter run that led the Bulls over the Nets at East Rutherford, N.J.

Rodman is now virtually tied for the rebounding lead with the Nets’ Jayson Williams with an average of 14.1 a game.

“Dennis Rodman showed everyone who is the best rebounder in the game today,” Chicago Coach Phil Jackson said. “He came out that way because Jayson was the league’s leading rebounder.”

Williams finished with 17 rebounds.

Rodman was still Rodman. Late in the third quarter he was called for a technical foul for elbowing Nets’ rookie Keith Van Horn seconds after fouling him.

Seattle 108, Golden State 89--Dale Ellis made the 1,500th three-point shot of his career as the SuperSonics beat the Warriors at Seattle for their sixth straight win.

Ellis, the NBA’s career leader in three-point shots made and attempted, took a feed from Gary Payton and drilled a 25-footer for his milestone basket with 10 1/2 minutes left to give the SuperSonics an 88-60 advantage.

Detroit 115, Philadelphia 78--Jerome Williams had career highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds off the bench to lead the Pistons to a rout of the 76ers at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The teams were meeting only two days after the 76ers traded Jerry Stackhouse and Eric Montross to the Pistons for Theo Ratliff and Aaron McKie. The Pistons certainly looked as though they got the better of the trade this time as Stackhouse (20) and Montross (6) outscored Ratliff (8) and McKie (4) by 14 points. Montross also added a season-high 14 rebounds.

San Antonio 100, Houston 87--The Spurs avenged their worst loss of the season with the victory at San Antonio. On Dec. 9, the Spurs lost by 30 to the Rockets at Houston.

Avery Johnson scored a season-high 21 points for the Spurs, Sean Elliott had a season-best 20, and Tim Duncan also scored 20 as the Spurs won their fifth straight.

Miami 99, Atlanta 92--Alonzo Mourning made his first start of the season and blocked two of Steve Smith’s shots down the stretch to help the Heat beat the Hawks at Miami.

Mourning, who returned from the injured list earlier this week and had been coming off the bench, scored 21 points with 12 rebounds and four blocks. Tim Hardaway, held scoreless Wednesday night, scored 18 points and had 13 assists and a franchise-record eight steals.

Indiana 95, Orlando 92--The Pacers scored 12 of their last 16 points from the foul line to hold off the Magic at Orlando, Fla.. It was their sixth consecutive victory.

Rik Smits was the only Indiana player to score from the field in the last 10 minutes, and the Magic cut what was once a 17-point deficit to one on Rony Seikaly’s tip-in with 6.4 seconds to go. After Antonio Davis’ two free throws, Orlando’s Horace Grant barely missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

Seikaly scored a season-high 37 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Phoenix 102, Denver 81--Steve Nash scored a career-high 20 points at Denver as the Suns handed the Nuggets their seventh consecutive loss. Guard Jason Kidd had 12 rebounds for the Suns, who outrebounded the Nuggets, 62-44.

Sacramento 89, Dallas 88--Corliss Williamson had 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings at Sacramento. An 18-foot shot by the Mavericks’ Michael Finley rimmed out at the buzzer.