Knicks’ Rally Puts Raptors on Brink of Elimination

Latrell Sprewell took Vince Carter one-on-one, and Carter took a pass on taking the last shot.

Sprewell outdid Carter down the stretch Wednesday night, scoring 13 of New York’s final 17 points--including the game-winner with 7.9 seconds left--as the Knicks rallied from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit and beat Toronto.

Carter had a chance to take the final shot, and he planned to shoot it when he left his feet from 25 feet away with three seconds left. But at the last split-second, he changed his mind and passed to Dee Brown for an open three-point shot from the wing.

The shot was long, the Knicks rebounded and walked off with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Eastern Conference series.

“I was feeling confident, but looking out of the corner of my eye Dee was wide open,” Carter said. “He’s a great shooter and you take your chances.”

Sprewell finished with 25 points and combined with Larry Johnson to score 21 of the Knicks’ final 25. Game 3 is Sunday in Toronto.

Carter rebounded from his ghastly three-for-20 effort in Game 1 and led the Raptors with 27 points, but he was unable to stop Sprewell man-to-man on defense as New York kept running the same play in the final few minutes.

On the deciding play, Sprewell got the ball isolated on the right wing against Carter--playing with five fouls--and drove to his right, pulling up in the lane for a short jump shot that gave the Knicks their first lead since the second minute.