Knicks 107 - Warriors 113

By CHRIS SHERIDAN, AP Basketball Writer
February 12, 2003

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the final 5:12 of what might have been his last home game as a member of the New York Knicks, Latrell Sprewell had one of the best seats in the house.

Sprewell watched from the bench Wednesday night as the Knicks made a late comeback, only to have Troy Murphy end it by hitting an 18-foot jumper from the corner with 1:11 left to help the Golden State Warriors win on the road for the second straight night, 113-107.

The subject of rampant trade speculation, Sprewell shot just 5-for-18 in one of his poorest performances of the season.

New York now goes on a six-game road trip out West that takes it through the Feb. 20 trade deadline.

``I really don't want to speculate on whether it is or isn't (his last game in New York). When that day comes, I'll have more than enough to give you. But until it happens I'm not even going to comment,'' Sprewell said.

Murphy had 17 points and 13 rebounds, scoring several times on jump shots from 15 feet and beyond.

Gilbert Arenas added 25 points, Jason Richardson had 18 and Antawn Jamison 17 for the Warriors, who shot a season-high 58.9 percent from the field one night after winning in Atlanta.

``When we met after the break we talked about the next step for us was to try and win some road games, and obviously this is a step in the right direction,'' Warriors coach Eric Musselman said. ``We had only seven (road wins) for the year, so getting them back-to-back is nice.''

Allan Houston scored 32 points to lead the Knicks.

Golden State held a comfortable lead for most of the second half, extending an 82-74 lead after three quarters to 90-74 by opening the fourth with an 8-0 run. Bob Sura had the first five points in the run, including a steal from Sprewell for a breakaway dunk.

A 7-0 run ending with a 3-pointer by Houston pulled the Knicks to 102-98 with 1:35 left, but Murphy ended the spurt on his jumper off an inbounds pass with 1 second remaining on the shot clock.

``That was just a set play for us with the shot clock running down,'' Murphy said. ``Adonal (Foyle) made a great screen and I was able to get an open look.''

The Knicks made one more late run, pulling to 110-107 on Shandon Anderson's 3-pointer with 8.5 seconds left. Arenas made one of two from the line with 7.4 seconds left, and Adonal Foyle added two more foul shots.

Richardson closed the first half with his first dunk of the game, giving Golden State a 53-48 lead after the Warriors trailed by as many as nine in the early going.

The slam dunk champion had his next stuff with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter off an alley-oop pass from Earl Boykins, giving Golden State a 74-65 lead.

The Knicks trailed 98-86 when Anderson replaced Sprewell with 5:12 remaining.

``I didn't think he was doing well. It had nothing to do with the trade rumors,'' Knicks coach Don Chaney said.

Sprewell said the trade talk is not bothering him, but his performance was a notable dropoff from the form he was showing before the All-Star break when he scored 20 or more points in seven of 10 games -- including a season-high 38 on Feb. 4 against the Clippers.

``I'm not going to go through killing myself and wrecking my mind every night worrying about trade stuff just because you guys throw it out there,'' hesaid. ``That's too much stress and unnecessary worrying.''

Notes

Evan Marriott, a.k.a. Joe Millionaire on the Fox television show, sat courtside and was loudly booed when he was shown on the main scoreboard. Marriott, who sat with a male companion, appeared stunned by the boos. ... Golden State has used the same starting lineup in all 50 games. ... The Knicks dropped to 2-14 when allowing 100 or more points. ... Golden State continues its four-game road trip with stops in Toronto and Minnesota. ... The Warriorsimproved to 6-6 on the second night of back-to-back games.

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