The Knicks received a double dose of agita from yesterday’s Garden matinee.
First, Toronto’s Vince Carter continued his high-flying regular-season mastery over the Knicks, while Glen Rice and Latrell Sprewell – with a chance to be heroes once Allan Houston fouled out in the third quarter – came up lame down the stretch of the Knicks’ 79-75 loss to the Raptors.
But second and more significant, the Knicks suffered a profound loss after the game when starting point guard Charlie Ward revealed in the locker room he will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee tomorrow to clean out loose cartilage.
Knick doctors told him he could miss six to eight weeks to rehab. It is Ward’s second scope of the right knee in a little more than two years.
Happy Thanksgiving Weekend, Jeff Van Gundy, whose club is 8-6 with a disturbing 3-3 home record, riding a two-game losing streak, with Rice out of whack and Houston wondering why he doesn’t get treated like an All-Star by the officials.
The honeymoon is over for Rice. His horrendous shooting has become alarming. Sprewell, meanwhile, playing with a respiratory infection, ran out of gas in the final two minutes. The Knicks managed to miss their last six shots as Carter lit them up, finishing with 25 points.
“Give him credit – he did a great job down the stretch,” said Sprewell, one of five defenders matched against Carter yesterday.
The extended absence of Ward will likely spur Van Gundy to go with the controversial “Big Backcourt” and start Rice to try to snap him out of his major funk. Rice missed his last three shots – all in the final 1:02. He finished the contest with nine points on 3 of 12 from the field.
When the Knicks face Vancouver tomorrow, Van Gundy is expected to go with a point-guard-less alignment that will allow Rice into the starting lineup at small forward with Houston and Latrell Sprewell in the backcourt. Something has to be done to wake up Rice, who’s shooting 38.8 percent this season.
“I’m doing too much thinking,” Rice said. “This is a terrible feeling. Right now I’m thinking too much out there and that’s killing me. My stroke is kind of disappearing from me.”
With five seconds left and the Knicks down 77-75, Rice finally had a chance to make himself a Knick hero. He had an open look from the left corner behind the 3-point line.
But with Carter charging at him, Rice came up short, the ball clanking off the side of the rim. Charles Oakley snared the rebound, was fouled and clinched the game at the free-throw line with 4.8 seconds remaining.
Rice also misfired on a left-wing 18-footer with 1:02 left and the Knicks trailing 77-75. Sprewell and Rice got cold at the same time.
Sprewell, too, missed his final three shots after spurring a fourth-quarter comeback that had the Knicks ahead 75-73 with 2:47 remaining.
The stage was set for Rice and Sprewell (20 points) to carry the Knicks home after Houston fouled out with 57.3 seconds left in the third. In a spate of unconventional coaching, Van Gundy did not protect Houston with five fouls and let him stay in the game.
Carter instead stole the show.
“Air Canada” tied it at 75 with 2:30 left on a sensational drive to the hole. He slipped past Sprewell, cut inside of Larry Johnson and then laid it in before gimpy Marcus Camby could get over.
Carter then put the Raptors ahead for good at 77-75 with 1:12 left when he spun past Sprewell, flew in midair and made a difficult 8-footer just inside the foul line.
“Nothing you could do about a couple of those,” said Sprewell, who manhandled Carter in the playoff sweep last spring. “They were very athletic shots. You oftentimes want him to take off-balance shots like that. But he’s so good, has so much concentration, he makes them.”
Houston (10 points), who was on target in the first half despite foul trouble, watched the fourth from the pine. He picked up his sixth foul against point guard Mark Jackson, of all people.
Jackson went right at Houston as soon as Van Gundy inserted him into the game and Houston got called for reaching in with 57.3 seconds left in the third. Van Gundy picked up a technical, arguing the infraction and the Knicks trailed by nine after three.
“I’m kind of glad he kept me out there,” Houston said. “I still think it was a good move. I think we got some really rough calls. To me, it’s just feels disrespectful.”
Van Gundy said he’ll do the same thing next time. Houston had started on small forward Corliss Williamson and picked up two fouls in the first 1:32. Instead of putting in Rice, Van Gundy kept with Houston, who had a hot hand.
“He doesn’t play well when he sits for long stretches,” Van Gundy said. “In a game just recently, we sat him to protect him and he didn’t do anything so I am just going to let him play for now.”
Meanwhile, it caused the Knicks to take Sprewell off Carter and forced Chris Childs to guard Carter in the first half. The Knicks didn’t match up well against Toronto last season despite their playoff sweep, and they don’t again.