Knicks Lose A Must Win

The possibility of winning the Atlantic Division didn't prove too tempting to the New York Knicks. They way they played Saturday night, it looked like they couldn't care less if they win it.

"We didn't have much energy and didn't have a lot of emotion. It's a matter of us just going through the motions," Allan Houston said after the Knicks were flat in a 106-96 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Knicks dropped 1 1/2 games behind Miami in the Atlantic Division. With two games left, New York must win them both and have Miami lose its final three in order to win the division.

It was the second decisive road loss in as many night for the Knicks, who lost by 15 Friday night against the Toronto Raptors their possible first-round playoff opponent.

"I think we're waiting on the playoffs, and the problem with that is you're not going to do anything once you're there."

Andre Miller scored 18 points to lead six Cleveland players in double figures. Lamond Murray scored 16 points, Shawn Kemp had 15, Bob Sura and Mark Bryant 14 apiece and Wesley Person 12 for Clevelnd.

Allan Houston had 21 points for the Knicks, who never mounted a comeback after Cleveland used a 13-4 run to open a 23-12 lead.

"I'm tired of talking about it," Knicks guard Chris Childs said of his team's slump. "If we don't get it right, we can definitely have an early summer vacation. We have to get it done, no ifs ands or buts about it."

Miller led Cleveland's early charge with four points, four rebounds and three assists in the first quarter. Three of Miller's first-quarter rebounds were at the offensive end as the Cavaliers continually beat the Knicks to the ball.

"New York coming in on a back-to-back, losing last night, I think they wanted to grind it out," Cavaliers coach Randy Wittman said. "Whether they made shots or not, I wanted to play at our pace and run."

Cleveland controlled every aspect of the game except free throws, where New York made 34 of 40, led by Houston's 10-for-10 performance. The Cavaliers were 15-of-18 from the line.

"We're loose," Cavaliers guard Brevin Knight said. We're here to spoil people now. We go out to have fun and that's what we're doing."

Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby each scored 15 points for New York and Sprewell had a game-high 10 assists.

New York made just four of 18 shots in the second quarter as Cleveland extended a 28-23 lead to 59-45 by halftime. Miller had 12 points and five teammates scored eight apiece in the first half.

The final 10-point margin was the closest New York got in the second half.

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