The Knicks squandered a 17-point lead, rallied from a 10-point deficit with 2½ minutes left in the regulation and, behind the 3-point shooting of Rice and Strickland, beat the Milwaukee Bucks 100-97 in overtime Sunday night.

Rice scored a season-high 32 points, shooting 5-of-6 from 3-point range, and Strickland connected on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 0.6 seconds remaining to force overtime.

"They knew Allan (Houston) was going to get the ball. They all focused on him," explained Strickland, who turned Houston's pass into the game-tying shot. "I thank him for believing in me and giving me the opportunity. I trusted that it was going in."

With the Knicks trailing 94-84 late in regulation, Rice sandwiched two 3-pointers around Houston's jumper as the Knicks closed within two. Sam Cassell, an 85-percent free throw shooter, missed the second of two free throws with seven seconds left in regulation to give the Knicks a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer.

"We are supposed to come into the locker room with five (wins) in a row," Ray Allen said. "I told Sam that I was mad at him because he missed the free throw." Cassell's free throw was the Bucks' only point over the last 2:47 of the fourth quarter.

In overtime, Houston's jumper gave the Knicks a 99-97 lead with 1:26 left, and Rice converted a free throw with 14.3 seconds left to complete the scoring. New York's Rick Brunson had a chance to put the game out of reach with 11 seconds left, but he missed two free throw attempts. A 3-point attempt at the buzzer by Milwaukee's Lindsey Hunter was no good.

The Knicks led 54-37 with two minutes left in the first half, but New York started going cold from the field. Hunter hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Bucks turn the momentum around, and Milwaukee scored the final 12 points of the third period and outscored the Knicks 14-4 to open the fourth.

"We had great will when we went down," Knicks' coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We made the big shot."

Houston finished with 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting. Marcus Camby added 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Knicks beat Milwaukee for the seventh straight time.

Glenn Robinson led Milwaukee with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Allen had 18 and Tim Thomas added 17. Hunter finished with 14.

The Knicks hit nine of their first 10 shots of the game, but trailed 21-20 after Rice's jumper with 4:01 left in the first quarter. The Knicks closed the period with an 11-2 run.

Game Notes
New York outrebounded Milwaukee 56-41. ... Larry Johnson missed his second straight game with a sprained right knee ligament. ... Milwaukee hasn't defeated the Knicks since March 9, 1999.