Allen Iverson scored 27 points and Dikembe Mutombo added eight points and 16 rebounds as the Sixers beat the New York Knicks 89-82 Sunday, snapping a two-game losing skid and defeating a playoff-bound team for just the fourth time in 13 games.

Philadelphia had lost two straight, including a 24-point loss to Orlando, since clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference last week. The Sixers are 14-11 since acquiring Mutombo on Feb. 22, but are 4-9 against playoff teams since the trade.

The Knicks fell 1 1/2 games behind the Miami Heat for third place in the East. Miami played host to Orlando later Sunday.

Latrell Sprewell had 26 points and Othella Harrington added 14 points and eight rebounds.

The Knicks were without leading rebounder Marcus Camby and forward Larry Johnson. Camby missed his second straight game with a bruised hip and Johnson sat out his fourth straight with a sore back.

The Sixers, who trailed by 10 points early, took their first lead since the opening minute, 23-22, on a jumper by George Lynch early in the second quarter and led the rest of the way.

Sprewell scored eight straight points in the fourth, including a jumper that cut it to 79-77 with 3:14 left.

But Iverson answered with a jumper over Sprewell and Lynch blocked Sprewell's driving layup, setting up a runner by Aaron McKie that made it 83-77 with 2:02 left.

After Allan Houston made it 83-80 on a jumper and free throw, Iverson hit a driving runner to give the Sixers an 85-80 lead with 49 seconds remaining. New York turned it over on its ensuing possession after Glen Rice missed a 3-pointer and Philadelphia iced it at the foul line.

Iverson, who left the game briefly in the second with a lower abdominal bruise, was 10-of-24. He made a driving layup and nailed a jumper at the end of the first quarter after the Sixers had started 1-of-12.

Houston, the Knicks' leading scorer at 18.7 points per game, had 15 points. He made one of his first seven shots and finished 5-of-16.

After New York closed to 63-58 on a 3-pointer by Houston midway through the third, the Sixers scored seven straight. A layup by Matt Geiger gave Philadelphia its biggest lead of the game, 70-58, with 31 seconds left in the quarter.

The Sixers had the NBA's best record, 41-14, before trading All-Star center Theo Ratliff and Toni Kukoc to Atlanta for Mutombo in a six-player deal hours before the NBA trade deadline.

Injuries and lack of cohesion have hurt Philadelphia since the trade.

Game Notes
Iverson made a mental blunder in the third when he started running down the court while complaining about a non-foul call after missing a jumper. Geiger grabbed the rebound and looked to pass it back to Iverson, who was nowhere to be found. ... Iverson scored his 9,000th career point on a free throw in the first quarter. ... The Sixers won three of four against the Knicks this season, including a sweep at Madison Square Garden. ... Mutombo reached 1,000 rebounds for the fourth time in his career.