Latrell Sprewell scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to help the New York Knicks snap their four-game losing streak with a 100-95 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night.
Sprewell hit a pair of free throws with 12 seconds to play that sealed the win and helped the Knicks avoid their first five-game losing streak since the 1995-96 season.
Allan Houston added 21 and Marcus Camby scored 17 for the Knicks, who improved to 2-4 under interim coach Don Chaney.
David Wesley scored 19 for Charlotte, which fell to 3-7 at home this season.
Elden Campbell and Baron Davis each added 18, but Davis missed a wide open 3-pointer with 15 seconds to play that would have given the Hornets the lead.
Instead, Camby got the rebound, Sprewell was fouled and hit both free throws to make it 98-94.
The Hornets trailed by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter but got two driving baskets from Campbell and a dunk from Stacey Augmon to cut the score to 80-75 with 8:03 to play.
But they had little offense from there, getting six of their next eight points on free throws as the Knicks pushed their lead to 92-83 on Sprewell's 3-pointer with 4:17 to go.
Charlotte was able to cut it to five, first on Davis' fast-break layup -- but Sprewell answered it with a driving layup -- then with a turnaround jumper by P.J. Brown.
But Sprewell had an answer for that, too, drawing a foul at the other end to go to the line. He made both free throws to make it 96-89 with 2:03 to play.
Augmon cut that lead when he scored on a putback of Matt Bullard's miss, and Davis got open at the top of the key and hit a 3 to cut New York's lead to 96-94 with 55 seconds left.
Houston missed at the other end, Augmon got the rebound and the Hornets had a chance to go ahead. But Bullard passed up an open 3, passing instead to Davis, who also was open but missed.
Game Notes
Chaney and Charlotte coach Paul Silas, friends since the two played together in Boston in the 1970s, chatted briefly before the start of the game, but that was it. "You can't socialize before a game," Chaney said. ... NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield and car owner Ray Evernham attended the game as guests of the Hornets. Evernham, who grew up a Knicks fan in New Jersey, said he roots for Charlotte now. ... The Hornets recognized Sherri Hayward of Huntersville at halftime as their 20,000,000th visitor. Among her gifts was a 10-year parking pass at the Coliseum -- a prize that would be worthless if the team leaves Charlotte at the end of the season.
