Knicks Down Mavericks

Allan Houston's confidence soars with the ball in his hands and the game on the line.

The Knicks guard scored 10 of his season-high 31 points in the fourth quarter to help New York to its fifth straight victory, 100-93 over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

"I want the ball at that point in time," said Houston, who went 5-for-8 from the field in the final 12 minutes. "I want us to win. I was getting my legs into my shots, getting good balance. When I'm doing that, I've got a good chance to make shots. I felt good about it."

Patrick Ewing added 14 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes for the Knicks in his fourth game back from an Achilles injury that sidelined hIm vor the first 20 games.

"Pat is our good luck charm," Camby said. "We haven't lost since he's been back."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and Michael Finley added 20 to lead the Mavericks, who have lost five of six.

The Knicks took a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Mavericks closed to 86-82 with 4:10 left on Hubert Davis' two free throws.

Houston connected on jumpers on consecutive possessions to boost New York's advantage to 90-82 with three minutes left.

The Mavericks made one more charge, cutting the deficit to 90-89 on a 7-0 run capped by Nowitzki's 3-pointer and Finley's layup with 1:35 left.

But Houston hit two more jumpers on back-to-ack possessions for a 94-89 lead, then Ewing converted two free throws with 35.6 seconds remaining to push the advantage to 96-89.

"He was unstoppable," Camby said of Houston. "With him and Latrell, if one of them isn't hot in the fourth quarter, the other one is."

Dallas closed to 75-74 early in the fourth quarter on baskets by Cedric Ceballos and Nowitzki.

But New York took an 84-74 lead with a 9-0 run capped by Sprewell's desperation 3-pointer with 6:35 left and the shot clock about to expire.

"That shot gave us a lift and we needed it because they made a nice run at us," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

Houston's big shots and the Knicks team defense did in the Mavericks.

"I thought we had momentum, but then Allan just stepped up," Davis said. "And it's their defensive stops. They just stopped us."

Larry Johnson's layup with 2.6 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Knicks a 75-70 lead that they took into the fourth quarter.

Dallas got off to an 11-2 start, and the Mavericks were in front 31-20 early in the second quarter. But New York recovered with a 21-4 second-quarter run fueled by Camby's 11 points to send the Knicks to a 41-35 edge.

Dallas finished the second quarter with an 8-2 run and at halftime the score was tied at 43.

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