Are the New York Knicks playing well? Or are the Detroit Pistons playing badly?
Trent Tucker's 3-pointer at the buzzer Wednesday night gave New York a 102-99 victory over Detroit, the sixth victory in seven games for the Knicks and the sixth loss in seven games for the Pistons."It seems like we've lost about seven games by a total of nine points," said Detroit's Mark Aguirre, who scored 20 points. "We've only been a basket away. That's the way you have to look at it. You can't get down and we won't."
The victory was the Knicks' fourth straight on the road and fifth in six games. New York has a losing record at home but is 15-14 on the road.
"We're not intimidated by the road," Knicks coach John MacLeod said. "We relax on the road and have a very good focus. We started making inroads at the end of the third quarter. We started to stick our nose in front."
Detroit, which lost to the Knicks 116-88 on Feb. 17 in New York, tied the game at 99 on Joe Dumars' 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left. After New York called timeout, Tucker made an off-balance shot from well behind the 3-point line.
Celtics 126, Heat 117
Larry Bird made four 3-pointers in the last eight minutes of the third quarter as Boston spoiled visiting Miami's bid for a franchise-record winning streak.
Miami had won three straight for the second time in its three-year history. But Boston improved its record over the Heat to 10-0.
Magic 89, Clippers 86
Scott Skiles scored 8 of his 17 points in the final five minutes to key a 16-5 stretch run for Orlando.
Ron Harper had 23 points for visiting Los Angeles, but his 3-point shot bounced off the rim with one second left.
The strong finish enabled the Magic to overcome an 81-73 deficit and stop a three-game losing streak. The Clippers, playing away from home for the fourth time in five nights, have lost three straight since ending February with two consecutive victories at home.
Sixers 97, Mavericks 92
Charles Barkley scored nine of his 33 points during a 23-10 run to open the third quarter.
The visiting Sixers, who trailed by three points at halftime, took a 63-53 lead with 2:49 left in the third period on Hersey Hawkins' 3-pointer and never allowed their lead to fall below three points the rest of the way.