NEW YORK, June 17 -- For John Starks, the shot felt the same -- it had the same effect on the Houston Rockets, too.
Starks drilled a 3-pointer with 2:22 left Friday night, putting the New York Knicks ahead for good in a 91-84 victory over Houston that gave them a three games to two lead in the NBA Finals.
The shot inspired the Knicks, who blew a 13-point third quarter lead to fall behind by as much as 4 points in the fourth, much the way Starks' 3-pointer in the closing moments of Game 4 lifted them.
'I knew once Vernon (Maxwell) stepped to my outside, that shot was going to present itself,' Starks said. 'It was the same shot he gave me in Game 4. So I just stepped up and knocked down the shot.'
'It took our momentum from us and it hurt us,' Maxwell admitted. 'I felt like I had a handle on it, but he got away.'
Patrick Ewing scored 25 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked eight shots. He hit 11 of 22 from the field after hitting just 17 of 57 in his last two games.
'We've been winning some games with him in a slump,' Anthony Mason said. 'But when the big fella' breaks out of it, we're that much more dangerous.'
The Knicks can wrap up the NBA championship with a victory in Game 6, scheduled for Sunday night in Houston. If necessary, Game 7 would be played Wednesday night, also at the Summit.
'Being that we've got the chance to close it out in Game 6, we don't want to wait for Game 7,' Mason said.
Starks finished with 18 points and six assists, Mason scored 17 points and Derek Harper added 14 points and seven assists for New York.
Hakeem Olajuwon, who had eight turnovers, still led Houston with 27 points -- 13 in the fourth quarter -- and Otis Thorpe scored 14 points and had 13 rebounds.
Olajuwon, who was all but unstoppable for much of the fourth quarter, scored off a drop step with 4:26 left that gave the Rockets a 79-76 lead.
But after Starks scored on a drive, Olajuwon had his jumper blocked by Ewing and that seemed to break the charm. Maxwell hit one of two free throws, giving the Rockets an 80-78 lead with 3:13 left, but Houston would not score again for more than two minutes.
Starks drilled the 3-pointer from the left side that put New York ahead for good, 81-80, and then Ewing blocked Carl Herrera's layin, starting a New York fast break that ended in Harper getting fouled and hitting a pair.
'I thought Patrick was just awesome from a defensive standpoint,' New York Coach Pat Riley said. 'When he is away from Hakeem he has the freedom to roam and block shots.'
Maxwell missed a 3-pointer and Charles Oakley saved the ball to Starks as he was diving out of bounds, starting another fast break. Mason finished it off with a dunk, and New York led 85-80 with 1:25 to go.
Robert Horry ended Houston's drought when he was fouled on a drive with 1:06 left, but he hit only one of two, and after Starks and Mason each hit a pair, New York was on top 89-81 with 28.8 seconds left.
'Very much like the game we lost in Houston it comes down to a couple of possessions where we miss a shot or don't execute a play offensively, because of frustration or trying too hard, we attack the ball in our scoring area and they throw the long pass and wind up with easy baskets,' Houston Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.
The Rockets trailed by as much as 13 points, 56-43, when Ewing dunked on the break with 6:52 left in the third quarter. Ewing hit a 3-pointer with 6:01 left in the third that gave the Knicks a 59-47 lead, but that was their last basket for 3:15. The Rockets ran off 8 points, including 4 by Olajuwon, to start an 18-2 run that gave them a 65-61 lead on a dunk by Otis Thorpe with 9:25 to go.
After Otis Thorpe drove for a layin to give Houston a 67-63 lead, Ewing hit back-to-back jumpers to tie it up, 67-67, with 8:38 to go.
Mason ignited a 14-3 run over the final 5:24 of the second quarter that put New York up 48-37 at the half. He scored 6 points in the run, and and Ewing had 4 points and three blocks to keep the Rockets from scoring except when Olajuwon made a spectacular one-handed dunk of a miss by Thorpe and a free throw by Kenny Smith.
That free throw, though, came as a result of a technical foul whistled on Mason, who chased down Olajuwon after he took an elbow in the jaw from the Rockets center, who was turning to face the basket.
Starks stole the ball after the free throw, and pushed it ahead to Mason on the break, and he was hit from behind by Robert Horry. Horry, who was questionable for the game because of a flagrant foul administered by Mason in Game 4, was called for a flagrant.
After Mason hit one of the two free throws, Harper snuck between Thorpe and Horry for a layin, and New York led 48-37 with 15.7 seconds left.
