Penny Hardaway showed no rust in his first game in more than three weeks, making a jumper with 36 seconds remaining Friday as the New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-96 to end a seven-game losing streak.
Six days after taking over for Lenny Wilkens, Herb Williams gained his first victory as coach of the Knicks.
"I talked to my teammates to see what was going on internally, see how everyone was feeling and tried to get them off the losing streak that we were on," said Hardaway. "Hopefully this will turn us around in a positive direction."
Hardaway, activated from the injured list prior to the game, scored 12 points against Cleveland, which was without LeBron James. He sprained an ankle Wednesday against Memphis.
"We missed him a lot. A player like that, you can't replace him," Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said.
Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford scored 22 points each, and Nazr Mohammed had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks. Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 24 points to lead the Cavaliers.
Bobcats 101, Raptors 94
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Kareem Rush scored 21 points and the Charlotte Bobcats figured out how to make foul shots in time to snap a 10-game losing streak with a 101-94 victory Friday over the Toronto Raptors.
Awful at the line during its skid, Charlotte made 17 of 19 attempts in winning for the first time since Jan. 5 against Minnesota. The Bobcats' only misses came in the final minute of the game.
Primoz Brezec had 17 points and tied his career high with 12 rebounds for Charlotte. Rafer Alston scored 20 points to lead Toronto, a loser in 20 of 23 road games. Jalen Rose and Chris Bosh added 18 points each for the Raptors.
Magic 108, Wizards 101
In Orlando, Florida, Hedo Turkoglu matched his career high with 31 points -- 17 in the second quarter -- and Orlando ended Washington's four-game winning streak.
Grant Hill added 22 points and eight rebounds for Orlando, and Steve Francis made two free throws with 16.6 seconds left to seal the win. Gilbert Arenas scored 18 of his 30 in the fourth quarter for Washington, but missed five of seven free throws in the final 2:02.
Antwan Jamison added 28 points for the Wizards.
Suns 128, Celtics 119
In Boston, Amare Stoudemire scored 42 points, Quentin Richardson added 23 and Phoenix downed Boston for its fourth straight win.
Joe Johnson and Jim Jackson scored 17 points each for the Suns, Shawn Marion added 16 and Steve Nash had 13 points and 15 assists.
Paul Pierce led Boston with 34 points. Ricky Davis added 19 points for the Celtics, who had won five straight home games.
Heat 106, Hawks 96
In Atlanta, Miami's Shaquille O'Neal scored 26 points and actually made more free throws than he missed as Miami beat Atlanta.
Shandon Anderson, taking the place of an ailing Eddie Jones, added 21 points for the Heat, who lead the Eastern Conference with a 32-13 record -- including 16-8 on the road.
O'Neal finished 6-of-11 at the foul line -- a major improvement over his 7-of-20 showing in a victory at Toronto two nights earlier.
The Hawks, the worst team in the East, lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped to 6-17 at Phillips Arena. Antoine Walker matched his season high for Atlanta with 36 points.
Timberwolves 93, Jazz 91
In Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett had 25 points and a key steal in the final minute to help Minnesota edge Utah for its fifth straight victory.
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