Allan Houston scored 34 points, Latrell Sprewell added 24 and Larry Johnson 16 as the New York Knicks beat San Antonio 8981 in Madison Square Garden, New York, to leave the Spurs leading by just one game, 2-1, in the best-of-seven NBA Finals.

Houston, who played 45 minutes of the 48-minute game on Monday night, scored 13 in the first quarter as New York fashioned a 14-point lead. "Allan Houston was incredible," said Spurs superstar Tim Duncan. "He played a great game throughout."

Said Sprewell, who scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter: "Allan was great. Fortunately I was able to help."

In averting a sweep, for the first time the injury-ravaged Knicks got good production from three-point scorers as San Antonio never led and drew even only once, 58-58 late in the third quarter, but after a scramble Kurt Thomas dug the ball out and got it to Houston.

Houston's desperation three-pointer at the 24-second buzzer restored the lead to 61-58. "That was a key play," said Houston. "It kept us in the lead. Kurt had a series of plays where he had offensive rebounds, hustle plays."

"Obviously, right now scoring against San Antonio is difficult," said New York coach Jeff Van Gundy, "and for us we need our three guys to be very efficient, and tonight they were."

David Robinson contributed 25 points to the San Antonio total, and Duncan had 20 points, but Avery Johnson was their only other player in double figures, with 10 points. And neither Duncan nor Johnson scored in the final quarter, when Duncan committed three turnovers.

Larry Johnson played against Duncan most of the time, despite a size disadvantage. "LJ takes pride in his defence," said backup point guard Chris Childs.

San Antonio turned the ball over 20 times to New York's 10, and the Knicks scored 18 points off the Spurs' turnovers. New York converted 40 per cent of their shots, up from 36 per cent previously.

"We were kind of fighting uphill all night," said Robinson. "We had some opportunities, but they did what we usually do, hold off every run that you run at them. I give them a lot of credit."

Games four and five are tonight and Friday, also at Madison Square Garden.