RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- To a man, the New York Knicks insisted they weren't looking past the Vancouver Grizzlies. The Knicks almost let a win get away, though.

Patrick Ewing overcame a scoreless first half to get five of his team's six points in a late 42-second stretch as New York beat Vancouver 89-83 Friday night to improve to 3-1 on its current road trip.

The team's five-game Western swing ends Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

"This game was set up for us to have a letdown," said Allan Houston, who led the Knicks with 24 points.

"But we found a way to do it. We knew for us to lose it would have been a tremendous letdown, no matter what you do Sunday. We would have always said we could have won that Vancouver game."

Latrell Sprewell added 23 points as New York clinched a playoff berth and moved within half a game of idle Miami in the Atlantic Division.

Michael Dickerson scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half to lead Vancouver, which lost for the 15th time in 16 outings. Only Chicago, the Clippers and Golden State have worse records than Vancouver.

"Even though (the Grizzlies') record is not good, they're still a good team," said Ewing, who had only eight field goal attempts, but made four. He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

His late scoring burst came after the Grizzlies had crawled within 81-80 with 1:03 left in the game.

"When they go to (Ewing), it's like the Lakers and Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) of the '80s," Vancouver coach Lionel Hollins said.

The Knicks shot 26 percent from the field in the first quarter, allowing Vancouver to take a 20-12 lead. Three Knicks starters -- Ewing, Larry Johnson and Charlie Ward -- did not score in the first half.

Game notes
Othella Harrington had a career-high 16 rebounds for Vancouver. ... Grizzlies general manager Stu Jackson said Friday he is working with ownership in an attempt to raise Hollins' salary from $225,000. Hollins, who took over from Brian Hill in December, said Thursday he would resign as coach and return to his previous role as an assistant if the club does not give him a raise. Jackson previously tried to get the team to increase Hollins' pay to $775,000. That request was put on hold because the Grizzlies are in the process of being sold to Chicago businessman Michael Heisley and neither ownership group wanted the responsibility of paying Hollins at the new rate this season. ... The game finished with only two officials because Gary Benson strained a calf muscle in the third quarter.