YORK (AP) -- He had two vicious slam dunks, heard the fans chant his name and finished with a boxscore line that made Patrick Ewing's pale by comparison. Today was Chris Dudley's brightest day as a Knick. ``I think I've had better games in the regular season, but not in the playoffs,'' Dudley said after scoring 14 points, grabbing 12 rebounds -- six on each end -- and blocking two shots in New York's 90-77 victory over Atlanta. Dudley's performance was the biggest eye-opener in a victory so lopsided that Ewing, hobbled by Achilles' tendinitis and sore knees, was able to sit out the entire fourth quarter to save some strength for Game 4 Monday night and a possible series sweep. ``The rest is big, especially for Patrick,'' Dudley said. ``We want to get Patrick healthy. We don't want to have to back down there to Atlanta, travel down there, extend the series and allow Indiana to have that rest while we're still in a war.'' It became clear that a different Dudley was on the court during the first half when he followed a missed shot with an emphatic putback slam that electrified the crowd. Dudley had another shot almost exactly like it later in the game to contribute to a 6-for-7 shooting performance. When he fouled out late in the fourth quarter, the ovation was easily the loudest he had ever received at Madison Square Garden. ``The fans gave me that ovation, it was real nice,'' he said. ``It was great to have that and it's great to be up 3-0.'' Ewing, meanwhile, had a shooting percentage that loosely resembled something Dudley could have done from the free throw line: 2-for-12. ``Duds played a much better game than I did,'' Ewing said. Dudley's playing time has been unpredictable during the playoffs. He sat out Games 4 and 5 of the first-round series against Miami, and coach Jeff Van Gundy lauded him for sacrificing minutes for the sake of the team. In this game, however, his 23 minutes were on par with the playing time the other eight Knicks regulars received, and his 12 rebounds were more than anyone on either team had with the exception of Atlanta's Dikembe Mutombo. ``The thing about Mutombo is they rely on him defensively to block shots. I tried to follow in behind him when he went to block shots,'' Dudley said, ``and in the second half I was able to beat him to the boards.'' -=-=- 