Riley Expects Ewing to Dominate on Defense

It’s no surprise that the New York Knicks are looking for Patrick Ewing to key their success in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Detroit Pistons. But Coach Pat Riley said Monday that he wants Ewing to dominate on defense.

Detroit’s stifling, double-teaming defense held Ewing to 19 and 14 points, respectively, in victories over the Knicks April 7 and April 12. In each game Ewing, who scored 45 points against the Pistons Nov. 30, was forced into taking perimeter shots, most of which he missed. He made only 11 of 37 field-goal tries in two of his worst efforts of the season.

Riley said it was academic that the Pistons again will defend Ewing with more than one man in the best-of-five series, which begins Friday night at Madison Square Gerden.

“We know that’s going to come,” he said after the Knicks’ workout at the College of Charleston. “We got a lot of good shots the last time we played them. I don’t know if we can manufacture better shots. We’ve studied that over and over again. We can do a couple of things. But the worst thing in the world to do is to put something new in.

“Patrick has to know that his shot attempts, his good shot attempts out of the low post, are going to be limited. He has to come and control the game in other departments.”

Riley wants Ewing to be a tenacious contester of shots. He won’t block them all, but Riley wants Ewing to be a forceful presence in the lane and be ferocious on the boards. “He has to really focus in on not controlling the game from the low post offensively,” Riley said. “He has to work really hard.”