Hornets Hit by One-Two Punch : NBA playoffs: Ewing, Davis play key roles as Knicks rally to force overtime and beat Charlotte, 105-101, to take 2-0 lead in series.

New York Knick Coach Pat Riley couldn’t believe what he had seen.

“I’ve been in 150 playoff games and never saw anything like this,” he said. “We were dead in the water.”

Indeed, the Knicks had missed 26 of their first 31 shots in the second half and trailed the Charlotte Hornets by 13 points with 6:30 to play Wednesday night.

But then Patrick Ewing, again playing like one of the NBA’s best, and Hubert Davis, a rookie who was admittedly scared out of his wits, led a fourth-quarter comeback that forced overtime against the Hornets.

Then Ewing scored eight of his 34 points, including a go-ahead 15-foot jumper with 35 seconds to play, and the Knicks emerged with a 105-101 victory and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Ewing scored nine points and Davis seven as New York outscored the Hornets, 19-6, down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

“I was never so nervous in my life,” said Davis, who got a chance to play for only the second time in the playoffs because of Doc Rivers’ back spasms. “I wasn’t expecting to play at all. I didn’t want to feel like it was all on me. I didn’t want to be the one to ruin everything by missing shots.”

Davis scored the last five points for the Knicks in regulation--a left-handed layup down the lane and a three-pointer that tied the score for the final time to force the overtime. Each time the pass came from Ewing.

Ewing’s jumper broke the last tie, 99-99, before Dell Curry missed a three-pointer that went out of bounds with 14 seconds to play. John Starks’ two free throws with 12 seconds remaining and Ewing’s dunk made it 105-99 with 3.4 seconds left.

“They doubled me and I passed to Hubert,” Ewing said of his tiebreaker. “He drove the lane and Alonzo Mourning went over to help, so Hubert passed the ball back to me and I hit it.”

The best-of-seven series now moves to Charlotte Coliseum, where the Knicks won both meetings between the teams this season. Game 3 is Friday night and Game 4 is Sunday.

Mourning scored 24 points for the Hornets and Larry Johnson added 16. Charlotte again was hurt by poor shooting from its outside players, Kendall Gill and Curry, who missed 19 of 29 shots.

Starks finished with 25 points and Charles Oakley grabbed 16 rebounds for the Knicks.