Knick Bench Applies the Finishing Touch : NBA playoffs: With Ewing in foul trouble, Oakley scores 21 as New York ousts Charlotte to set up East final against Bulls.

Patrick Ewing was at less than his best, and the New York Knicks still got the best of the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night.

Charles Oakley and a cast of role players carried the Knicks to a 105-101 win and a 4-1 series victory over the Hornets, who cut a 14-point deficit to three in the fourth quarter.

“John Starks and Anthony Mason gave us a huge lift, but if there’s a game ball that goes to anybody, it’s Charles Oakley,” Knick Coach Pat Riley said after the 6-foot-9 forward, who usually has more rebounds than points, finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds. “Game in and game out, he’s been making big defensive plays and getting offensive rebounds.”

With their 25th consecutive victory at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1974, the year after winning their second NBA title.

New York will meet the two-time defending champion Chicago Bulls in a best-of-seven series that opens Sunday. The Knicks will have home-court advantage because they had 60 regular-season victories, three more than Chicago.

“Maybe in the next four or five days we can gather our collective psyche and find a state of mind where we can play our game,” Riley said of the long layoff before the conference finals begin. “It’s going to be tough, but we’re looking forward to it.”

Charlotte trailed by three points at halftime despite sinking only one-third of its shots. The Hornets got no closer than two in the second half despite blanketing Ewing, who fouled out with nine points, 21 under his average for the first four games of the series.

“The rest of the guys came through,” Ewing said. “It was everybody, the whole team. They stepped up and got the job done, all of them.”

Guard Doc Rivers said: “Patrick can’t be Superman every night. He showed that he’s a human being after all.”

After a dunk by Mason gave the Knicks an 82-68 lead with 10:03 remaining, the Hornets began their run.

Alonzo Mourning, who scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, made two free throws to cut the lead to 94-89.

A three-pointer by Starks gave New York some breathing room, but a three-point play by Dell Curry with 1:04 remaining pulled Charlotte within three again.

An exchange of baskets by Oakley and Larry Johnson left the Knicks with a 101-98 lead and the ball with 43 seconds to go. Charles Smith’s shot bounced high off the rim, but the Knicks retained possession when Johnson stepped out of bounds with 22 seconds left.

Starks finished with 20 points and Smith had 18. Kendall Gill had 26 points and Curry 18 for Charlotte, which was making the first playoff appearance in the franchise’s five-year history.