Ewing Leads Knicks Past Pacers, 94-90 : NBA playoffs: Center’s 24 points, 22 rebounds help New York rally past Indiana and earn berth in finals.

There was no other way for them to do it, not the New York Knick team that spends most of its basketball life with one foot on a ledge and the other dangling off the cliff. If it would be their season, then it would have to be their way.

So there they were Sunday night, down by 12 points in the third quarter of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals and facing the possibility not only of elimination, but elimination by losing four of the last five games to the underdog Indiana Pacers. Fans inside Madison Square Garden were getting nervous and the coach, Pat Riley, later admitted he was concerned.

Before it was too late--which should be the Knicks’ slogan this season--they recovered. With Patrick Ewing leading the way, they scrapped for offensive rebounds to compensate for 41.6% shooting, used an 18-9 run to open the fourth quarter and defeated the Pacers, 94-90, before 19,763 to keep the roller coaster ride going into the NBA finals against the Houston Rockets.

“We thrive on being in danger, I guess,” forward Anthony Mason said. “Because that’s when we turn it up.”

This must have all just been part of the script, because this is where most people predicted at the start of the season that the Knicks would be, in the championship series as the successor in the East to the Michael Jordan-less Bulls.

They just took the long way, complete with detours that included finishing the regular season 6-6 to blow home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, blowing a 2-0 lead against Chicago in the conference semifinals before needing a Game 7 at home and, finally, blowing a 2-0 advantage versus the Pacers and facing elimination two nights earlier in Indianapolis before needing another Game 7 at home.

And then to be down by 12 points with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter? Better yet, down by a point with 34.5 seconds left in the game after Dale Davis’ layup over Ewing?

So it wasn’t the scenic route. They got there, didn’t they.

“I’m so proud and happy for our guys,” Coach Pat Riley said after the Knicks reached the finals for the first time since 1973. “Our backs were against the wall, we did it in Game 6, we were down by 13 or 14 points here, and we did it. It was a great ride.”

None better than in those final 34.5 seconds, when the Pacers, looking to be the first team to win a Game 7 on the road since 1982, went ahead, 90-89.

The Knicks called timeout and Ewing, after having just missed a chance to swat away the go-ahead basket, called for redemption. He got it, just not the way anyone planned.

John Starks got free on the right side after Ewing cleared defender Reggie Miller out of the way with a pick. Given an open path, Starks headed for the basket and an twisting layup. Everything was going according to plan so far, until Starks missed the twisting layup.

But even the bad plays were becoming good plays for the Knicks by now. Ewing was waiting untouched inches from the basket, timed his jump perfectly as the ball came over the front of the rim, and dunked the ball with both hands with 26.9 seconds remaining for a 91-90 lead.

If it was fitting for the Knicks to have people chewing fingernails down to the second knuckle, then this, too, was symbolic. It was one of their 28 offensive rebounds, two short of the NBA playoff record and 11 more than the Pacers, but it was also Ewing rising to the occasion, literally and figuratively. That proved to be the game-winning basket, the exclamation point to his line of 24 points, a playoff career-best 22 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks in 44 minutes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play a better game, especially at a moment of truth,” Riley said.

Said Ewing: “We were taking a lot of shots (early) from the perimeter, but we weren’t hitting. I told coach when we were coming through the tunnel (at halftime) to call my play--fist up and fist down. Get me the ball.

“If we were going to go down, I wanted it to be in my hands. I mean, if we lose, I’m going to get the blame anyway.”

The Pacers’ response to Ewing’s basket was an airball from about 20 feet by Reggie Miller that flew out of bounds with 4.2 seconds left.

When Miller quickly fouled Starks with a two-hand shove to the chest to stop the clock with 3.2 seconds remaining, Ewing, in an uncharacteristic display, high-fived fans seated courtside as he walked upcourt.

But the Knick center didn’t know how good things really were--official Mike Mathis ruled it a flagrant foul, a critical call because the Knicks would get two free throws and retain possession.

When Starks made one from the line, and then two more when he was fouled with 2.8 seconds to go after the Knicks inbounded the ball again, the Knicks had their four-point margin of victory. And so much more.