THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : Knicks Stay the Curse and Get Even

Next curse.

Having lived to see the New York Rangers end their 54-year drought, New Yorkers turned their attention to that little matter of 21 years that have slipped by since the last Knick championship.

Local observers, devotees of the curse theory of history, are focusing on several figures, any of whom might have vowed never to let the Knickerbockers win in his lifetime as this Red Dutton person did to the Rangers:

Phil Jackson--No one can curse you like one of your own. Mr. Elbows was a Knick fans’ favorite in the ‘70s before he discovered Michael Jordan and the joys of ballet. He thinks Pat Riley is the second coming of Richard Nixon and Knick ball as aesthetic as a car wreck. If he has his way, they won’t win a title in this century, or next.

Hubie Brown--They axed him. Maybe he decided to get them.

Byron Scott--He wasn’t too happy about Riley’s rebound drill in Pontiac, Mich., before the ’89 finals in which his hamstring popped.

Jake O’Donnell--You think that offensive foul he called on Patrick Ewing at the end of Game 3 was a coincidence?

A dry spell here is so unbecoming. While New Yorkers concede that Dr. James Naismith invented college basketball in some YMCA in New England, they’re sure the pro game was born in the clouds of cigar smoke in the old Madison Square Garden, where the gamblers sat on the baseline and cursed the referees, and the legendary public-address announcer John Condon learned to carry on, no matter what the distraction, like the night when he announced Gladys Gooding would sing the national anthem and a fan yelled an impolite comment about Ms. Gooding.

“Nevertheless,” interjected Condon, and finished his presentation.

Nor have the Knicks made the finals for 21 years, and anyone who has seen them lately might wonder how soon they’ll be back, making this a special opportunity.

There was not much doubt they’d be ready Wednesday, or as Riley and his scout troop like to say, sometimes in unison, “Come with more force.”

Also, Riley might not have fed them for two days.

However, the curse has gotten to Patrick Ewing.

How else can you explain it? He went nine for 29 Sunday with no free throws or assists. Wednesday he went eight for 28 with two free throws, both of which he missed. His matchup with Hakeem Olajuwon, supposedly the centerpiece of this series, is becoming one-sided; Olajuwon outscored him, 32-16, Wednesday night and 106-73 in the series.

So the Knicks had to battle down the stretch, scavenging for points any way they could:

With the Rockets leading, 70-69, Charles Oakley scored on a rebound of Ewing’s missed finger-roll.

With the Knicks leading, 71-70, Oakley rebounded Derek Harper’s missed three-pointer, was fouled and made one free throw.

With the Knicks leading, 75-72, Oakley rebounded Ewing’s missed 17-footer, was fouled and made two free throws.

With the Knicks leading, 77-74, Oakley won a rebound scrum for a missed Knick free throw, saving the ball as he was going out of bounds, keeping the possession alive for John Starks’ three-pointer.

Voila! Tie series.

“I think the Rangers showed exactly what this thing is about,” Riley said afterward.

“They’re down 2-3 going over to New Jersey, come back and win in double overtime, come back and win. They’re ahead, 3-1, to Vancouver, lose two and then win in the seventh game by one goal. I’m sure even the people who watched the last game who probably thought with 1.6 seconds to go that the puck was going to get in that net. You just never know.

“And right now, we’re one win at home away from playing for the title. And I think that’s what you get to. You keep pushing it, you keep pushing it. You never lose that faith and that conviction and we’ve had a half a dozen situations in the playoffs where it didn’t look very good for us.

“Seeing them (Rangers) win it galvanized the city. Now if we can win it, this city would be catatonic in the summertime. Just take the summer off.”

After a winter of blizzards, a spring of suffocating heat and a midnight strike deadline by workers on the Long Island Railroad, they could use the summer off around here.

Knick fans had better start collecting lucky charms, because their curse, while younger than that of the Rangers, promises to be tougher to end, with Ewing struggling and the Rockets with home-court advantage.

But get Riley close and he’ll think of something.

Who you gonna call?

Curse busters.