Despite Their Numerous Faults, Knicks Are Closing In on Title : Pro basketball: New York can win first NBA championship since 1973 with Game 6 victory tonight over Rockets.

They have an offense that belongs in the World Cup, a starting point guard on the sidelines with a blown-out knee, a starting shooting guard who spent time in the World Basketball League, a key frontcourt reserve who had stints in Turkey and the U.S. Basketball League, a starting small forward whose reputation is dominated by that time he got four layups blocked on the same possession and a coach who has been spending considerable time defending his team’s rugged style of play.

And they are one victory away from the NBA title.

The New York Knicks will apologize right after they chill the champagne. If they put the Houston Rockets on ice tonight in Game 6 of the finals at the Summit, or if it takes until Wednesday’s Game 7, they will toast this group that only a few seasons ago, when Pat Riley arrived, would have been considered rag-tag. They will have redefined the process so much, they will celebrate trying to go from first to last.

“It seems like we’ve been at this forever,” Riley said. “We started the season at midnight on October the sixth. We wanted to be the first team to hit the floor in ’93 and hopefully the last team to leave it in ’94. It’s been a very enduring process and our guys have hung in there tough. Right now we’re on the brink of doing what we’ve dreamt about.”

That is, going from a 39-43 record just before Riley arrived to winning the championship three seasons later. To make that dream reality, to win their first title since Red Holzman’s 1973 club, the Knicks need only repeat their accomplishment of a week and a half ago, splitting at the Summit.

“I don’t think we want to take that mind-set down there,” Riley said. “It’s been a three-year run for us, it’s been eight months (this season) and I think our guys are going to be really ready to play as hard as they’ve ever played in their life. It’s one of those ‘ever’ games, to get a forever experience. I think we’re going to come real hard, and if we play well and do the things we are capable of doing, we’ve got a great shot. We’ve won down there this year already and we feel like we can defend them a little bit, so we just have to deal with the emotions, playing on the road, knowing they’re going to be a desperate team and knowing they are going to be much better than they were at the Garden.

“Is (winning tonight) imperative? I don’t know. We have a 3-2 lead and we know the worst thing that can happen to us is taking it to the seventh game. But it would be a good opportunity for us on Sunday night to finish it out.”

So it’s settled.

“What happens Sunday?” guard Derek Harper asked, repeating a reporter’s question after Friday’s victory at Madison Square Garden. “We win the championship Sunday.”

Houston, meanwhile, has dug a beachhead that should be familiar to the Knicks. Familiar because it’s the one they have used most of the playoffs. The desperate moments energize them the most, the various there-is-no-tomorrow chants. Pick a cliche, any cliche.

“I put nothing past the Houston Rockets,” said their coach, Rudy Tomjanovich. “I have a lot of confidence in this team; we have character. I think we’re better with our backs up against the wall, like most people. We’ve got a lot of fight in us.”

Said center Hakeem Olajuwon: “We gave our fans at home a second chance. We accomplished our goal by saving the home-court advantage. They have maximized (at the Garden), so now the ball is on our court. We have to step up and take the challenge. That is what it’s all about.

“We have to look at it one game at a time. Game 6 is a very important game. We have been on the road to play three games, so we will be very happy just to be at home, in front of our home crowd, and just tie the series first and worry about the rest later.”

NBA Notes

Pat Riley is looking to join Alex Hannum as the only coach to win titles with two organizations. Hannum did it St. Louis in 1958 and Philadelphia in 1967 while Riley, of course, has four rings from the Lakers in the ‘80s. Five others have reached the finals with two teams. . . . In every game so far, the team that has grabbed the most rebounds has won. “It’s not a coincidence,” Riley said. “Both teams are similar--the post game and running, three-point shooting, pick-and-roll games are very similar so it does come down to that part of the game. Possessions and making sure you’re not giving up a lot of second shots.” . . . A victory will make New York the first city to have NBA and NHL champions the same season. This is the seventh time a city has had both teams as finalists.