Rockets Keep Hopes for Title in the Frame : NBA finals: Smith’s three-point shot, Olajuwon’s defense help beat the Knicks, 86-84, forcing a Game 7 on Wednesday.

He was going for inspiration, so Knick guard Derek Harper brought the full-page black-and-white newspaper picture from New York and hung it in his locker stall, the one of Mark Messier hoisting the Stanley Cup in celebration. And now Harper will leave it up three more days.

He has to. The Knicks are not going home today with their own championship trophy, after all. They will play here again Wednesday, an inconvenience forced upon them by the Houston Rockets, who used the heroics of Hakeem Olajuwon to win Game 6 Sunday night, 86-84, tying the NBA finals and forcing Game 7 at the Summit.

“One of the biggest wins in Rocket history,” said their coach, Rudy Tomjanovich.

One of?

The Knicks could have won their first championship since 1973 and might have done it if a three-point attempt by John Starks, on a shooting tear in the fourth quarter, hadn’t been blocked by Olajuwon with about a second left.

That Starks would be in such a bad mood because of the turn of events that he refused to talk to reporters after the game is no more startling than who played a key role for the Rockets: Kenny Smith. The same Kenny Smith who had a tenuous hold on his job as the starting point guard and had made only nine of 27 shots, including three of 11 three-point attempts, when his big moment came in the fourth quarter. Then he made a three-pointer with 3:18 left that provided an 84-77 lead and prompted a Knick timeout.

“I don’t look at it as vindication or redemption,” said Smith, getting rare playing time down the stretch because Sam Cassell had five fouls.

“We win together as a team and we lose together as a team. Tonight, we won together.”

Said Tomjanovich: “That was probably the biggest shot of his career. As the ball was in the air, I was pulling for the guy so much.”

It turned out to be the Rockets’ final field goal of the game, and the Knicks took advantage to close within 84-82 on a three-pointer by Starks with 1:17 remaining, his third of the fourth quarter and the last of his 16 points in the period. Then, suddenly, things started to go wrong.

The next time downcourt, he drove the left side, saw Olajuwon start to come over to cut him off and tried to pass to Patrick Ewing on the baseline. But the pass went right into Olajuwon’s arms, and his two free throws made the score 86-82 with 39 seconds to go.

Anthony Mason made a baseline jumper to draw the Knicks within 86-84 with 32 seconds left, and after the Rockets could manage only an off-balance 18-footer by Smith, Mason grabbed the rebound and New York called timeout with 7.6 seconds to play.

The Rockets had one foul to give, and used that advantage when Robert Horry grabbed Starks a few feet beyond the three-point line, forcing the Knicks to bring the ball in again with 5.5 seconds remaining. This time, Starks got the ball near midcourt and drove left. As he did the last time the Knick guard made the same move, Olajuwon left his man, Ewing, only this time Starks didn’t have time to pass.

So he pulled up to shoot in front of the Rocket bench.

A foul would have been extra costly, because Starks would have gotten two free throws for a chance to tie and Olajuwon would have fouled out with the Rockets facing possible overtime. The Houston center contested the shot anyway, making sure not to go for a pump fake and then using his entire jump and extension of the right arm to go for the block.

“I already got beat,” he said. “I didn’t have time to take another step to get closer.”

He got close enough. The shot deflected off his fingertips.

“The great players make the great plays,” Rocket swingman Mario Elie said. “And that’s what he did. He stepped up.”

It was one of four blocks for Olajuwon, who had 30 points and 10 rebounds in 43 minutes, the last 6:10 of which was under the additional burden of five fouls.

He also held Ewing, with some double-team help, to 17 points on six-of-20 shooting and a scoreless fourth quarter, although the Knick center did get 15 rebounds.

“It’s a very disheartening loss for us,” New York Coach Pat Riley said.

“We had an opportunity, and they won it. Now it gets thrown up in the air Wednesday night in a seventh game.”

* THE BEST: The Rockets’ Hakeem Olajuwon proves he is the No. 1 center by outplaying the Knicks’ Patrick Ewing. C10