Knicks Put It in Third Gear to Defeat Lakers : Pro basketball: New York’s 43-point third quarter keys rally, 117-113.

Nothing made sense. Not the Lakers taking a 20-point lead in the second quarter, not Anthony Peeler going from the end of the bench to playing, not Elden Campbell going from playing (allegedly) to the end of the bench, and certainly not those New York Runnin’ Knicks.

So of course the Lakers still had a chance Tuesday night despite trailing the defending Eastern Conference champions by six points with 1:20 remaining. They even made the Madison Square Garden crowd of 19,763 sweat out the home opener until the closing moments, until four free throws in the last 13.4 seconds finally gave the Knicks a 117-113 victory.

This is what it has come to in 1994-95. New York going away from the playbook that included three ways to get the power forward into a full nelson on the low post to outscoring teams. As if Pat Riley has coached a running team before.

These Knicks, letting the opponents set the pace, have faced two up-tempo teams and gone stride for stride at 78 r.p.m. Friday, they beat Boston, 120-107, and, after a quirk in the schedule allowed a three-day break after the first game for adjustments, they scored 117 against the Lakers.

The Lakers loved it at the start, going up, 47-27, with 7:44 left in the first half. They still had a double-digit cushion, 57-46, with 38 seconds left in the second quarter and went into intermission having forced 11 turnovers.

Then came the third quarter, and New York showed up. Forty-three points later, the Knicks had their biggest period since April 16, 1990, while making 15 of 18 shots (83.3%) and getting 15 points from John Starks. A 93-90 lead--their usual final score last season--came with it.

The Knicks took a 110-102 lead and the Lakers were left for dead, but a free throw by Cedric Ceballos cut the deficit to 113-110 with 14.6 seconds remaining. When Nick Van Exel made his fifth three-pointer en route to a game-high 26 points, the Lakers were within 115-113 with 5.1 seconds left. But when Starks converted two free throws, the comeback was over.

“We knew they were going to come back,” said Ceballos, who had 22 points and 14 rebounds, eight on the offensive end. “Riley was probably getting on them at halftime and during the timeouts. We never thought we could keep running away from them. It was the home opener and they were excited. We just wanted to keep the pressure on.”

Part of that responsibility belonged to Peeler. After Peeler was not held out of a game during his first two years as a pro, Coach Del Harris kept him on the sidelines against both Detroit and Milwaukee in favor of Tony Smith and Sedale Threatt, even when starter Eddie Jones got in foul trouble.

Five days into the season, Peeler made his debut and played 19 minutes behind Jones. He took only four shots, making one, and scored only six points, but seven rebounds helped.

“I thought A.P. worked hard in practice (Monday),” Harris said. “I wanted to give him a chance to play. It had nothing to do with Tony Smith.”

Going without a rebound in 24 minutes the first two games, however, probably had something to do with Campbell not getting in at all against the Knicks.

“I was a little surprised,” he said. “But I knew when I didn’t go in the first sub, I figured I wasn’t going in later.”