ANALYSIS : These Pacers Have New York Ties

So which is the New York team in this series exactly? The Knicks or the group that practiced at Madison Square Garden Monday? The one that blew a six-point lead in the final 18.7 seconds Sunday or the one that identified the improbable outcome in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals as a homecoming victory?

Consider that the Indiana Pacers carry more than a 1-0 lead into Tuesday night’s game. They bear the confidence born of a conquest here in Game 5 of the conference finals a year ago, a split of two games at the Garden during the regular season and a triumph on Sunday that was so farfetched the club president missed Reggie Miller’s two deadeye three-point shots because he was in the locker room kicking chairs over what he considered a lost cause. They also benefit from a posture that dismisses the intimidation suffered by many visitors to the city.

There’s good reason for a level of comfort. Donnie Walsh, the president and general manager, grew up in the Bronx, and Coach Larry Brown is a product of Long Beach, N.Y. The point guard’s pedigree includes starring roles at Bishop Loughlin and St. John’s. Even center Rik Smits, the native of The Netherlands who abused Patrick Ewing in Game 1, refined his play at Marist College and now makes his home in a town on the fringe of the Catskills. The Simon brothers, who own the franchise, are Brooklyn natives and graduates of CCNY. That’s more than can be said for the Knicks, a corporate subdivision with a logo in place of a face.

But perhaps the greatest reason for the Pacers to feel good about their chance to get back to the conference finals is Miller’s reaction to the Big Apple. He wants to devour it, in four large bites. He demonstrates at least one of the characteristics associated with those New Yorkers who greet arrivals beneath the arena at Penn Station. Responding to Miller’s immediate postgame rantings that received detailed media scrutiny yesterday, Walsh said, “I don’t think he even knew where he was for a half-hour afterward.”

Such an individual does not scare easily. He’s prepared to take on John Starks, Spike Lee and Rudy Giuliani, if necessary. “If he wants to be the villain, if he wants to be the focal point on the road,” Brown said quietly, “he’s got it now.” And how.

Those who believe the designation of public enemy will paralyze him with fear are misinformed. The truth is Miller feeds off the energy of the Garden’s 19,763 occupants, whether expressed positively or negatively. What is downright frightening is that the Indiana shooting guard, who was raised in laid-back southern California, professes to be in his element among sports-crazed New Yorkers.

“Reggie says we grew up together, that we came from the same neighborhood,” said Jackson, his backcourt mate who was the toast of Queens when he won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award as a Knick seven years ago. “After we saw the playoff schedule and knew we’d be playing New York, he said, ‘We’re going home.’ ”

Of course, if he performed for the home team, there’s little doubt that Miller would be embraced by the citizens of Gotham. He might be perceived as the ideal envoy for a city whose mayor revealed on the David Letterman show what it was prepared to do to other cities’ butts. Miller has the requisite mixture of arrogance, chutzpah and moxie to own the back pages of the tabloids.

Alas, he is a Pacer. Brown spent part of Sunday evening explaining Miller’s comment on NBC that the team was intent on a sweep. He thought that was the worst of it until a newsman alerted him to the choke charges prominently displayed in yesterday’s newspapers. “After every game,” Brown responded with a world-weary look after yesterday’s practice, “it’s damage control.”

The coach conceded he probably felt better about developments than did his counterpart, Pat Riley. Not that he was pleased with the Pacers’ play in Game 1. “We blew two leads, we stood around in the fourth quarter waiting for Rik 1/8Smits) to win the game and we didn’t execute down the stretch,” Brown said. “When you don’t play the right way protecting the lead, that’s upsetting.”

Yet he certainly didn’t mope around Manhattan on Sunday night, according to the testimony of his boss and best friend. “He was really happy, let me tell you,” Walsh said. “I went out with him last night and he was smoking cigars. Everybody knows Brown (in New York). People were telling him, ‘Nice game, Larry.’ ”

Walsh, a onetime star at Fordham Prep, was in a New York frame of mind himself. His only regret was that he didn’t witness much of the remarkable turnaround as it happened. He had to watch Miller’s consecutive treys within a span of 3.1 seconds on the news clips Sunday night.

Angered by an apparent loss after the Pacers let a nine-point lead slip away in the final period, the president had stormed away from his courtside seat to seek solace in an empty locker room. Mel Daniels, a star of the franchise’s ABA championship teams and now a scout for the club, went to fetch him after Miller tied the score at 105. Walsh thought it was a cruel thing to do and did not appreciate the gesture.

“I said, ‘Get the ---- out of here. Don’t mess with me,”’ Walsh said yesterday. But an usher said, ‘No, Donnie, you’re really tied.”’ Walsh walked through the tunnel just in time to see Starks miss two free throws and Miller make two for the winning points. “Nothing like that ever happened to me before,” Walsh said.

And probably won’t happen again. But one such gift may be all the Pacers need. “I think the Knicks are used to teams backing down because of their physical prowess,” Jackson said. “We’re a different team than they’ve faced. We’re big, we’re physical and we thrive on emotion.”

So Miller’s talk of a sweep was not the raving of a madman? “Oh, it’s realistic,” said the guard with the New York game. “Just as before our win yesterday, it was realistic for them to sweep us.”