Sprewell to Start for Knicks

Latrell Sprewell will move into the New York Knick starting lineup and Indiana’s Reggie Miller promises to shoot more in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight in New York.

With both teams still shaking their heads Sunday over the unlikely finish to Game 3, the coaches plotted major strategy changes.

Sprewell, who has been unhappy coming off the bench all season, will move into the starting five in place of Kurt Thomas as the Knicks employ a smaller lineup.

“It’s the way I think we can win the series,” Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “We caught a miracle last night, we all know it.”

Miller, who has not been a dominating presence on offense, will be asked to carry more of the load for the Pacers.

“There’s no question I’ve got to be more aggressive, I’ve got to shoot more--15 to 20, even 25 shots,” Miller said. “And I think that’s going to be the case more in Game 4.”

The Knicks took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series Saturday when Larry Johnson made a rare four-point play with 5.7 seconds left for a 92-91 victory.

The Pacers were still upset with the ruling by official Jess Kersey on the play, saying the basket should not have been allowed since the whistle came at least a half-second before Johnson released the shot. But the Pacers also knew that they blew a chance to lock up the game by failing to score in the final 3:20.

“No question a lot of breaks have gone New York’s way, but we’ve given them a lot of breaks as well. A few of these games we’ve kind of handed it to them on a silver platter,” Miller said. “We’ve played terrible the last three minutes of each and every game and were lucky to win one of them.”

The Knicks, on the other hand, have played poorly in the first few minutes of each game. That was one of the reasons why Van Gundy has decided to start Sprewell.

Another concern is the potential for foul trouble with the Knicks’ remaining big men in the absence of Patrick Ewing.

“I didn’t like that Kurt and [Chris] Dudley were out there together when they’re both the primary defenders on [Rik] Smits,” Van Gundy said, referring to the Pacers’ 7-foot-4 center. “Secondly, I didn’t like our second unit defense giving up 30 points in the second quarter.”

When Van Gundy started Dudley in place of Ewing in Game 3, Indiana used 6-7 Chris Mullin to guard the 6-11 Dudley. In Games 1 and 2, New York had exploited the matchup of Mullin trying to guard the faster, stronger Johnson.

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The 12-team WNBA is planning to expand to 16 teams, and the Indianapolis Star reported that Indianapolis will get one of the four expansion franchises. Denver, Miami, Seattle, Toronto and Portland also are under consideration.

The Pacers have been interested in a women’s franchise since the NBA created the WNBA three years ago, but they did not pursue a team then because they were preoccupied with Conseco Fieldhouse, the arena set to open next season.