Camby Steps Up for Knicks

It turns out that the three games without Patrick Ewing have been much more beneficial to Marcus Camby than Rik Smits.

That’s as good an explanation as you can find as to how the New York Knicks have taken a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. The Knicks can clinch the series with a victory in Game 6 tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Smits, the Indiana Pacers’ 7-foot-4 center, was supposed to get the advantage of Ewing’s partially torn left Achilles’ tendon, which sidelined the Knick center for the rest of the playoffs after Game 2. Instead Smits’ impact has been confined mostly to a four-minute stretch in the second quarter of Game 3, when he scored 15 consecutive points for the Pacers. He finished with 25 points in that game, which is only five fewer than his total for the four other games combined.

Smits has been reduced to a jump shooter, getting shots only when players such as Mark Jackson draw defenders and pass out to him. He didn’t even go to the free-throw line in New York’s 101-94 victory in Game 5 Wednesday night. He had eight points on four-for-14 shooting.

Smits fouled out of the first two games. He picked up two fouls in the first 30 seconds of Game 4, and spent the rest of the first half on the bench in a game the Pacers eventually won.

If he played in New York, that’s the type of stuff that would inspire “Is the team better off without Smits?” headlines all over the tabloids.

But right now those pages are too busy singing the praises of Camby.

He has earned them. Maligned for much of the season for who he wasn’t--the rugged Charles Oakley--Camby has come to symbolize what the Knicks are now: young and athletic.

His energy, speed, leaping ability and long wing span have all come into play. Here are his numbers since Ewing dropped out: 21 points and 11 rebounds in Game 3, 18 and 14 in Game 4, and 21 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks in Game 5.

His play is prompting comments we’re used to hearing this time of year, only not for this subject.

“Twenty-three is just something,” Knick guard Chris Childs said, referring to the number worn by Camby and formerly worn by Michael Jordan. “He’s something special.”

Coach Jeff Van Gundy said, “I’m very happy for him because his perseverance has been rewarded.”

Of course, one of the things Camby has had to endure was Van Gundy himself. The coach didn’t like the trade that sent Oakley to Toronto and kept Camby on the bench early in the season.

Partially by Van Gundy’s implicit admission that Camby can actually contribute, partially because of the necessity caused by Ewing’s absence, Camby has played more than 30 minutes in each of the last four games.

He hasn’t said, “I told you so,” hasn’t tried to show up Van Gundy.

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“We’re getting to a place where we’re playing to move on,” Van Gundy said of this late stage of the playoffs.

There’s a little more at stake for Van Gundy. According to published reports, he will get a $3.5-million bonus if the Knicks make the NBA finals.

Around the League

Kevin McHale, who played on a Boston Celtic frontcourt with Larry Bird and Robert Parish that was a vital part of three NBA championship teams, has been nominated to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Others nominated are players Dennis Johnson, Jo Jo White, Wayne Embry, Bob McAdoo, Maurice Cheeks, Gus Johnson, Sidney Moncrief and Chet Walker, and coaches John Thompson, Tex Winter, Jim Phelan and Morgan Wootten. This year’s Hall of Famers will be selected June 21. For enshrinement, a nominee needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee. . . . The Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings were fined $25,000 each by the NBA for salary-cap violations. Don Nelson, coach and general manager of the Mavericks, arranged for Gary Trent, his fiancee, their infant son, Trent’s parents and his fiancee’s mother to spend a week at his Maui, Hawaii, vacation home last month. The Kings recently provided several players with an expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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EAST FINALS

Knicks lead series, 3-2

RESULTS

Game 1: N.Y. 93, Indiana 90

Game 2: Indiana 88, N.Y. 86

Game 3: N.Y. 92, Indiana 91

Game 4: Indiana 90, N.Y. 78

Game 5: N.Y. 101, Indiana 94

SCHEDULE

Tonight: Indiana at N.Y., 6

*Sun.: N.Y. at Ind., 4:30 p.m.

* if necessary