Johnson’s Not Trying to Make Any Friends

Knick forward Larry Johnson’s mood and manners improved Tuesday, probably aided by his 16-point performance and grueling defense against Tim Duncan in a Game 3 victory over the San Antonio Spurs a day earlier.

Johnson, fined $25,000 after Sunday’s profanity-laced outburst at an NBA official and reporters, sat calmly with reporters during the Knick interview session Tuesday and discussed his team’s unruly reputation.

“You know what this whole team, the New York Knicks, reminds me of this year? Vegas,” said Johnson, a proud product of the Nevada Las Vegas program of Jerry Tarkanian that won the 1990 national title amid NCAA investigations.

“Coach Tark [always said], ‘We’re not trying to be liked by the world. We’re trying to win basketball games.’

“What do you want to do? You want to win basketball games or be liked by the world?”

It was the pushing, nudging low-post defense of Johnson, who gives up at least five inches to Duncan, that held the Spur superstar to 0-for-4 shooting and zero points in the fourth quarter Monday.

“I don’t care if everybody likes me or not,” Johnson said. “I play basketball. I play for the New York Knicks.

“My main focus is to win, win, win. . . . You guys, maybe you all don’t like me a lot. Fine. I don’t care. Ask my teammates. Ask my coaches.”

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Knick center/forward Marcus Camby got his first start of the playoffs in Game 3, and though he was in immediate foul trouble, Coach Jeff Van Gundy said Camby will be back in the starting lineup in Game 4 tonight.

“Marcus is the type of guy in this series, because he has to guard primary scorers, and his matchup is [David] Robinson, basically, he’s going to be in some foul trouble,” Van Gundy said.

“I thought he gave us a best chance to get off to a good start, which I thought was critical and put as many offensive players on the floor as possible.”

Camby, who provided some electricity with a towering tomahawk put-back slam early in the fourth quarter, said he has been waiting a long time to start.

“I think it showed from the start,” Camby said. “I was fired up, I got my teammates fired up, and I think we had our best quarter of the series. We went out there and took an 11-point lead. . . .

“I was in foul trouble, but my coaches and my teammates stayed with me knowing that I was going to come back in the fourth quarter and make some plays, like that dunk.”

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After absorbing their first defeat since Game 2 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the Spurs showed no visible signs of deflation.

“This is just a test,” said guard Mario Elie, who picked up two quick fouls and never found a rhythm. “We’ll see how we respond.

“I just told the guys, keep your focus, keep your head up. It’s a grind. It takes four games and we’ve still got the lead. . . .

“You’re going to lose sometimes. We’ve been on an amazing roll, which is fine. But a loss wakes you up a little bit and kind of [angers you].”

San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich said he hadn’t lost any confidence in his team, which leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1.

“I expect they’ll come out and play better. That’s usually been the trend,” Popovich said. “They play pretty consistently, so I’m not too concerned that they’re going to be overly worried that they’re losing their touch or whatever.”

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One point of emphasis for the Spurs was that they have to move the basketball more quickly on offense--more pick-and-roll plays, more cuts--and avoid the predictable, dump-it-down to Duncan that gives the defense the ability to set the tone.

“We have to move the defense more,” forward Sean Elliott said. “We can’t just think that we’re going to bring the ball up and dump it in and think we’re going to create some offense, not against a defense that good.”