Knicks Will Take Things One at a Time

The New York Knicks, boorishly behaved, profoundly uncuddly but constantly displaying daunting survival skills, summoned every possible point of motivation and morsel of you-don’t-believe-in-us spite Thursday as they tried to stay alive past tonight’s Game 5 in Madison Square Garden.

“Jeff [Van Gundy, the Knick coach] made an excellent point today,” said forward Larry Johnson, the surliest Knick but also, not coincidentally, the team’s emotional keystone.

“He was talking about, never in the finals has a team come back from 3-1. But never has an eighth seed been to the finals [before the Knicks did it this year]. You’ve got to throw all that history junk out.”

Can the Knicks pull this one off to force the series back to San Antonio for Games 6 and 7?

Look at what New York has survived so far--losing Patrick Ewing to injury, watching the ugly front-office maneuverings of President Dave Checketts, fired general manager Ernie Grunfeld and Van Gundy, seeing Johnson and now Chris Childs weakened by chronic injuries.

“We’ve been overcoming obstacles the whole year,” Johnson said. “Jeff said something else last night. Here we are [down] 3-1. Jeff said, ‘Hell, at 21-21 [with the Knicks stumbling near the end of the regular season], who thought we’d be here?’ ”

Van Gundy, for his part, tried to break the Knicks’ situation down into little battles, each winnable in its own way.

The Knicks can’t start thinking about fighting back to win the series in seven games until they win the fifth. But once they do that, who knows what strange events await them in the future?

“Can we win a home game against San Antonio?” Van Gundy asked rhetorically Thursday. “That’s what it comes down to. We don’t have to win three tomorrow night.

“We have to win one. And if we do that, then we have the ultimate challenge of trying to win one road game. And if we do that, we’re playing the ultimate game.

“And as I said to them, ‘You don’t ever want this, but who’s to say sometime soon we may not be the team that suffers an injury that hurts you?’ It could happen.”

*

Not surprisingly, Johnson had a tart response to comments made recently by NBC analyst Bill Walton, who criticized Johnson’s behavior and attitude.

“Is that what Bill Walton says? Oh man, that’s not the same Bill Walton who was at UCLA smoking pot and a hippie, was it?” Johnson said.

“If that’s the way Bill feels, that’s the way he feels. You know what, I respect him [for saying it]. That way, me and Bill knows where each other stands.

“For as long as Bill’s been killing me on TV--and my family and everybody tells me--but when he sees me, he’s shuffling and chuckling and going on.

“Man, don’t come at me like that. If I’m on fire, don’t spit on me. If you’re on fire, I won’t spit on you. That’s respect. You go your way, I’ll go mine.”

*

Despite directing the Knicks to this unexpected NBA finals appearance, Van Gundy still has received no guarantee that he will be the New York coach next season--even after the Lakers gobbled up the Knicks’ best hope, Phil Jackson.

No problem, Van Gundy repeated on Thursday, and though he did not refer to reports that he could be a candidate with either New Jersey or Cleveland, who both have coaching vacancies, maybe he was.

“Believe me, I’m not even thinking about my future,” Van Gundy said. “My future’s fine. I’m coaching basketball and I’m one of two coaches still coaching basketball. That’s good.

“One thing I’ve learned about the NBA, it can change quickly from bad to good and good to bad.”

*

Dave Cowens was in Cleveland on Wednesday for his second interview about the Cavaliers’ coaching position. . . . Weber State’s Harold “The Show” Arceneaux and Kentucky’s Jamaal Magloire were among 12 players who have withdrawn from the list of those seeking early entry to next week’s NBA draft. . . . The NBA players union urged the NCAA to allow Lamar Odom to return to school even though the Rhode Island star signed with an agent before deciding not to turn pro.

*

Times wire services contributed to this story.