In the End, Knicks ‘Mess Up’ Chance to Close Out the Heat

Patrick Ewing sat all alone at his locker, a look of dejection on his face so strikingly similar to his glassy gaze of playoffs past.

“We messed up. We messed up,” Ewing said after the Knicks were thoroughly outclassed in the fourth quarter Friday night of an 87-72 loss to the Miami Heat at New York.

Instead of the Knicks closing out the first-round series, there will be a Game 5 Sunday in Miami.

It’ll be the third do-or-die game between Miami and New York in as many years, but this time, for the first time, everyone will be at full strength.

“Without a doubt, the Knicks have been somewhat of a nemesis to us, other than the Bulls, and in adverse situations we’ve learned to come together, believe in ourselves and find a way to win,” center Alonzo Mourning said. “We showed that this evening, but all it guaranteed us was a trip back to Miami.”

With Tim Hardaway finding his scoring touch, Mourning shutting down Ewing and Miami’s bench providing a sorely needed boost, the Heat staved off elimination. The fourth quarter was shockingly one-sided with Miami outscoring New York, 29-10.

The Heat will go into the deciding game with a fresh dose of confidence, knowing they were able to manhandle the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in a fourth quarter that began with them trailing by four and ended with them winning by 15.

Hardaway had his highest-scoring game of the series with 14 points, including a three-point shot that put Miami ahead for good with 7:54 left.

Before the game, Hardaway was fined $5,000 for verbal abuse of officials and refusing to leave the court in a timely fashion after his ejection from Game 3.

Mourning had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat and held Ewing to three points and one rebound in the second half.

Off the bench, Terry Porter had 16 points, shooting five for six, Clarence Weatherspoon had 14 points and six rebounds and Voshon Lenard added 10 points, shooting four for six.

“There’s a big difference between tonight and just 48 hours ago,” Heat Coach Pat Riley said.

Weatherspoon and Porter combined for eight of Miami’s first 13 points of the fourth quarter when the game turned decisively for the Heat. By the time the final buzzer sounded, more than half the crowd had given up and left the building.

“We lost our poise, played frustrated and got run over like they got run over in Games 1 and 3,” Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “These are very atypical type games.”

Detroit 103, Atlanta 82--Joe Dumars, who will retire at the end of the season, made sure he had at least one more game to play as he scored 20 points to help the Pistons beat the Hawks at Auburn Hills, Mich.

“Joe didn’t look like he wanted out,” Atlanta guard Steve Smith said. “He knocked down a lot of big shots. He kind of holds them together.”

All four games have been blowouts. Atlanta won the first two games by 20 points each and Detroit won Game 3 by 15 points.

“I think we kind of took the momentum from them,” Dumars said. “But you never know. When you have the Nos. 4 and 5 teams playing, like we have here, the series should be about even. And, so far, it is.”

The fifth and deciding game will be played Sunday in Atlanta, where the Hawks won the first two games. But this time they will play at Georgia Tech because the Georgia Dome was booked for a concert.

“For two years, we’ve been the only team in the NBA that has had to play in two arenas, and I don’t like either one of them,” Hawk Coach Lenny Wilkens said. “But it is in Atlanta, and it will be our fans.”

Should the Pistons win, they would be only the sixth team in NBA history to come back from an 0-2 deficit in a five-game series.

Grant Hill scored 23 points and Bison Dele 17 for the Pistons. Smith, who picked up his fourth foul with 5:51 left in the third quarter, had 21 points for Atlanta.

Dumars, who turns 36 on May 24, found the range early with his high, arching jump shot. He made four three-point baskets, with three coming in the third quarter when the Pistons made it clear they were determined to play another day.

“It didn’t look like he wanted to go,” Detroit guard Lindsey Hunter said. “Not this early. We don’t want him to go, either.

“We’re hoping maybe we can take him along for 15 or 16 more games.”

The Pistons’ playoff record for three-point baskets is six by Bill Laimbeer in the 1990 NBA finals against Portland.

With recently released POW Christopher Stone looking on, the Pistons opened the second quarter with a 12-2 burst. A three-point basket by Dumars, followed by Dele’s free throw, gave Detroit a 39-21 lead with 8:11 left in the quarter.

The Hawks narrowed the gap to 43-33 on a shot by Smith with 3:03 left in the quarter, but two baskets by Dele helped Detroit take a 54-39 halftime lead.

More importantly, perhaps, was the fact that Dikembe Mutombo, the Hawks’ 7-foot-2 center who dominated Detroit in the first two games, picked up his third foul with 11.9 seconds left in the half. Mutombo finished with eight points and eight rebounds.