Caught Off Guard

Latrell Sprewell tried to avoid the question by murmuring polite cliches. But backed up against a wall Thursday at the New York Knicks’ practice gym, with no escape from the cameras and microphones, the 6-foot-5 swingman had no wiggle room.

Can the Knicks, who resume their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Miami Heat tonight at Madison Square Garden, prevail if Sprewell and fellow offensive catalyst Allan Houston continue to struggle?

“I think we can,” Sprewell said. “I think anything is possible if we defend the way we did in Game 2 [an 82-76 Knick victory]. This team is in tune to what we’re doing offensively. I just have to do like I’m doing now, shooting and take advantage of open opportunities.

“I’m not going to start pressing, especially if they continue to double on us. I’ve faced this before, especially when I was at Golden State and was the center of attention. We’ve had good looks, but we didn’t make shots. We just have to live with it. Hopefully, [today] we won’t miss open shots.”

The smooth-shooting Houston and the explosive but rough-edged Sprewell were the Knicks’ top scorers this season and in their first-round sweep of the Toronto Raptors. The Heat, however, has hounded them into mistakes and away from their strengths. Sprewell made six of 25 shots and averaged 11 points as the teams split the first two games at Miami. The normally sure-handed Houston committed three turnovers down the stretch in the opener and made 11 of 32 shots in the two games.

“I would love to have come out and gotten 30 or 40 points, but if they’re going to double on us, other guys are going to have chances,” Sprewell said. “You saw Charlie Ward take advantage [to get 13 points] the last game. Whatever I can do, I’ll do. If not scoring, it’s passing.”

That, as much as anything, symbolizes how Sprewell has changed in two seasons in New York.

He’s no longer the selfish player he was with the Warriors, a loner who put personal statistics ahead of team success. Nor is he the pariah he became after choking then-Golden State Coach P.J. Carlesimo in 1997.

True, he reported late to training camp last fall and was suspended for an exhibition game, but last week he was honored for his $100,000 donation to the Madison Square Garden Cheering for Children Foundation, which gives New York City kids uniforms and equipment. It was the biggest individual donation the charity has received.

And in perhaps the most significant sign of his repatriation, the NBA chose him to represent the Knicks in TV playoff promotional ads.

“I’m glad I was able to turn it around,” he said. “It could have easily gone the other way. I’ve done a good job of keeping my head above water. I want to stay there.”

Sprewell, who had some initial misgivings after the Knicks acquired him for John Starks, Chris Mills and Terry Cummings on Jan. 21, 1999, recently bought a house near the team’s practice facility and is making himself at home.

“The fans made it easy from Day 1,” he said. “I felt accepted by everyone, and the organization did everything it could to make me feel comfortable. I had an injury [to his heel], and that made it tough, and I was learning plays and personnel and everyone’s tendencies. Those kind of things take a while.”

He started only four games during the lockout-shortened 1999 season and didn’t start in the playoffs until the fourth game of the Eastern Conference finals against Indiana. Once he got in, he was electrifying, averaging 23.9 points a game as a starter and a team-high 20.4 points overall in the playoffs.

“We were on the verge of not making the playoffs,” he said. “If we didn’t make it, I don’t know what happens. Making the playoffs and getting to the finals was great.

“You hope for [things to go this well], but you never know what the outcome is going to be. The worst is total failure, not being able to play well. The best is probably what we experienced, going to the finals, but I guess it wasn’t the best because we lost.”

The Knicks are hoping that for Sprewell and Houston, the best is yet to come.