Carter Takes Bite Out of Big Apple

A year ago, Anthony Carter had just finished his season with the Yakima (Wash.) Sun Kings of the Continental Basketball Assn., another kid who couldn’t give up his dream of a pro career.

A ninth-grade dropout in Atlanta, Carter got his equivalency degree and went to Saddleback College on the recommendation of a former Saddleback player he met during a pickup game. His first visit was funded by the “I Have a Dream Foundation,” a dropout-prevention program, and he justified its investment by becoming Saddleback’s all-time leading scorer. From there he went to the University of Hawaii, but a separated shoulder his senior year dropped him off the NBA’s radar screen and he wasn’t drafted.

That could have been another dead end for the 6-foot-2 point guard. But Carter, who could dunk when he was 13, caught the Miami Heat’s attention during summer league play and was lured away from the Dallas Mavericks’ camp last summer. His unlikely saga took another happy turn Friday, when his running fling caught the rim and dropped in with 2.2 seconds left in overtime to give Miami a 77-76 overtime victory over the Knicks and a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“It think it’s a great story,” Carter said Saturday after the Heat’s practice at Madison Square Garden. “A lot of kids can look up to my story. Hopefully, they won’t have to go through all the things I did.”

That includes a few seconds of shock when referee Hue Hollins waved off his shot because Hollins thought it was illegally tipped by Alonzo Mourning. After the referees conferred, they allowed the basket to stand, even though replays showed it might have come from behind the backboard.

“I thought it was right at the corner of the backboard. I didn’t think it went over the backboard,” said Carter, who took the shot because Jamal Mashburn--for whom the play was designed--was double-teamed. “I thought it was a good no-call.”

Carter played the final 22 minutes Friday in place of Tim Hardaway, who has been hobbled because of a sprained left foot. Heat Coach Pat Riley said Hardaway will probably start Game 4 today, “but we’ll have to play it by ear.” Even if Hardaway starts, Carter probably will get a hefty number of minutes.

“Each minute I’m out there I feel a lot more comfortable,” said Carter, who started 26 consecutive games when Hardaway had a knee injury. “You get a feel for the game and the way the game has to be played. My confidence level has gone up a lot.”

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Riley refused to discuss Carter’s controversial, game-winning shot, which the Knicks claimed should have been wiped out. “The game’s over with,” he said. “It was a no-call. Whether or not it crossed over the backboard or barely did or whatever, the hell with it. The game’s over.”