Loss Leaves Knicks Feeling the Heat

They’ve marched in lockstep for four years, matching each other elbow for elbow and snarl for snarl.

The past two seasons, the New York Knicks won their staring contest against the Miami Heat. But on Wednesday, the Heat made the Knicks blink with a late and unlikely offensive outburst, squeezing out an 87-81 victory that gave Miami a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. The defending East champion Knicks will face elimination when the series resumes Friday at New York.

“I hope this is a turnaround game,” Heat forward P.J. Brown said. “It was a tremendous win emotionally, and I hope we can take some of this emotion up to the Garden.”

They have history on their side. Of the previous 100 best-of-seven series that were tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner won the series 84 times.

“The game was crucial tonight. Possessions were crucial,” Heat Coach Pat Riley said. “It really doesn’t matter what plays you call through the course of those possessions--somebody has to step up and be aggressive. You can’t have fear at that time. You have to play, and we did.”

Two three-point baskets by Dan Majerle and another by Bruce Bowen--who came off the bench after Alonzo Mourning fouled out--enabled the Heat to break open the game. Majerle’s first three-pointer gave the Heat a 77-70 lead and capped a 9-2 run; after Knick guard Charlie Ward responded with a three-pointer, Majerle responded again from 28 feet, re-establishing a seven-point Miami edge with 1:41 to play.

The Knicks came back on a layup by Patrick Ewing and a pair of three throws by Allan Houston, but Bowen deflated them when he took a pass from Anthony Carter and made a three-point shot with 35.2 seconds to play, drawing roars from the sellout crowd of 20,021 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“Once it got tied at 66, we didn’t guard at all. They blew by us on the dribble and broke us down,” Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “One of Majerle’s threes was real, real deep, and we played good defense on that possession. But Bowen’s was just a direct blow-by on Majerle’s part, and he kicked it to Bowen for the three.

“Our defense, when we needed it the most, betrayed us. We played very well offensively, particularly in the second half, but if you’re going to shoot 15 fewer free throws and you’re going to get outrebounded by 10, you’re not winning. Obviously, rebounding is not important enough to us right now.”

Majerle, a deadly three-point shooter in his days with the Phoenix Suns but more recently a disciple of Riley’s defensive preachings, enjoyed playing a key offensive role. After his second three-pointer, he pointed his index fingers toward Danny Ainge, his former Sun teammate and now a TV commentator.

“Back then, I used to take that shot all the time,” said Majerle, who had 13 points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter. “I wanted him to see I could still do it.”

The Heat outrebounded the Knicks for the fifth consecutive game, but its biggest boost came from point guard Tim Hardaway. After being hobbled by a sore foot, Hardaway had his most effective game of the series, scoring 12 points and adding four assists. He and Carter, dubbed by Jamal Mashburn “a two-headed monster,” brought energy and leadership to the floor.

Although Ewing and Latrell Sprewell got into early foul trouble and Houston attempted only two shots in the second half, all five Knick starters scored in double figures and the team’s 47.3% shooting was its best in the series.

“We got good enough shots offensively,” Van Gundy said. “We got beat off the dribble and when you get beat off the dribble, you’re going to get beat on the perimeter time and time again. They scored 20 points in the last six minutes. You’re not going to win that way.”

After squandering a 10-point first-quarter lead, the Knicks pulled even at 47 in the third quarter; with the Heat unable to make a field goal for the first 5:40 of the fourth quarter, the Knicks tied the game at 68 with 6:05 to play, on two of Sprewell’s game-high 24 points.

But from there, the Knicks’ defense crumbled.

“We didn’t lose our legs in the fourth quarter. We lost our will,” Van Gundy said.

Another failure and their season will be over.