Heat Gets Burned Again by the Knicks

They could have skipped the first six games, because it was inevitable that the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat would be settled in the final seconds of the final minute of the final game.

“We knew it was going to come down to something like this,” Knick guard Latrell Sprewell said of a series that made up in drama what it lacked in charm. “They work hard. We work hard. We were fortunate to come out on top.”

The Knicks scratched out an 83-82 victory Sunday to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight season because of their doggedness and tough defense, although the Heat howled the Knicks were also blessed by referees who sent them to the line 31 times.

“They had the officials in their pocket,” Heat forward Jamal Mashburn said.

Miami was especially incensed about a timeout given the Knicks with 2.1 seconds to play. The Knicks had gone ahead for the last time on a dunk by Patrick Ewing with 1:20 to play, and they regained possession after a jump shot by Mashburn hit the front rim. Chris Childs lost the ball to Mashburn, and the Heat called timeout with 26.3 seconds to play. Tim Hardaway missed a layup, and a jump ball was called after a scramble underneath; the Heat won it and called timeout with 12.4 seconds left.

Dan Majerle inbounded to Mourning, who was double-teamed. He passed to Mashburn, who swung it to Clarence Weatherspoon for a 12-foot jumper that hit off the back rim. Sprewell grabbed the rebound and landed off-balance, with Majerle pulling on his shorts to topple him out of bounds. With 2.1 seconds left, Sprewell asked for timeout but wasn’t sure referee Bennett Salvatore heard him. He thought Marcus Camby called time. And Chris Childs thought he caught the officials’ eyes.

“I just held onto the ball because they were pushing me out of bounds,” said Sprewell, who led the Knicks with 24 points.

“Who knows?” said Childs, who was the only Knick to score in the fourth quarter until Ewing made a layup with 3:34 to play.

Because the Heat had no timeouts left and couldn’t foul, that completed an improbable comeback for the Knicks, who had averted elimination in Game 6 by rallying from an 18-point deficit. Charlie Ward inbounded the ball to Childs, who flung it in the air as Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy thrust a triumphant fist skyward and Heat Coach Pat Riley walked off the court stone-faced.

If the details didn’t duplicate the Knicks’ first-round triumph over the Heat in 1999, when Allan Houston’s running one-hander with eight-tenths of a second left bounced off the rim and in to win Game 5, the Heat’s disappointment was equally deep after losing four games by a total of 17 points.

“We let a lot of things slip away,” Mashburn said. “The toughest part is that everybody prepared themselves for this all summer long. We prepared ourselves more than any NBA team could possibly prepare. It took so much energy, and all in one moment, it kind of slips away.”

Or did the Heat fumble those chances? Its three shot-clock violations in the fourth quarter--and eight in the series--suggest as much. As does its ability to outrebound the Knicks in the first five games but not the sixth and seventh. And its two-for-seven free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter.

“This is very difficult for my team to take,” Riley said. “You’re at home and the disparity [in fouls] as much as we were going to the basket, is tough to take.

“But they deserved it. They found a way to win it. But it’s very tough to lose this way. I’d rather lose with what happened with Pat [Ewing], a blatant dunk.”

No matter what they prefer, the outcome seems to be the same: a loss to the Knicks despite New York’s 36.1% shooting Sunday and 40.4% for the series. However, the Knicks made 28 of 31 free throws, 90.3%. The Heat was 11 for 21, 52.4%

“This is what the NBA is all about. Us and the Heat, this is the type of games we play,” said Ewing, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Said Mashburn: “This was the championship series here. I don’t give a [darn] who wins it. They’re never going to experience anything like this. Nothing the Lakers do will be like this.”

EASTERN FINALS

New York vs. Indiana

Best-of-seven series

Tuesday--at Indiana, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday--at Indiana, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday--at New York, 12:30 p.m.

May 29--at New York, 2:30 p.m.

May 31*--at Indiana, 6 p.m.

June 2*--at New York, TBA

June 4*--at Indiana, TBA

* if necessary