Pacers Finish With a Rush, Ewing Finishes on the Bench

Some things never change: Eastern finals, Knicks vs. Hicks, Patrick Ewing gets hurt in Game 2, his teammates respond heroically . . .

Unfortunately for the New York Knicks, however, some things do change. They hung tough Thursday night, they led for all but 55 seconds of the fourth quarter, but they’re behind, 2-0, in the Eastern Conference finals, having watched the Indiana Pacers use a 6-0 run at the end to beat them, 88-84.

Indiana’s Reggie Miller called it “the biggest victory in the history of the franchise.”

Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy, sitting glumly in the interview room with his chin in his hand and volunteering nothing, was asked if this was a tough loss.

“Yeah, it is,” Van Gundy said.

Just how tough it was, the Knicks have yet to learn. Ewing, their battered 37-year-old center, asked out seven minutes into the game, after feeling something, which turned out to be his peroneal tendon, pull in his right foot.

Ewing, of course, is a walking medical encyclopedia. He had back spasms in the last series that obliged him to sit on the bench with a hot water bottle taped behind him. He has a chronically sore wrist, which was operated on two years ago, which was followed by surgery on the Achilles’ tendon he tore in Game 2 of last spring’s Eastern finals, after which his teammates rose up and upset Indiana.

He had been the Knicks’ best player lately, but suddenly, he was gone . . . again. And the Knicks were playing with that cornered-rat desperation . . . again.

“When Patrick went out of the game, the first thing I told myself was, ‘Here we go again,’ ” said the Pacers’ Jalen Rose, who was voted the league’s most improved player.

“It was a situation where we were playing pretty well. And then he went out, it gave them a different look. It gave them a different enthusiasm. I think they rose to the occasion for a while because of it.”

It was a long while too.

The Knicks went on an 8-0 run, led by Larry Johnson, who scored three points in Game 1 but got 25 in this one, to take the lead at halftime. They led for most of the third quarter and all of the fourth until Indiana’s Rik Smits picked up a loose ball, dunked, was fouled and made the free throw to tie it at 80-80 with 3:01 left.

The Knicks took two more leads on Allan Houston’s 17-footer over Reggie Miller and Kurt Thomas’ 16-footer.

(Thomas is a 6-foot-9 reserve forward who wound up defending against the 7-4 Smits, making five of six shots and scoring 10 points with eight rebounds in 28 minutes. It’s true, Knicks are like ants. No matter what happens, more of them keeping showing up on your doorstep.)

The Pacers tied it up twice in the last 2:42, on Miller’s driving layup past Houston and Rose’s 17-footer with the shot clock going to zero and 55 seconds left in the game.

With 35 seconds left, Houston, isolated against Miller, missed a 12-footer.

At the other end, Miller got the ball at the three-point line where Houston, running out at him, knocked over the 91.5% free-throw shooter this postseason.

Sure enough, Miller sank two with 28 seconds left.

The Knicks went for the tie in the closing seconds with 6-5 Latrell Sprewell, posting up 5-11 (maybe) Travis Best, but Sprewell’s eight-footer missed.

Indiana’s Dale Davis got the rebound, was fouled, missed both--but got that rebound too, passing to Rose for the dunk that put the game away.

“He’s in there talking like he planned it that way,” Coach Larry Bird said of Davis’ rebound, “but I’m sure he didn’t. . . .

“We got lucky. . . . They outplayed us. I thought they really outplayed us.”

It was that kind of night for the Knicks. With all the NBC-NBA-loves-Knicks-in-finals conspiracy theories going around here, the Knicks got 18 free throws to Indiana’s 38.

“At least, we can put that conspiracy theory to rest now,” said Van Gundy, still glum.

As silver linings go, it wasn’t much. Ewing was scheduled to undergo an MRI today. Gotham will hold its breath. Give or take a happy ending, it was just like old times.