You want offense? Go find some other series.
The Knicks and Heat are doing things differently, playing a style of basketball beloved only by the Pat Rileys, Jeff Van Gundys and Cleveland Cavaliers of the world.Their series is about defense, the knock-you-down, kick-you-in-the-head, draw-blood, tighten-the-noose type of defense that Riley used to preach in New York and now sanctions in Miami.
The Knicks, Riley's old team, showed Sunday that they never really kicked their old habit. They clamped down in the second half and held the Heat to a mere two field goals in the final 12 minutes of a 77-73 victory that gave New York a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Miami will have a chance for instant redemption tonight when Game 4 is played at Madison Square Garden. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Miami Arena, and Game 6, if necessary, would be Friday night at New York.
"One of these games is going to surprise all of us, probably even the coaches, and be an offensive game," Van Gundy said. "Now it's a very even series and the team that makes the most plays down the stretch is the team that's going to win the game and the series."
On Sunday, that team was the Knicks.
New York made only five field goals in the fourth quarter and none in the final 6:20, but the Knicks won by holding Miami to zero points in the final 2:50.
Miami's 73 points were the fewest ever scored in a playoff game against the Knicks since the inception of the shot clock.
"Somebody on their team said they gave us a gift in the last game," Tim Hardaway said. "Well, we gave that gift right back to them. We should have won."
Patrick Ewing led New York with 25 points and 11 rebounds, Allan Houston added 13 points and John Starks had 11, including three free throws to give New York a 76-73 lead after he was fouled by Voshon Lenard on a 3-point attempt with 2:42 left.
Each team botched its next three possessions, and Miami got one last chance to go for the tie with 13.4 seconds left after Ewing lost control of the ball and touched the sideline when he recovered it lying on his back.
Hardaway came off two screens and freed himself to receive a pass on the right wing. He found himself in a mismatch in which he was guarded one-on-one by Ewing, but in this instance it was just the kind of mismatch the Knicks needed.
"If it was early in the game I would have run right by him, but it was late and we needed a 3," Hardaway said.
Ewing jumped out as Hardaway was setting up 23 feet away from the basket, jumped high, rejected the shot and came down with the ball.
"Not too many small guys are going to shoot 3s over Patrick," Chris Childs said.
"I tried to shoot over him, but he's 7-foot-1 and he blocked the shot," Hardaway said. "It felt good when it left my hand, but then it got blocked."
"Usually if they ran that play during the course of a game, my job would have been to stay back and guard the paint and let the guards fight over the top through the screens," Ewing said.
Hardaway then fouled him and Ewing - after waving his arms to the crowd to call for more applause - made one of two free throws with 1.8 seconds left.
"My emotions got ahold of me," Ewing said. "I was disappointed that I turned the ball over on the play before. I had to vindicate myself and I was able to."
Lenard led Miami with 22 points, but he did little after going 4-for-4 on 3-pointers in the first quarter to help the Heat open an early 12-point lead. Hardaway added 17 points, but shot just 6-for-22 with six turnovers.
Alonzo Mourning had 14 points and seven rebounds, but he scored only two points over the final 12 minutes.
"It was a hard, hard, hard-fought game, very frustrating to lose," Riley said. "All you want at the Garden is a chance to win it at the end."