Miami's offense is broken, and never was it more apparent than when Alonzo Mourning was on the foul line midway through the fourth quarter.
Airball.The crowd howled. Mourning was stunned. The Heat were done.
Mourning's 14-footer from 15 feet was the low point of Miami's evening as the Knicks' defense turned the Heat into a misfiring, mistake-prone shell of their former selves in a 89-76 victory that gave New York a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
"It's obvious that we faced them in their best game of the series, without a doubt," Miami coach Pat Riley said. "They were excellent in all facets of the game.
"Everybody's going to write us off, that the series is over with, all that stuff. But we'll be ready to play Wednesday night and I'm sure they're going to smell blood and have the killer instinct. But we're going to be ready to play," Riley said.
The Knicks finally got an offensive boost from John Starks, who bounced back from poor performances in the first three games with a team-high 21 points. New York took control with a 21-5 run in the second quarter, and Miami cut its deficit below double digits just once the rest of the night.
"We're not going down without a fight," Miami's Tim Hardaway proclaimed.
Starks, the Sixth Man of the Year winner, broke out of his slump with a 9-of-12 shooting night. Patrick Ewing had 20 points and Allan Houston added 17, including 12 in the second quarter when the Knicks took control for good.
Rockets vs. Sonics
HOUSTON - The Seattle SuperSonics will try to imitate the Houston Rockets as well as beat them.
The Rockets have climbed out of 3-1 holes in the NBA playoffs before, and the Sonics think they can duplicate the feat, starting with Game 5 of their Western Conference playoff series tonight in Houston.
"I don't think they're that much better than us that we should count ourselves out," Seattle forward Terry Cummings said. "These games have all been close except the first one. If one or two things had gone our way, we'd be tied."
Houston forward Charles Barkley agrees.
"There is such a fine line that we could easily be down 3-1, if you take a few plays here and there," Barkley said. "We have to go out there and be ready to play."
Bulls vs. Hawks
CHICAGO - All the Atlanta Hawks must do to win the Eastern Conference semifinals is defeat the Chicago Bulls in three straight games.
Of course, the Bulls haven't had a three-game losing streak since Michael Jordan came out of retirement in March 1995. And, the defending NBA champions say, it's not about to happen now.
"If we just take care of business," Chicago's Ron Harper said Monday, "we can start getting ready for the next series."
The Bulls, who seemed to be in trouble after a loss Thursday turned homecourt advantage over to the Hawks, won twice in Atlanta over the weekend and can wrap up the best-of-7 series tonight at the United Center.