MIAMI -- The New York Knicks did it to the Miami Heat again, eliminating them on the road with a new sort of stunning ending.
Getting the winning points from Patrick Ewing with 1:20 left and the benefit of an official's call with 2.1 seconds left, the Knicks knocked the Heat out of the playoffs for the third straight season, 83-82 Sunday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Indiana.So upset were the Heat with the way the end of Game 7 went down -- they felt an official had awarded the Knicks a timeout when no one had asked for one -- that Jamal Mashburn chased the referees as they ran off the court while Miami's coaches yelled that they had been robbed.
Referee Bennett Salvatore said Latrell Sprewell had called a timeout, although Sprewell admitted he hadn't.
Chris Childs said it was he who had called time out from several feet away, while Sprewell thought it was Marcus Camby who called it.
"They had three officials in their pocket," Mashburn said.
After running the rest of the time off the clock without allowing the Heat to foul, the Knicks mobbed each other at midcourt -- celebrating again on another May afternoon in Miami after yet another draining, all-out battle with their fiercest rivals.
This was vintage Knicks-Heat, another gripping chapter in a rivalry so strong, with games so intense, that it almost seemed predestined to go down to the final shot.
Tim Hardaway hit a 3-pointer with 1:32 left to give Miami an 82-81 lead, and Ewing slipped behind Alonzo Mourning for a dunk that made it 83-82 with 1:20 left.
Mashburn missed a jumper in the
lane but atoned for it by stealing the ball from Childs with 34 seconds left. Hardaway then missed a runner, and the rebound was batted around until a jump ball was called. Mourning won the tap to give the Heat the ball with 12.4 seconds left.
The Heat called a timeout and then got the ball to Mourning, but he passed out of a double-team and the ball ended up in the hands of Clarence Weatherspoon for a 12-footer that bounced off the back rim.
Sprewell rebounded, and Salvatore stopped the clock with 2.1 seconds left after ruling that Sprewell had called a timeout. The Heat argued that Sprewell never called for a timeout -- an argument backed up by television replays and Sprewell's own admission.
The referees huddled but did not change the call.
"I had Sprewell calling time out," Salvatore said, "but I wasn't sure where his foot was. I didn't believe he was out of bounds, but I wanted to check with my partner to make sure he was not out of bounds when my whistle blew. He confirmed that there was no question the timeout came before he went out of bounds."
Childs took the final 2.1 seconds off the clock by catching Charlie Ward's inbounds pass and hurling it high in the air.
Just like that, it was over. A series that had included Heat guard Anthony Carter's incredible shot from behind the backboard in Game 3 and the Knicks' stunning comeback from an 18-point deficit in Game 6 had ended with New York's third straight celebration on the Heat's home floor.
This one might have hurt the most for the Heat, especially with the way they botched Game 6 and then frittered away a lead down the stretch of Game 7.
Sprewell led the Knicks with 24 points, 20 coming in the first half. Ewing added 20 points and 10 rebounds and Childs scored 15 points in his best game of the postseason.