GAME 4 Knicks 91 Heat 83
Which was the more stunning Garden scene yesterday?
Charlie Ward, hero for the second time in five days, having his name chanted by the crowd in the fourth quarter, after which he was interviewed on national TV?
Or Ward punching the air in glee on several occasions, grinning ear to ear through the late stages of the Knicks’ must-win 91-83, Game 4 victory that sent this second-round series back to Miami tied at two games apiece?
It’s close. Something has awoke inside the normally stoic Ward since he’s smelled the cologne of Pat Riley.
Besides driving to the hole with a reckless abandon he hasn’t shown since Florida State, the poker-faced Ward is showing waves of emotion on the court.
And why not after his spectacular, team-high, 20-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, three-steal masterpiece that saved the Knicks from a 3-1 grave.
Ward scored the Knicks’ last nine points – two on penetrations to the hole – to ensure the Knicks will play another game at the Garden.
“Our focus is now to go down there and get a road win on Wednesday and try to close this out Friday,” Marcus Camby said. “That’s our mental approach right now.”
Game 5 is in Miami Wednesday and the Heat are cooked if the Knicks’ starting point guard continues to look like Tim Hardaway in his prime.
“I’ve never seen that,” glowed Camby of Ward’s on-court histrionics. “You don’t see it in practice. He’s so quiet, he doesn’t really say anything at all. That was great.”
Give an assist to Caled, Ward’s 21/2-month-old son, who was part of the rocking Garden audience and brought out the best in Ward in every way.
“You saw a lot of fire in him today that you haven’t seen in the past,” said Ward’s backup, Chris Childs. “The key is his son was at his first basketball game. That has a lot to do with the heart he showed tonight in taking the game over. What better way to do it than with your child there for the first time?”
So what if Caled slept the whole game? This was another grinding, lack-of-flair contest begging for a fourth-quarter hero. And Ward, like he did in Game 2, turned in the best player on the court.
Face it, if not for Ward the Knicks would have been swept in four games.
“He’s usually laid back,” Patrick Ewing said. “Charlie could do no wrong today. I feel great. It could be 3-1 and I’d be miserable.”
The devout Ward has lifted his teammates’ spirits as he tries to do during the pregame chapel service he runs in the arena.
An absolute buzzsaw, Ward scored 14 points in the final two quarters – nine in the last 4:15, when he put Game 4 onto his back, even making the best hustle rebound of the game.
“Man, it felt like I should have my own team,” cracked Ward, who had three boards in the final 2:53.
After again creating his own shot – a rarity for Ward – by dribbling twice and pulling up on the left side to drill a 15-footer, the Garden broke out into its first-ever “Charl-ie” chant.
“That’s nice,” Childs said. “They’re usually chanting our names in a different way. To know we’ve been put down for four years, for him to have that type of game and the crowd getting into it, was fun to watch.”
Said Latrell Sprewell: “He said it to us in the shower. That’s the greatest feeling in the world as basketball players – to be here in MSG and have the crowd chanting your name.”
The Heat were still breathing when Ward re-entered the game with 4:15 left as Childs picked up his fifth foul. On the first possession, Ward snaked to the hole for a lay-up and an 84-75 lead.
With the Heat within 84-79 despite Alonzo Mourning’s choke job from the free-throw line (3-of-7 in the fourth), Ward pulled a Charles Oakley, saving an Allan Houston miss from going out of bounds, flying in the air at the right sideline and, midair, whipping it to Sprewell.
Moments later, Ward drove the lane and scored on a high-banked lay-up as he got fouled with 1:51 left. As he slapped teammates’ hands, Ward’s smile hadn’t been this broad since Caled was born in late February.
Ward’s open 3-pointer from the left wing with 36.1 seconds remaining capped it all, jacking the lead to 91-81 as Riley looked on in disbelief.
“You can’t leave him alone,” said Riley, who says the double-teams on Sprewell and Houston have lessened because of Ward’s prowess.