THE hardest thing about picking up the pieces when your world collapses is taking that first step. The Miami Heat took that step last night, revealing the soft underbelly of the Knicks.
The Heat have been mentally and physically tortured this season, starting, of course, with the loss of Alonzo Mourning to a kidney ailment. Such a loss puts a team into shock and was a crushing blow to Pat Riley, who has built his basketball world around Mourning. Then when you blow a 22-point lead at home in the fourth quarter you hit rock bottom. That’s what happened to the Heat Tuesday night.
Considering all those factors you just knew that the Heat would come into the Garden last night with a wounded animal mentality. Riley confirmed before the game that his Heat would be ready, promising that before this season is out, the Heat would be reckoned with in the East.
They’re reckoned with already, especially with Brian Grant scoring 24 points and Anthony Mason adding 19 points and 18 rebounds in the Heat’s 84-81 win last night. Grant added five blocked shots. On this night the Heat did not blow a 17-point second half lead. The Knicks had the chance to tie in the final seconds but Chris Childs three-pointer was short.
The Knicks had all kinds of woes, including Marcus Camby fouling out with 2:52 remaining and Glen Rice going four-for-12. But one of the biggest problems is the continuing struggles of Larry Johnson, who was three-for-11 from the field last night and is not playing with fire.
The Knicks cut a 17-point deficit to two with 4:37 remaining on the strength of Latrell Sprewell’s all-around game, but collapsed down the stretch. Childs airballed a three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining and the Knicks trailing 82-78. That made the Knicks 0-for-12 from three-point land. Childs then hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds left to cut it to 84-81 before the final wild seconds.
The Knicks, though, never should have been in that position, especially since the Heat’s starting backcourt of Tim Hardaway and Bruce Bowen were 5-for-25.
Jeff Van Gundy knew the Heat would be coming on strong last night at the Garden. Problem was he didn’t get that message across to his team. Perhaps Van Gundy has cried wolf so many times, the players aren’t listening like they have in the past. Perhaps he’s questioned their hunger and their “warrior” attitude so much that they’ve been forced to turn a deaf ear to him.
The bottom line is that the message is not getting through and that is the Knicks most serious problem. Van Gundy will have to find a way to motivate this team. He can’t continue to just lament their weaknesses and side with opposing players like Charles Oakley, but he must find a way to make the most of his team’s strengths. The Knicks need to stop living in the past. Patrick Ewing even put in his two cents last night, calling a Knick official during the game from Seattle to no doubt chortle about the Knicks inside play.
Perhaps Van Gundy is in shock at how his team has changed from last year and from all the fishing expeditions like the one for Grant that did not come to fruition, but he must take the first step in making the most of the Knicks talent. Van Gundy made it clear before the game that the Knicks are looking up at least one other team in the East – the Sixers.
Of Philly he said, “They’ve established themselves right now as the team everybody is shooting for in the East.
“I don’t see anybody being dominant in the East,” the coach added before the game. “It’s hard to overcome the loss of your best player, the best player in the conference,” he said of Mourning. “That being said, they have the toughest schedule in the East so far and they’ve lost four games by three or less.
“I still think they are going to be right there in the East and they have as good a chance as anybody of coming out of the East. I thought they had a championship-caliber team with Mourning. I’m not sure they are a championship caliber team, but I still think they can be the best team in the East.”
They were good enough to beat the Knicks last night after losing four straight and coming into the Garden with a 5-9 mark. These Heat create more matchup horrors for the Knicks than last year’s squad if the Knicks play to the Heat’s tempo. Something the Heat made them do last year in Miami’s playoff loss and something that happened again last night.
The Heat hammered the Knicks in the paint in this game – even though the Heat was the tired team, coming off that disaster of a game Tuesday night. In the first half the Heat grabbed a 51-36 lead by making 16 of 17 free throws. The Knicks went to the line all of eight times and only made four free throws. Riley and the Knicks have the Knicks right where they want them and we haven’t even turned the page to December.