PAT Riley and the Heat come to the Garden today, renewing a rivalry that even Latrell Sprewell understands is not just another game.

“These teams really don’t like each other,” said Sprewell, whose vantage point until today had been in front of a television.

A strong dislike between the two Atlantic Division foes might be understating their feelings for one another, considering they can’t seem to get through a playoff series without a resorting to fisticuffs and multiple suspensions.

You’ll recall their last encounter at the Garden in May ended with Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning, former teammates at Charlotte, doing a bad imitation of Hearns-Hagler with Jeff Van Gundy clinging to Mourning’s leg like a Chihuahua in heat.

That was Game 4 of the their best-of-five playoffs won by the Knicks, a station they would like to reach this season, but have much to improve upon to get there. Their 93-85 loss to the Magic in Orlando Friday night was evidence of that. The Knicks lost their season opener in the third quarter when they abandoned the unselfish team concept Van Gundy had been preaching for a one-on-one exercise in poor decision-making.

Truth is, even when the Knicks scored with relative consistency as they did in the second and fourth quarters, there was an unevenness to their attack as they straddled the fine line between being effectively deliberate and sporadically undisciplined. Of course, this should be of no surprise considering the rest of the league is likely suffering from the same maladies, thanks to the six-month lockout that delayed the season’s start from November to less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

On paper, the Knicks have almost as many offensive options as Riley has Armani suits. But when paper was put to practice in Orlando, you found a team that still getting to know each other and a coach still getting to know the capabilities of his players.

The over-stuffed schedule doesn’t offer the Knicks the chance to ease into a leisurely development program, further complicating Van Gundy’s task of trying to find a workable chemistry. The Knicks are actually a team with two offenses: the post-up game that centers around lobbing the ball to Patrick Ewing in the paint and the perimeter game meant to exploit the outside shooting of Sprewell and Allan Houston. Ideally, shifting between the two should be smooth and instinctive. Against the Magic, it operated like a Volkswagen with a bad clutch.

In the third quarter, the crisp ball movement seen in the second quarter had stalled; too many shots were forced too quickly. The Knicks were outscored 20-3 during one decisive stretch. “When you’re playing with new guys, the discipline to go to the second and third options is not always there,” Van Gundy reasoned.

Which brings us to today and why the emotional war that is bound to erupt this afternoon at the Garden is just what the Knicks need. Given what happened in Orlando, the tendency would be to become even more robotic in their offense, fearful of making bad decisions. That could lead to waiting too long for open shots. It’s a good thing to be unselfish. A bad thing to be tentative.

Nothing brings out the best in a team like a good feud where adrenaline and emotions should help the Knicks play to their skills and not overtax their brains. There should be none of the lapses that can accompany many lukewarm early-season encounters. “I know it’s going to be intense,” Sprewell said.

Not only was the meltdown in Orlando sobering for the team, but to Van Gundy as well. The Knicks had boasted how hard they’d worked during the two weeks of training camp and how unselfish the players had been. “The best practice team I’ve ever been around,” Van Gundy called them. But then they were outscored 27-14 in the third quarter against the Magic.

The season is now in full blur with no room for a 20-second timeout. In two weeks, they will have played nine games. But Van Gundy is still learning how to best utilize his roster that includes six new faces. He prefers an eight-man rotation, but that effectively eliminates Marcus Camby, who despite is meager first impression, is a talent that can’t be wasted. He played only the final 19 seconds of the second quarter Friday, hardly enough time to break a blister.

Dennis Scott, who in a classy move that the Knicks should remember next Tuesday when Charles Oakley comes to town, was recognized in a pre-game midcourt ceremony for his contributions as a member of the Magic. Then he played seven minutes and was 0-for-2 for the field. Not the kind of stats you want from someone being paid to be a shooter.

Kurt Thomas was the most impressive of all the Knicks off the bench with 5 rebounds, 7 points, 3 assists and 1 blocked shot in 18 minutes. Meanwhile, Chris Childs had hoped to do better than having as many technicals (1) as assists in 23 minutes.

The challenge facing Van Gundy is using all of his weapons without jeopardizing chemistry. It is not an easy riddle to solve in this helter-skelter season. But today is no time to get overly cerebral. Riley and the Heat are in town.