It’s become as familiar a Garden sound as the chant of “Dee-fense.”

Call it the Patrick Ewing Groan.

Whenever the 11-time All-Star misses a couple of shots in a row, the unforgiving Knick crowd will begin groaning in anticipation as he catches the ball and prepares for his next jumper or move to the hoop .

Never mind his 23,665 points, his 50.8-percent field-goal shooting or that he has made some of the most clutch shots in Knicks playoff history. Because in a trend that has grown for the past few seasons, Knick fans seem to have lost faith in the 37-year-old center.

So it was only natural to hear the Ewing Groan resonate throughout the Garden when the 7-footer began making his plodding move against the Raptors’ Charles Oakley during a tie game in the fourth quarter of Game 1 Sunday. After all, he was coming off a missed shot only a few minutes before, his ninth brick in 14 attempts, and had followed with his third turnover.

But in a New York minute, the Ewing Groan was temporarily replaced by wild cheers as he canned the key basket in the lane as the Knicks went on to win 92-88. Ewing finished with 15 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, and a team-high nine rebounds.

After practice yesterday at Purchase College, Ewing, one of the last players to leave, was asked how it felt that the crowd was often groaning Sunday when he caught the ball.

“Are they?” he said.

Then the 15-year Knick was asked if the groaning bothered him.

“No,” he said in his often-defiant tone. “I don’t care. I don’t care what they think.”

Jeff Van Gundy, however, hates the Ewing Groan, as well as the way the media has ripped the center in recent years. One of Ewing’s most loyal supporters, the Knick coach heard the crowd’s murmurs Sunday and said the fans’, and the media’s, continued treatment of the franchise’s best all-time player is inexplicable and outrageous.

“There was a groan, think about it, a Hall of Fame player gets the ball in his spot … ” Van Gundy said with exasperation. “This has been happening. The guy in the fourth quarter is our highest-percentage shooter this year. Why are people groaning?”

Van Gundy began to list Ewing’s recent accomplishments.

“Last year, playoffs Game 5 at Miami, one leg, made both free throws [down the stretch], totally carries us in the fourth quarter,” he said. “Game 1 at Indiana, down the stretch. Game 2, he misses the last shot on a [freaking] torn Achilles and [reporters] say ‘Patrick misses again.’ But what happened is we were down four and he made two straight hoops to get us there.

“Then they say we got to the Finals without Patrick. Hello, people. We were 8-3 with Patrick in the playoffs, we were 4-5 without him.”

Van Gundy, who might have had his job saved by Ewing last year, has often maintained the media is not fair with Ewing, the team’s all-time leading scorer. He gets particularly upset when newspaper headlines harshly criticize his failures, while sarcastically praising his successes. For example, the day after a recent Ewing game-winning shot, the Post’s back page read: “Mr. Clutch [Finally].”

Van Gundy feels that Ewing has never received his just due because he hasn’t always been available to the reporters and has been standoffish throughout his career.

“It’s all about a perception of a player,” Van Gundy said. “It’s not about who makes the best [TV] commercial. He gives you honesty, but you guys don’t want honesty.”

Meanwhile, Ewing indicated that he wasn’t going to change, not this late in his career, no matter what fans or the media say about him.

“If it goes to me, I’m going to shoot it or pass it,” he said.

With that, he shot a 3-pointer from the left corner. It missed. He spun and left the gym.