HEAT NOTES
The saying goes that rebounds equal rings. For the Heat yesterday, rebounds equaled only frustration. Oh, Miami outrebounded the Knicks, 48-37, but it hardly mattered.
“We outrebounded them but they had the rebounds that hurt us down the stretch,” lamented Heat forward P.J. Brown, who cashed in eight boards.
Down the stretch, the Knicks were all over the glass. They outrebounded the Heat, 12-9, in the fourth quarter, and got six of those off the offensive end. The Knicks cashed in with 17 second-chance points.
“We had 16 offensive rebounds, but we did not convert a lot of those,” said Pat Riley, whose gang had seven second-chance points. “[That was] one of the things the Knicks did last year in their drive to the NBA Finals.”
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Jamal Mashburn said a lot of the defense between these two teams is simply born from familiarity.
“In a seven-game series, people pick up tendencies on what you’re going to do or where you’re going to throw the ball, especially when you blitz, things like that,” Mashburn said. “We’ve just got to handle it better.”
Anthony Carter on Game 5 Wednesday: “It’s whoever brings their best effort. It’s going to come down to that every game.”
Miami was 17-of-22 from the line, but four of the five misses came in the fourth quarter, all in the final 5:13.
Mashburn on the rivalry and insisting homecourt does not matter: “We could play this game in Illinois somewhere and I don’t think the intensity would be any different.”
Dan Majerle on the homecourt: “I don’t think homecourt has meant a lot in this series. We did what we had to do Friday.”
Majerle on Tim Hardaway: “Obviously, we want Tim healthy but if he’s not healthy, he’s not healthy. We’ve won without him before. A.C. (Carter) has done a great job.”
Four Heat starters played 40 or more minutes but Brown insisted fatigue was not a factor.
“I felt really good. I can’t speak for everybody but you don’t really feel fatigue at that time of the game. You’ve got to just play. It’s all on the line and you’ve got to feel like it’s the last game of the year.”
