“My last three games against them I wanted to get my teammates’ confidence and I think that’s what I did.”MARCUS CAMBY

MIAMI – The guy who couldn’t play against the Heat back here in March not only dunked over Alonzo Mourning yesterday, sending Mourning sprawling to the ground like a rag doll, but he hung on the rim and stared at the center many believe to be the MVP of the league.

So much for Marcus Camby being intimidated by the big, bad Heat. And in his first playoff game, no less.

“I was making a statement,” Camby said of the second quarter hang-on-the-rim time after the Knicks’ 95-75 blowout of the Heat yesterday at Miami Arena. “I wasn’t saying anything, but [referee] Steve Javie told me to stop staring at him or was going to give me a technical. I said, ‘All right, Steve.'”

Camby played 23 action-packed minutes, scoring 11 points and grabbing six rebounds as he and Latrell Sprewell proved to be a dynamic force off the bench. They outscored the Heat bench, 33-22.

Camby’s critics in and out of the organization had claimed he couldn’t handle the Heat.

“That seems to be an ongoing story,” Camby said. “My last three games against them I wanted to get my teammates’ confidence and I think that’s what I did.”

This performance comes on the heels of the Knicks’ two-point win here three Sundays ago when they came back from 20 points down behind Sprewell and Camby. That game, Camby came up with nine fourth-quarter points. He led the Knicks with 22 points against the Heat Wednesday in the final regular-season win. In a one-point overtime loss here March 2, Camby was not granted one second of action by Jeff Van Gundy.

Times have changed.

“We’re playing together, the ball is being swung around, we don’t have no egos,” Camby said. “Everyone wants to share the spotlight. When different guys are scoring and passing like that it makes the game fun, you get everybody involved. We got solid play from all over today.”