THE Heat is basking in its one-point, overtime victory over the Knicks Sunday in Miami. The Pacers are thrilled with their best record in the Eastern Conference, which will give them homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs if they can stay ahead of Miami.
Big deal. It all means nothing because it is clear the Knicks are the best team in the East and the balance of power will stay that way until Orlando signs Tim Duncan and Eddie Jones as free agents.
Tim Hardaway’s miracle shot was the best thing that could have happened to the Knicks in many ways.
The playoffs start in 10 days and Jeff Van Gundy has his team right where he wants it – emotionally and physically. Van Gundy can use his “The world gives you no credit” line because the Knicks were manhandled by Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers two Sundays ago and the Heat beat them Sunday on national TV again.
And the Knicks are once again underdogs behind the Pacers and Heat, standing in third place in the East. Emotionally, the Knicks gladly will assume their favorite role of underdogs again.
“We have a chance to improve over the next 10 days … we need to improve,” said a stern-faced Van Gundy to the assembled print media before last night’s game against the Pacers at the Garden.
Of course, on the way to the interview room, Van Gundy was chuckling with a TNT-TV type. But he knows the mask he must wear this time of year, especially in front on his own team.
At this time last year, the Knicks were 19-17 and their world was supposedly collapsing. They are in such better shape this year it is almost laughable, that there are concerns in some quarters that they are not ready for another magnificent playoff run.
The Knicks are by far the class of the East for several reasons. The first and foremost is that they are a team that is not scared.
They are not afraid of the Heat. They are not afraid of the Pacers. They’re not afraid of the Raptors. Vince Carter is only one man and until he starts playing defense like Michael Jordan, Toronto is not ready to make a stand in the playoffs. And remember, Van Gundy and his staff are at their best when they play a team over and over again.
The Knicks are not even afraid of themselves – the only team in the East that can beat the Knicks.
If Patrick Ewing decides to take things into his own hands, dribbling into the paint and turnover oblivion, the Knicks will suffer the consequences.
If Ewing plays defense, rebounds, hits his occasional jumper, the Knicks are solid because in Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell they are blessed to have two players who can create their own when the playoffs become a nightly battle of wills.
Seven games against the same opponent creates a situation where the opponent knows your plays better than you do. That means the ball will be swung to the other side and someone will have to create. In Sprewell and Houston, the Knicks have two players who can create. They can score and that is the bottom line.
Who else in the East has that kind of magic?
Not the Heat, who are broken down, except for Alonzo Mourning. We all know that Jamal Mashburn is gutless and will run and hide again when the playoffs come. His 1-for-14 two-point disaster in the Heat’s win Sunday was a preview of things to come for Mashburn.
The Pacers are older than the Heat, despite fresh input from Jalen Rose. Their time was last year and they couldn’t climb through the window of opportunity.
The Knicks beat them last year with Larry Bird’s club holding the homecourt advantage and they will be able to repeat that because the Pacers cannot handle the depth of the Knicks, especially Marcus Camby.
Yes, the Pacers have a new impressive home in Conseco Fieldhouse, but the Knicks have the Garden crowd, and that is always an advantage. The Knicks were 1-2 in the regular season against the Pacers last year, including a 23-point loss the last week of the regular season, and it made no difference in the playoffs.
As Van Gundy noted last night, “Season series are overdone.”
In their first eight playoff games on the road last year, the Knicks won six. So much for being a team that is doomed on the road. The Knicks are not like other teams. They love the road. They love to be hated. They are at their best in that role. They are stronger than other teams in the East. Mentally and physically. In a few weeks they’ll prove it all again.
Van Gundy knows it. In a rare slip of the coaching code of looking only at the game at hand, he said of his players, “They should be looking way beyond the next,” he caught himself. You knew where he was heading. Far into the playoffs. Just like his team.
