“We need him [Ewing] obviously to make. He’s trying to make, but right now he’s missing … when you’re missing, we get into analyzing every shot by everybody.” JEFF VAN GUNDY

There are a lot of things the Knicks have shown they can’t do this season – No. 1 on the list is beating a quality opponent; No. 2 is executing in the fourth quarter. The Knicks went into last night’s game against the Pacers at the Garden0-6 this season vs. top-notch opponents. They’ve lost to Orlando twice, Miami twice, the Hawks and the Lakers. The 99-91 loss to the Lakers came Sunday in Los Angeles.

At 16-14, the Knicks are barely clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot with 20 games remaining. Their inability to beat the best is one of the most telling things about these Knicks. Overall, they are 6-10 against teams that would be in the playoffs.

“It’s obvious so far that we’ve been good enough to beat teams that are pretty good or less than pretty good,” Jeff Van Gundy said before the game. “When faced with whatever you call it, elite or however you classify Orlando, Miami, Indiana, Lakers, Atlanta, we’ve been just good enough to lose.

“We’re either going to get better or we’re going to continue to lose those games,” Van Gundy said. “You can’t have droughts defensively, like in the second quarter at LA. When playing a potent offensive team, you’ve got to be good the whole time. The same with offensively. You can’t have droughts.”

Against the Pacers, the Knicks could not afford such a drought even though the Pacers were playing their third game in three nights and were coming off a one-point loss at home to the Hawks..

“They’re a lot better team than we are,” Latrell Sprewell said. “We have to come in with the idea and the mentality that we’re the underdog. We have to fight and scratch for everything.”

Winning time is the fourth quarter and that’s when the Knicks and Patrick Ewing have been at their worst. Ewing is averaging only 4.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in the fourth.

Worst of all, Ewing is shooting 36.8 percent this season in the fourth quarter. His reconstructed right wrist is a long way away from being right. Add to that his 36-year-old body is betraying him in other areas, and you have the biggest on-court problem that Van Gundy has had to encounter. Always a Ewing man, Van Gundy will have to take another approach in the fourth quarters.

Add to all this that Ewing has missed three game-winning shots and you have all the makings of a disaster.

In 30 games, the Knicks have only outscored opponents 12 times in the fourth quarter. And things are getting worse. The Knicks have not outscored an opponent in the fourth quarter the last nine games.

Five of the times they have outscored an opponent in the fourth quarter, the opposition was the Clippers, Bulls and Nets, so that really doesn’t count.

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks are shooting .392 from the field and .667 from the line while opponents are shooting .351 from the field and .709 from the line.

The Knicks are averaging 20.5 points in the fourth quarter. Opponents are averaging 20.1 points. The Knicks have had some big fourth quarters against some poor teams.

As for Ewing’s struggles, Van Gundy said, “We need him obviously to make. He’s trying to make, but right now he’s missing. I think before he got hurt he had started to make more and hopefully he’ll soon start making them again. We need to shoot the ball and shoot it efficiently.”

“When you’re missing, we get into analyzing every shot by everybody.”

Van Gundy said that Sprewell, his reluctant sixth man, never “lost” his starting position. “That was my decision. As a coach, you have to make tough decisions.

“People ask me to make judgments on him in two months. You have to be around people over time. I would be wrong to make any rash judgments,” Van Gundy said.

“In general, you have to find people who are talented in this league who care about winning and only about winning. That’s what separates teams. Talent does to a certain degree, but finding those people is important. I hope and I think that we have them.”

When asked if it was fair to say Sprewell may not start the rest of season, the coach bristled a bit and said, “Well A, fair has never stopped anyone in this room, but B, I don’t really know. Like I said, I’m going to do what I think is in the best interests of the team.”