JESUS saves. And so does Charlie Ward.

The most respected man in the Knick locker room, the man every player looks to for leadership and fellowship, and not just in the team chapel that he organized, delivered the biggest game of his life yesterday, guiding the Knicks to a 91-83 win over the Heat to even the Eastern semifinal at two games apiece.

Ward was the hero in the Knicks’ Game 2 victory, too, but he never had a day like this perfect Manhattan Sunday afternoon. Without him, the Knicks would have already turned to dust. He once was known as the man who was flipped by P.J. Brown to start this whole Knick-Miami rivalry. He has become the guiding light against the double-teaming Heat.

The Knicks have learned they cannot beat Pat Riley’s warriors with their stars. The Anthony Carter fling-and-a-prayer basket Friday night was the wake-up call for Latrell Sprewell & Co. Ward stepped from the shadows to give the Knicks the added punch they need, that they must continue to have Wednesday in Miami.

Cracked one Knick insider with a smile, “I’d never thought I’d say these words: ‘Get the ball to Charlie.'”

When it was over – after Ward notched a career-playoff high 20 points, with the capacity Garden crowd chanting “Charlie, Charlie” as he masterfully ran the offense and showed the kind of pumping-fist fire the Knicks have never seen from the quiet guard – Ward turned to his teammates in the showers and said, “I know how you feel now, to have the crowd going crazy for you.”

The former Heisman Trophy winner had only heard such cheers before at Doak Campbell Stadium while playing quarterback for Florida State.

Asked what this felt like, to have the Garden become his playground, Ward offered a child’s smile and said, “It felt like I should have my own team … I’m just real grateful for the opportunity. I’ve been in that position before, as far as football, as far as when you are the man and everyone is looking to you to make those plays. Today it felt like I was back making plays and making things happen. When you are patient in everything you do, the Lord works everything out.”

“That’s the greatest feeling in the world as a basketball player,” noted Sprewell, “to be here at Madison Square Garden and have the crowd chanting your name, there is nothing better than that.”

Every Knick shared Ward’s joy. He scored seven points in the third period, when the Knicks took control, and the team’s final nine of the game, but there were still times Jeff Van Gundy had to yell, “Shoot the ball, Charlie, shoot.”

Ward needs to play with the fire he showed yesterday. He needs to be more selfish, take the open shots the Heat are daring him to take, blow by Tim Hardaway, who is playing on one leg. He needs to do that for his team. Consider this: Ward is shooting .567 in the series, the rest of the Knicks are bricking along at a .378 clip.

“Charlie needs to pump his fist a lot more,” said fellow point guard Chris Childs. “He’s usually pointing up to Jesus, but I’m pretty sure Jesus pumped his fist a lot, too. So what’s wrong with Charlie pumping his, too?”

“I was getting pumped up just watching him pump his fists,” added Allan Houston. “Charlie gives so much for the team on and off the court. That’s why we’re so happy for him.”

This Sunday was special in many ways for Ward. His lovely wife Tonja brought their first child, 11-week-old son Caleb, to his first Knicks game as Mother’s Day turned into Father’s Day. Ward joked that his son had chanted his name Saturday night “because he was sleepy.”

“In a way, he’s the mother and father of this team,” Marcus Camby said of Ward. “He is the one we lean on.”

During his 17 years in the NBA Herb Williams, one of the most beloved men to ever play for the Knicks, said there are two people he would rate as “the most sincere and honest players” he has ever met in his life. Clark Kellogg and Charlie Ward. “They’re the best,” said Williams.

Knick backup center Andrew Lang, like Ward, is a deeply religious man. He has played 12 years in the league, but said becoming teammates with Ward this season was special.

“Charlie approaches life as truthfully as possible,” Lang said. “Just to have the honor of playing with him, my life has been touched. He’s always encouraging people to be accountable whether they attend Bible study or not, just be accountable with their lives.

“His mentality is that of a leader, but also that of a warrior, that of a sacrificer,” Lang said. “In his own simple way, without being judgmental or without being perfect – we tend to make people perfect or we tend to make them out altogether bad – in his own simple way, Charlie is just a solid person.”

Never more so on the floor than yesterday.