Chris Dudley might be moved into the starting lineup to guard 7-4 Rik Smits for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday, Jeff Van Gundy said yesterday.

“We may get to that,” Van Gundy said after the Knicks practiced at Purchase College. “We could. I’m not totally sure about that. We have four days [before Game 1].”

The 7-foot Dudley would replace the struggling Kurt Thomas, while forming a twin-tower alignment with Patrick Ewing. With Smits’ quick offensive moves, Van Gundy prefers to use the more-mobile Dudley on him rather than the ailing Ewing. During the regular season, Dudley started two of the three games against the Pacers with mixed results.

Dudley is coming off an impressive series against the Hawks. In Game 3, he outplayed Dikembe Mutombo by finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds, both career-playoff highs.