MIAMI – The walk was that of victory and relief. Latrell Sprewell headed to the showers yesterday in the visiting locker room at AmericanAirlines Arena with the crowd chanting, “Go home! Go home! Go home.” In their own gutsy

way the Knicks had once again turned the tables on the Heat and were going home from here to hoop heaven for the third straight year.

The fans’ derisive chant became a victory march for Sprewell and Co. that could be heard all the way to Indianapolis. Once again the Knicks were survivors, this time of a seven-game war.

Once again they had beaten the Heat on their own floor, 83-82, a one-point victory, just like last year, the third straight time the Knicks had won the final game in Pat Riley’s house.

Over in the corner, Patrick Ewing was talking about his last basket, his thunderous baseline dunk at the 1:20 mark against Alonzo Mourning, who stupidly overplayed Ewing, going for the steal, leaving a lane open to victory and the last two of Ewing’s 20 points, the last points of the game.

This year it wasn’t Allan Houston’s final shot but a final defensive stand by Marcus Camby, who this time was inserted for defense by Jeff Van Gundy, unlike the Game 1 loss.

The 6-11 Camby – with arms that stretch to the moon – jumped out to harass the overmatched Clarence Weatherspoon and forced Weatherspoon into his sixth miss in nine tries.

Sprewell rebounded, and

the team, so fitting because that’s how the Knicks won this series as a team, called time, as Sprewell was spun out of bounds with 2.1 seconds remaining. The Knicks inbounded and the seven-game war ended with a whimper.

This was The Series of the Other Guy and on this day Chris Childs was the offensive hero, the maligned point guard, scoring 13 straight Knick points, the last three of the third quarter and the first 10 of the fourth to keep the Knicks going.

For a team that was 15 points down at the half and facing elimination only six quarters ago, this win marked the comeback of comebacks as they fought back from six down with four minutes left.

“I was sweating at the half on Friday night,” Spike Lee was saying as he went around to each Knick offering congratulations. “A lot of the Heat were giving me garbage that night.”

The Knicks again showed they do not wilt, at home or on the road. They showed that finishing third in the East ain’t so bad.

“I feel very proud,” Jeff Van Gundy said. “To beat a team three straight years on their homecourt, I think, is a terrific accomplishment for our players.”

And now the path to the NBA Finals is clear. Shaq is just around the corner. Like the Heat, the Pacers are another paper tiger, a flawed team. This is all you need to know about them. Three times already in these playoffs they’ve been beaten by at least 23 points.

“Indiana is a great team, they have a lot of good role players,” Childs said of Reggie Miller’s team. Indiana has the motivation to beat the Knicks after being humiliated last year in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games, but it still doesn’t have the answer as the Knicks grow tougher in each series.

The Heat couldn’t hit free throws, missing their first five of the fourth that could have stretched a six-point lead and 10 of 21 for the game.

In the Knicks’ Game 2 win here, the Heat misfired on 14 free throws. Jamal Mashburn was again a deer caught in the headlights of a semi-truck, clanking 21 of 27 shots the last two games. Pat Riley benched Alonzo Mourning at the wrong time in the first half, wasting away a nine-point lead.

“The Knicks did what they had to do,” said Riley, who again was tortured by his old team. “They came down here and beat us twice.”

Once again the Heat were whining about referees, but that is their fate. Make the critical mistakes and blame someone else. That’s what losers do.

Riley, for all his talk of warriors, has too many wimps to get over the Knick hump. In the end, Mourning sounded just like his mentor when he said, “Definitely, we are the better team. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

The Knicks forced the Heat into eight misses in the final nine shots so who is the better team, Zo? “The Knicks just wanted this more than we did,” Riley said.

For the last two years in the East, the Knicks have always found a way. They are gearing up for the Pacers, a battle that begins tomorrow night in Indianapolis.

“It doesn’t matter if you only have 12 hours,” Childs said. “If you want to play the game and play for the Eastern Conference Championship, it doesn’t matter. This is what we worked hard for all year and we finally won two games in a row, so let’s make it three.”

Maybe the Pacer fans will chant, “Go home! Go home!”

The Knicks are home, though, in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year.