Oh, how Alonzo Mourning lies. Miami’s center and team leader claims the Heat’s rivalry with the Knicks is a press creation, nothing but a media-driven myth. His coach insists the players have gotten past the point of treating the Knicks any differently than every other team in the NBA. But anybody that saw the way Mourning & Co. played last night in The Garden know better.

The sight of Mourning torturing himself after any rare mistake, and going after each possession like it was Game Seven of the NBA Finals instead of game seven of the season told a different story altogether.

Sure, he admitted that nothing he did last night could erase the pain of the Knicks’ stunning upset of top-seeded Miami in last year’s playoffs. But after watching him score a game-high 25 points and snatch seven boards in a marathon 41 minutes, it sure looked like revenge was on his mind.

“Y’all added the seasoning on top [of the rivalry], made it more than what it was. We just come here and try to play hard,” Mourning said. “Of course, two hard-nosed teams who’ve been taught by the same man — Pat Riley — it’s gonna be like two rams butting heads. The game’s gonna get a little intense and physical.”

Physical? That would be synonymous with Knicks-Heat. There was the sight of P.J. Brown flagrantly fouling Marcus Camby, sending him crashing off Chris Childs’ knee and opening up a cut over his left eye. There was the images of Jamal Mashburn harassing Latrell Sprewell into 2-for-14 shooting. And Mourning was more dominant than all of them.

“[Chris] Dudley got two quick fouls, I got two quick ones, and Alonzo was able to do whatever he wanted,” Knick forward Kurt Thomas said. “He played well. He shot well. He had his jumper working, his turnaround working. When you have your jump shot working, it enables you to get other things going.”

And Mourning had it all going last night. With buddy Patrick Ewing out of the middle, he outquicked Dudley and shot over Thomas and Larry Johnson, hitting 11-for-17 from the floor.

He scored a dozen points in the first half and Miami took a 47-39 lead into the locker room. But Miami scored the first eight points of the second half, and Mourning had five of them. His jumper was working all night, and it was his 20-footer which put the Heat ahead by 16 points 2:40 into the third quarter. The Knicks didn’t get within single digits until the final minute.

“Collectively, everybody stepped up and played their part and did what we had to do to come out with the win,” Mourning said.