Two nights earlier, Patrick Ewing had an enormous effect on the Knicks’ Game 3 loss to the Heat. Although he made the game-tying shot in regulation, he struggled all night and missed a crucial free throw late in OT that allowed Miami to steal the game on that acrobatic – and controversial – Anthony Carter shot.

In yesterday’s 91-83 Knicks’ win over the Heat in Game 4 at the Garden, Ewing’s performance was much less of a volatile headline act, though it was efficient as he scored 12 points and had 11 rebounds.

Though Ewing scored seven of his points in the first quarter, he had eight of his rebounds in the second half.

“We wanted to make a concerted effort of getting to the boards,” Ewing said. “In the second half, we did a better job.”

The Knicks, who were outrebounded 27-13 in the first half, ended up outrebounding Miami 24-21 in the second half.

Jeff Van Gundy’s halftime message: “Get on the boards,” Ewing said.

Ewing’s 12 points give him 2,680 in the playoffs during his career, moving him past Bill Russell (2,673) and into 20th place on the NBA’s all-time list. Robert Parish is 19th with 2,820.

But he was in more of a mood to praise the work of his teammates, particularly Charlie Ward, who took the game over in the final minutes.

“I feel 100 times better than I did the other night [Friday], and the majority of the credit goes to Charlie,” Ewing said. “He’s capable of doing that night in and night out, but he chooses not to.”

At the end of the game, the Garden faithful was chanting Ward’s name, “Charlie, Charlie, Charlie,” which was just fine with Ewing.

“He deserved that,” Ewing said. “Charlie played big. Big.”