HEAT NOTES

MIAMI – Meet Pat Riley, Knicks fan.

The man who lives to win and dies a little with every defeat, be it regular season, the playoffs or whatever, looked as downcast as ever yesterday after his Heat were bounced from the playoffs by the Knicks for the third straight season.

But rather than forge little dolls that looked suspiciously like Knick players and a short, balding coach, Riley earnestly wished his adversaries well, especially Jeff Van Gundy and Patrick Ewing.

“You have to understand, this was a unique matchup and there’s a lot of respect over the years,” Riley said. “As I said, one team just sort of ran out of clock. I wish them nothing but the best, Jeff and Patrick, I really do. I’d like to see Jeff take this thing and win the championship.”

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When all was said and done, the one foul that ticked off the Heat more than any other was the Game 6 call against Dan Majerle that sent Allan Houston to the line for two game-deciding free throws.

“I’ll tell you right now it hurts when you know each and every one of these guys put their heart and soul into the season and to end it the way it ended, we don’t deserve this,” offered center Alonzo Mourning. “Up there, to put Houston on the line and to let the game be decided that way on a touch foul with all the physical contact going on throughout the game, to make that call…we got screwed.”

Riley didn’t disagree with his center’s assessment.

“Guys are deciding games on perimeter fouls and it’s hard for a team to take,” Riley said. “It’s tough.”

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How bad was the Heat offense? It established an all-time playoff low of 562 points during a seven-game series … This was the 14th time in 77 occasions where a road team won a Game 7 in the playoffs … Mourning finished averaging 10.6 rebounds for the series … Mourning scored 14 first-quarter points which tied a Heat playoff record … Tim Hardaway played 36 minutes, his most in the series, but shot 6-of-20.