Knicks 94 Pacers 93

Fate finally smiled on the battling Knicks last night at the Garden.

The Pacers missed three shots in the final 7.9 seconds that could have won the game – including a tip-in by rookie Al Harrington at the buzzer – as the Knicks escaped with a 94-93 victory. This was the first meeting of the teams since the Pacers ousted the Knicks in the playoffs last season.

“It’s about time. We’ve worked hard. We finally got one to go out way,” said Latrell Sprewell, who scored the final four points of the game and finished with 18.

“This is the kind of game I wanted to play in when I came to New York.”

Patrick Ewing, who was involved in a fight with Jalen Rose in the second quarter, led the Knicks with a season-high 37 points on 14-for-24 shooting and 15 rebounds.

Sprewell missed a three-pointer with the Knicks trailing 93-90, but then came back with an end-to-end charge for a layup that cut the lead to one.

Following misses by Rik Smits and Dale Davis, Sprewell sank two free throws with 1:01 remaining to give the Knicks the lead for good.

After a Ewing miss, the Pacers raced downcourt, but Reggie Miller was short on a side-jumper. Smits got the rebound and passed out to Travis Best, who missed from 18 feet.

Harrington had a chance to give Indiana the victory, but his close-range tip-in attempt bounced in and out as the buzzer sounded.

This time, Miller, who finished with 19, didn’t bury them … or any other Pacer.

“They had a few tips at it, didn’t they,” Jeff Van Gundy said. “The good thing for us was that before in close games we were a little fragile. We found a way to get back and get ahead.”

The melee started with 2:57 left in the second quarter when Best drove to the hoop and missed. Rose fell hard to the ground fighting for a rebound with Ewing.

While on the ground, he scissor-kicked and tripped Ewing, who was stepping over him on his way upcourt. After regaining his balance, Ewing went back at Rose, who stood up and in a Gentleman Jim Corbett, bare-knuckle mode kept backing up until he nearly went into the crowd.

Referee Dick Bavetta, who saw the whole episode, sprinted across the floor and got between the two. Rose threw a punch and hit Bavetta in the nose, breaking the referee’s nose, but Bavetta persevered.

By that time, Van Gundy was doing his Miami meltdown imitation, but this time to save Ewing and hold back his star. Van Gundy knew that if Ewing retaliated, he’d be lost for the game and the next game, too.

Ewing never threw a punch and the Knicks came out of the scrape unscathed. Rose was ejected and will be suspended for at least one game.

The Knicks, who led by as many as nine in the first half, went into the locker room with a 54-51 lead, thanks to Ewing’s 19 points on spectacular 7-for-11 shooting.

The Pacers, who were playing their third game in three nights and coming off a one-point home loss to the Hawks, were without Antonio Davis, who was out with a sprained ankle, and then lost Rose.

The Knicks went into last night’s game 0-6 this season vs. top-notch opponents, having lost to Orlando twice, Miami twice, the Hawks and the Lakers.

The Knicks are barely clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot with 19 games remaining. Their inability to beat the best is one of the most telling things about them. Overall, they are 7-10 against teams that would be in the playoffs.

‘It’s obvious so far that we’ve been good enough to beat teams that are pretty good or less than pretty good,” Van Gundy said before the game.

“When faced with whatever you call it, elite or however you classify Orlando, Miami, Indiana, Lakers, Atlanta, we’ve been just good enough to lose.

“We’re either going to get better or we’re going to continue to lose those games,” Van Gundy said. “You can’t have droughts defensively, like in the second quarter at LA. When you’re playing a potent offensive team, you’ve got to be good the whole time. The same with offensively. You can’t have droughts.”

Against the 20-10 Pacers, the Knicks could not afford such a drought.

‘They’re a lot better team than we are,” Sprewell said. “We have to come in with the idea and the mentality that we’re the underdog. We have to fight and scratch for everything.”

Last night, the underdogs got the last bite.