Starks’ Reality: He Puts Choke-Hold On Miller Maligned Guard Limits Reggie To 10 As Knicks Exact Revenge From Pacers

No choke for the New York Knicks this time, and no sweep for Indiana, either.

John Starks and the Knicks shut the Mouth of the Midwest, Reggie Miller, on Tuesday night, overwhelming the Pacers in the second half to take a 96-77 victory and even their Eastern Conference semifinal at 1-1.

Leading the way on offense for New York was Derek Harper, who came back from a Game 1 ejection to score 24 points, and Starks, who supplied 19 points while smothering Miller two days after missing two foul shots that cost the Knicks a win in Game 1.

Afterward, Miller said Starks “choked” and didn’t stop there, calling the Knicks “choke artists” and hinting at a Pacers sweep.

The Knicks answered with a 25-4 surge to start the second half and put the Pacers away, and it was all that needed to be said.

“After all the talk is over with,” Harper said, “we still have to play basketball.”

In boisterous Madison Square Garden, the crowd began taunting Miller before the game even started. And after this one was over, Miller didn’t have much to blab about.

Guarded by Starks, he shot 3 of 10 for 10 points and scored just two in the second half, a far cry from his virtuoso Game 1 performance. On Sunday, he scored eight of his 31 in the final 16.4 seconds to lift the Pacers to a 107-105 win.

Miller didn’t take back his inflammatory comments, and didn’t even regret making them. But he was gracious in applauding Starks’ defensive job on him.

“Starks doesn’t get enough credit for his defense,” Miller allowed. “He played great. First and foremost, I didn’t play well.

“The Knicks are predicating their whole defense to stopping Reggie Miller.”

Dale Davis had 13 points and Rik Smits 10 for Indiana, which scored just 27 second-half points, tying an NBA playoff mark for fewest points in a second half.

After Sunday’s wrenching loss, the question was whether the Knicks, who like to talk about their ability to respond to adversity, could bounce back and keep themselves from falling behind two games to none heading back to Indiana for Thursday’s Game 3. In the first half, they showed few signs of recovering.

The second half, however, was a different story.

“We felt we were fortunate to be down by two (at halftime),” guard Hubert Davis said. “We had a postiive feeling coming into the second half that if we started forcing some turnovers and coming up with loose balls - started playing Knicks basketball - we could come out with a win.”

Trailing 50-48 at halftime, the Knicks built a 73-54 lead with 4:06 left in the third period. Patrick Ewing scored five straight points during the run, and Harper and Starks each had seven.

The Pacers, meanwhile, went almost 5 1/2 minutes without scoring, committed 11 turnovers, two offensive fouls and were forced into a shot-clock violation.

“They just turned it up defensively and got aggressive,” said Pacers coach Larry Brown.

Indiana pared the lead to 15 points at the end of the quarter, but the Knicks then held the Pacers without a basket for the first 5:26 of the fourth quarter.

By the game’s last 5 minutes, Miller was out of the action for good, and derisive cries of “Reg-gie, Reg-gie” and “Che-ryl, Che-ryl,” in reference to his famous sister, rained down on the Pacers’ bench.

Knicks 96, Pacers 77

INDIANA (77)

D.Davis 4-7 5-6 13, McKey 3-10 2-4 9, Smits 3-7 4-6 10, Jackson 3-3 0-1 6, Miller 2-10 3-4 10, A.Davis 4-5 0-0 8, Workman 2-7 4-6 8, Mitchell 3-6 2-2 8, Scott 0-2-2 2, Kite 0-0 0-0 0, Ferrell 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 26-58 23-33 77.

NEW YORK (96)

Oakley 3-9 5-5 11, Smith 2-6 0-0 4, Ewing 6-9 3-7 15, Harper 7-16 6-6 24, Starks 5-9 7-8 19, H.Davis 2-6 0-0 6, Mason 3-5 7-12 13, H.Williams 2-5 0-0 4, Anthony 0-3 0-0 0, Bonner 0-1 0-2 0, Christie 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-71 28-40 96.

Indiana 23 27 13 14 - 77 New York 28 20 30 18 - 96

3-Point goals-Indiana 2-10 (McKey 1-2, Miller 1-4, Mitchell 0-1, Scott 0-1, Workman 0-2), New York 8-20 (Harper 4-7, Starks 2-4, Davis 2-4, Ewing 0-1, Mason 0-1, Anthony 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Indiana 55 (D.Davis 9), New York 40 (Mason 8). Assists-Indiana 13 (Jackson, Workman 4), New York 20 (Harper 8). Total fouls-Indiana 32, New York 30. Technicals-A.Davis, New York illegal defense 2. A-19,763 (19,763).