Knicks’ Stupidity Should Usher Them Out Of Postseason

At worst, the New York Knicks have lost this series. At best, they have lost the next one. And when it’s finally over, when the Knicks start searching for those responsible for denying their latest chase for the ring, they shouldn’t accuse Pat Riley or Michael Jordan, a pair of convenient targets.

Nope. The Knicks are strictly on their own on this one.

The Knicks and only the Knicks are to blame for ruining what was a perfect postseason. They gave the National Basketball Association office a reason to swing the mallet and shatter their roster into pieces that can’t be assembled for two games. They forced the league to enforce a rule, which the Knicks themselves helped create, that will probably end their season.

Instead of playing solid basketball and using their killer instinct to eliminate the Miami Heat Wednesday, the Knicks relapsed into that old and familiar brand of basketbrawl and attitude that landed them in hot alphabet soup. And now, here’s what they have, or rather, what they don’t have:

No Patrick Ewing or Allan Houston for Friday night’s Game 6, which means no first and second option on offense. No Charlie Ward, either, which means no extra layer of defense for Tim Hardaway.

Then on Sunday: No Larry Johnson or John Starks, which means no additional emotion for a Game 7 in Miami or a Game 1 in Chicago.

The league had a right to suspend the players. They didn’t have a reason to. With the exception of Starks, the Knicks who left the bench and approached the P.J. Brown-Charlie Ward scuffle did not have malice on their minds. Ewing wasn’t even close to the human pile. The others played peacemakers. And if Brown had flipped Ward under the Miami basket instead, then we’d be counting Heat players.

But a rule’s a rule: Anyone who leaves the bench during a scuffle gets an automatic one-game suspension, with players serving their sentence in alphabetical order. This was the NBA’s way of discouraging agitators such as former Knick Greg Anthony, who fled the bench to cold-cock Kevin Johnson four years ago. Once again, the ghost of the Knicks’ past comes back to haunt them.

What’s almost as disturbing is the Knicks’ spin. There’s no accountability. Jeff Van Gundy, a good coach who supports his players to a fault, sat for 15 minutes after the game and ripped Brown. Not once did Van Gundy mention Starks, who nearly caused a riot with his two middle fingers, or Dontae’ Jones, who shouldn’t spit at anyone until he is good enough to wear a uniform.

From the front office to the players, they dropped the whole incident, squarely and amazingly, at Riley’s feet. Buck Williams, a respected straight shooter who is almost always right, was totally wrong on this one. Riley wasn’t the cause of Wednesday’s evil.

The Knicks suspect Riley ordered his team, down 3-1 in the series, to take physical play beyond the rules. That charge is about as accurate as an Alonzo Mourning free throw. If Riley signaled for combat, you would have noticed it from the opening tap. The Heat didn’t come out swinging in Game 5. The Heat came out playing, scoring 13 of the game’s first 15 points. During the course of the game, Riley never sent in a goon to take Ewing out. All Riley did was convince his team to give its best effort and, when the Knicks couldn’t match it, they retaliated.

This was Riley’s doing? Please. When the fight began, the game belonged to Miami. Why in the world would the Heat start anything?

“I think they couldn’t take the loss,” Riley said Thursday. “You could see it. They incited this. In fact, there were starters telling the reserves to ‘start something, start something.”’

By socking the Knicks with suspensions, the NBA made a statement. The league office settled, once and for all, the sneaky suspicion that it had something in for Riley and the Heat. David Stern followed the rules to the hilt when he slapped the Heat for tampering with Riley, then for the Juwan Howard affair. A Knicks-Bulls conference showdown would have greater appeal for the NBA and NBC, but by going by the book against the Knicks, the league removed any thought of bias.

“If that is the letter of the law, then the commissioner has to rule it that way,” Riley said.

And now, the Knicks must play it this way: No Ewing, Houston or Ward tonight; no Johnson or Starks Sunday. You know what this ultimately means, don’t you?

No chance.