Knicks Bank On Harper’s 30 Points

There are nights when the 33-year-old legs surge to life and look a full decade younger, with the bounce of a player smack in the middle of his prime. Maybe there is no pure logic to explain why this happens, why Derek Harper breaks out and plays the way he did here on Thursday night.

“Massages, rest - I don’t have time to list all the things I do,” Harper said, after his 30 points helped the New York Knicks shrug off the Cleveland Cavaliers, move ahead to more passionate playoff possibilities in the second round against the Indiana Pacers. The score was 93-80 at Gund Arena, and it was never a contest after the middle of the second quarter, mostly because Derek Harper wouldn’t stop moving and couldn’t miss.

Of course it is true that Harper is a superbly fit 33, but there is only so much that any athlete can hide from time, only so much he can run from the inevitability of those legs rejecting the mind’s command. There are still going to be nights when the legs just say no.

“This was just one of those nights when I just felt extremely good,” Harper said.

The Harper jump shot rained on the Cavaliers. He hit a Knick playoff-record seven 3-pointers, gave the Knicks, along with John Starks, the kind of long-range game that turns them from dogged Joe Frazier into a team that stings, even floats. A team that confounds its dizzied critics and wins in a walk.

Harper often found himself alone on the perimeter.

He said the Knicks had talked of avoiding playing bouncy, bouncy, pass to Patrick Ewing on the low post. Ewing is banged up and the Cavs’ swarming tactics caused too many breakdowns in Game 2 and 3. Harper made 11 of 14 shots.