Pacers Crash Knicks’ Garden Party Miller Hot Early, Smits Late In 97-95 Win; Ewing Narrowly Misses Tying Layup At End

Reggie Miller knelt on the court at Madison Square Garden, burying his head in his hands. In front of almost 20,000 quiet fans, he felt the sudden shock of realizing the Pacers had just beaten the team that had dogged them in the playoffs for three seasons.

“Finally,” he said.

Gone were the bad memories of Game 7 at the Garden a year ago, when the New York Knicks beat the Pacers by four points to make the NBA Finals. And even though Miller hadn’t scored a point in the fourth quarter of this Game 7, Sunday’s 97-95 victory that put Indiana in the conference finals proved a personal triumph.

For Patrick Ewing, it was a personal loss. Ewing, whose last-second shot won Game 5 for the Knicks, missed a layup with less than 2 seconds remaining, ending New York’s season.

“I’m disappointed. I’m very disappointed,” Ewing said.

Miller, who had 29 points but took just one shot in the final period, watched Ewing’s scoop shot bounce off the back of the rim, then turned and ran past midcourt as the buzzer sounded. His face calm, he knelt and kissed the floor.

“If we went to overtime, there’s no question we would have lost this game, because the momentum would have been in their favor,” Miller said.

His coach, Larry Brown, didn’t think beating the Knicks represented such a huge obstacle to his team, even after playoff losses in 1994 and 1993.

“Like hell it wasn’t,” Miller said. “That was the biggest hurdle for us. You’ve got to understand. This team has knocked us out of the playoffs twice. We were up three games to one. We came back here tied 3-3.”

Indiana plays at Orlando on Tuesday because Rik Smits (19 points) carried the offensive load when Miller couldn’t, scoring the Pacers’ last five points despite playing with five fouls. And because Derrick McKey hit a 3-pointer with 6:33 left to give them the lead for good. Dale Davis, who had a total of four points in the last two games after dislocating his right shoulder, added 14 points.

Smits’ 8-footer with 1:19 left gave Indiana a 97-92 lead, then Anthony Mason missed two free throws and a fastbreak layup for New York. After Miller took his first shot of the quarter and missed, John Starks hit a 3 from the right corner, falling as the ball swished through the net.

New York called timeout with 5 seconds left. Ewing got the ball with his back to the basket near the top of the key. He spun left and dribbled while double-teamed by McKey and Dale Davis.

“I thought I made a great play to get to the hole, drove, laid it up and it came back out,” Ewing said.

Ewing, who finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds, stood with his hands on hips and looked skyward. His coach, Pat Riley, grimaced, while Brown danced across the court.

The Knicks trailed by five at the end of the third period and tied the game 83-83 on Hubert Davis’ 3-pointer with 7:14 to play. Beaten on the offensive boards, Indiana didn’t score in the quarter until Haywoode Workman’s layup at the 7:49 mark.

But the Pacers quickly rebuilt their lead. Derek Harper was called for a flagrant foul on Antonio Davis, who made both free throws, and Smits scored off the ensuing possession to put Indiana up 94-87 with 3:13 left.

“They are better than last year, much better,” Knicks forward Charles Smith said. “They learned. They grew up against us.”

Pacers 97, Knicks 95

INDIANA (97)

D.Davis 7-10 0-0 14, McKey 6-13 0-0 14, Smits 9-17 1-2 19, Jackson 3-9 4-4 10, Miller 10-18 6-9 29, Workman 1-4 0-0 2, A.Davis 1-4 3-4 5, Mitchell 0-3 2-2 2, Scott 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 38-80 16-21 97.

NEW YORK (95)

Oakley 1-5 7-10 9, Smith 5-9 2-2 12, Ewing 12-23 5-9 29, Harper 6-10 0-0 15, Starks 6-11 5-6 19, Mason 1-2 1-4 3, Bonner 1-2 0-0 2, H.Davis 1-4 0-0 3, Anthony 1-2 0-0 3.Totals 34-68 20-31 95.

Indiana 34 22 25 16 - 97

New York 28 24 24 19 - 95

3-Point goals-Indiana 5-11 (Miller 3-5, McKey 2-3, Workman 0-1, Jackson 0-2), New York 7-13 (Harper 3-4, Starks 2-5, Anthony 1-1, H.Davis 1-2, Bonner 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Indiana 39 (Jackson 8), New York 53 (Ewing 14). Assists-Indiana 26 (Jackson 8), New York 25 (Oakley, Harper 6). Total fouls-Indiana 29, New York 23. Technicals-New York illegal defense. Flagrant fouls-Harper. A-19,763 (19,763).

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NBA PLAYOFFS Today’s game Houston at San Antonio, 5:30 p.m. (TNT)