Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 7, 1990 TAG: 9005070241
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
They lost more than a game in a 157-128 rout by the Boston Celtics nine days ago. They lost respect - and they found a reason to go on.
"It gave us a lot more fight," New York's Patrick Ewing said. "We wanted to come out and prove something to everybody in America."
They proved that they weren't just a bunch of athletic underachievers. They proved that properly channeled skill and determination could lift them out of a deep hole.
The Knicks shocked the Celtics 121-114 Sunday, becoming just the third NBA team to survive a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five series and ending a 26-game, six-year losing streak at Boston Garden. The other teams to come back from a 2-0 deficit were the 1956 Fort Wayne Pistons and 1987 Golden State Warriors.
Shocked, Boston's Kevin McHale said, doesn't describe his feelings.
"Disappointment is a better word," he said. "You go out with expectations for yourself and your team, and then you fail."
"As long as I've been here, this is the worst," said Larry Bird, a Celtic since 1979. "This is unbelievable."
After the Celtics set an NBA playoff record for most points and shooting accuracy in one game, the Knicks faced a bleak week. It was Boston's fifth straight win and New York's fifth straight loss. The Knicks' previous biggest loss of the season was a 26-point beating by Utah.
"The team and myself felt extremely humiliated and embarrassed," New York coach Stu Jackson said. "We came back [last] Monday and practice was like a morgue.
"On Tuesday, our practice was so intense, I thought somebody was going to get hurt. It's a funny game, but I think they believed in themselves all the time."
The Knicks won at home 102-99 Wednesday night and 135-108 Friday night.
"We got the first [win] and we felt like we could play," Maurice Cheeks said. "We knew we really could play at the end of the second and had a real chance to win the whole thing."
They succeeded and advanced to the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals against Detroit, starting Tuesday night in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Outstanding workhorse performances by Ewing, Cheeks and Charles Oakley kept the Knicks alive.
Ewing, who had a playoff career-high 44 points in Game 4, had 31 points and a career-high 10 assists in 47 minutes Sunday. Cheeks played the entire game, quarterbacked the attack and had 21 points. Oakley had a career playoff-high 26 points and 17 rebounds in 44 minutes.
Boston was led by Bird with 31 points, although he missed key shots down the stretch, Robert Parish with 22 and Dennis Johnson with 21.
"I kept waiting for us to put together a 10- or 12-point run," Bird said. "Patrick did a great job hitting the open man."
Ewing's 10 assists resulted from Boston's failed attempt to double-team him. He did take a game-high 26 shots, including two of the most important.
New York led 101-99 before Ewing hit a seven-foot hook with 4:34 left. That sparked a 12-2 run climaxed by his dramatic 3-pointer, the second of his career, as the 24-second buzzer sounded. It put the Knicks ahead 113-101 with 2:02 left. They stayed ahead by at least seven points the rest of the way.
Cheeks had four points and an assist during the surge.
"He's the consummate pro," New York's Trent Tucker said. "We put the ball in his hands, and I have no fear because he knows what to do with it in clutch situations."
Boston led 54-50 at halftime and 73-66 with 6:42 left in the third quarter. But Ewing's short shot started an 18-6 run. He ended it with a dunk, giving New York an 84-79 advantage with 1:28 remaining in the period.
"Patrick Ewing was phenomenal," Boston's Joe Kleine said.
The Celtics tied the game 87-87 on Bird's 15-foot jumper early in the fourth, but Tucker's 3-pointer put the Knicks ahead for good as they hit 69 percent of their fourth-quarter shots and 59 percent for the game. The Celtics made 49 percent of their shots.
The last time the Knicks won in Boston Garden was Feb. 29, 1984. They had lost nine straight playoff games there since winning April 19, 1974. In his five pro seasons, Ewing had been 0-19 at the Garden.
"Never once during the entire season, including the playoffs, did I mention the streak," Jackson said. "Our mentality coming in here was healthy because of the games in New York and what was on the line."
The Knicks began the game with losses in 10 of their previous 11 road games but snapped Boston's 13-game home winning streak. They had lost 15 of their last 21 regular-season games to drop into third place in the Atlantic Division behind Boston, which was 9-1 in its last 10.
Then the Celtics won the first two playoff games.
"We felt we were in control, and we were," Boston's John Bagley said. "But they won three games in a row and we couldn't even win one."
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by CNB