Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 17, 1993 TAG: 9305170145
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ED HARDIN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: Medium
Blackman's 15-foot rainbow with time running out gave the New York Knicks a 94-92 win and a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. Game 5 will be Tuesday in New York.
The Hornets came back from a 15-point deficit in the second half, tying it with 28 seconds to play and forcing Blackman to take a last-resort shot with one second left on the shot clock.
"It went in," Blackman said. "What can I say? This is probably the biggest shot I have hit all year."
And he wasn't even supposed to take it.
"We wanted to get the ball in to Patrick [Ewing], but he was covered," Blackman said. "Hubert [Davis] took the ball inside and dumped it back to me. I didn't have time for anything else. Fortunately, it went in."
Charlotte's last chance ended in confusion as the Hornets called for a 20-second timeout with 3.9 seconds to play. A set play for either Alonzo Mourning or Larry Johnson never materialized. Point guard Muggsy Bogues lost control of the ball as he entered the lane with one second to play and the Hornets failed to get a shot off.
"I think I dribbled it off Patrick's foot," Bogues said.
The mistake ended an improbable run for Charlotte, which fought back from New York's biggest lead of the series.
"Down 3-1 and going back to New York is a tough task," Johnson said. "But coming back from that and winning the series is all the incentive you need. There's no question we can play with them. Every game we've played in this series could have gone either way."
Only four teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series.
In what has become a pattern in this series, Charlotte led early, New York sprinted ahead, then the Hornets made their run late.
"We knew we would make a run," Johnson said. "There are eight teams left struggling for a title, and none of them are going to just lay down."
Knicks guard Doc Rivers said he knew Charlotte would come back, too.
"They don't stop," Rivers said. "They are young and aggressive and they don't back down."
Three technicals were called in the first half as both teams resorted to a lot of pushing and shoving, trash-talking and complaining. New York coaches came onto the floor at one point to keep their players away from referee Joe Crawford.
Rivers had to have three stitches above his left eye as a result of a collision with Bogues.
The Knicks flourished in the rough conditions, reducing Charlotte's attack to occasional slashes to the basket where New York blocked eight Charlotte shots and altered countless others. At one point, the Hornets missed 14 of 17 shots.
Charlotte wasted several opportunities in the first half and fell behind by 10 late in the second period. Ewing scored 16 before intermission despite missing eight minutes after picking up his second foul with 6:57 left in the first quarter. While Ewing was away, however, the Knicks actually pulled away from Charlotte.
The Hornets went to a halfcourt game, with Dell Curry running off screens and everyone else crashing the boards. New York looked lost without Ewing, but substitute Herb Williams scored eight in Ewing's absence.
Charlotte tied the score early in the second period when Curry scored from deep in the corner. Ewing returned 1:08 into the quarter and took over. Ewing's return changed the game at both ends of the floor as Charlotte stopped running. Bogues' third foul with 2:40 left in the half resulted in a technical, too, and New York went ahead 55-45.
Charlotte cut the lead to 58-51 at halftime only to watch the Knicks go on an 8-0 run to open the second half.
The Hornets came back slowly, cutting the lead to six at the end of the third period and to four with 8:33 left in the game. Charlotte would tie it twice in the final minutes, the last time on Johnson's jumper with 28 seconds to play.
Ewing led all scorers with 28 points and Charles Smith added 21 in his best game of the series for New York. Johnson scored 24 and Gill had 21 for Charlotte, which got only 12 points from Mourning.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB