Sports

COURTING TROUBLE ; VAN GUNDY’S WARNINGS FALL ON DEAF EARS

THIS much is clear about the Knicks: They have not been listening to Jeff Van Gundy’s constant cries of desperation.

Now, we’ll see if they listen to Latrell Sprewell, who, for the first time in his Knick existence, read his own riot act to his teammates after last night’s apathetic 84-81 loss to the Heat, a team that came to the Garden in the throes of mental and physical anguish after blowing a 22-point fourth-quarter lead to the Bucks at home on Tuesday night.

The Heat remain a team that is shell-shocked over losing Alonzo Mourning to a kidney ailment, but Pat Riley showed last night that he still can come up with a winning plan in the most desperate of times.

“I am proud of how they

came into the Garden tonight and won,” said Riley, who always finds it sweet to beat a team run by Dave Checketts. “This is a great win after [Tuesday] night. They could have gone the other way.”

It was the Knicks who went the other way.

The Knicks knew the Heat would be a wounded animal following that Bucks disaster, but it didn’t matter. The Knicks acted as if this would be a walkover and they found themselves down by 17 early in the third. In the first half the Heat made 16 of 17 free throws. The Knicks made four.

Things were so bad for the Knicks that their former center, a guy named Patrick Ewing, put a call into a Knick official during the game from Seattle, no doubt to talk about old times and perhaps chortle about the Knicks’ struggles. Meanwhile, almost-Knick Brian Grant buried the Knicks with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists while ex-Knick Anthony Mason toasted them with 19 points and 18 rebounds, most coming in the first half.

Larry Johnson was again terrible, shooting 3-for-11, but remains entrenched in Van Gundy’s starting lineup.

Afterward, Van Gundy railed about his team’s lack of preparation. Of course, it is in the coach’s manual that he is the one responsible for his team’s mindset. He takes on the heavy load of getting a team prepared. It’s not easy, but that’s why you get paid $14 million over the life of a contract.

Van Gundy failed miserably at that last night, just as his team failed throughout the first half and in the final seconds after Sprewell valiantly tried to carry the Knick offense on his shoulders.

“I am not happy with anything,” Van Gundy said. “We’re not a serious team and I’ve said the same thing over and over. I am not happy with our group. We’re not going anywhere the way we are going about things.

“We’re not playing smart enough and we are not competing hard enough with enough guys every night.”

Van Gundy knew the Heat, losers of four straight, would be leaving it all on the floor, especially since it was the first meeting of the teams since the Knicks ousted them last spring. Problem was he couldn’t get that message across to his team. Perhaps Van Gundy has cried wolf so many times the players aren’t listening. Perhaps he’s questioned their hunger and lack of a warrior attitude so much that they’ve turned a deaf ear to him.

The bottom line is that the message is not getting through and that is the Knicks most pressing problem. Van Gundy will have to find a way to motivate this team. He can’t continue to lament the Knicks’ weaknesses and side with opposing players like Charles Oakley, but must find a way to make the most of his team’s strengths. Van Gundy needs to stop living in the past.

Perhaps Van Gundy is in shock at how his team has changed from last season and from all the off-season fishing expeditions like the one for Grant that did not come to fruition, but he must take the first step in making the most of the Knicks’ talent.

“I don’t see anybody being dominant in the East,” the coach said before the game, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When it was over, Marcus Camby (nine points, 13 rebounds before fouling out) said it was time for players to look in the mirror while Sprewell made it clear the Knicks must have a more serious lock-down attitude from the start. The Knicks held the Heat to two fourth-quarter baskets, both by Grant.

Sprewell said he saw too much joking by the Knicks.

“I told them when it was going on, I told them after the game, I told them after Jeff told them,” he said. “That won’t be the case again. The one thing we shouldn’t have is Jeff coming back saying stuff like that to us. We got guys who are here from other teams. I don’t know how they went about their business, but when we’re serious, we play good basketball. That’s part of getting yourself mentally ready for the game.That wasn’t the case tonight.”

And it cost the Knicks dearly.