ATLANTA – The Heat are gone, but now the heat is on.
There is no time for the Knicks to celebrate following Sunday’s emotional, last-second victory over the Heat. Tonight at the Georgia Dome they step into their personal hell – the second round of the NBA playoffs – against the Hawks.
“They should be looked upon as an elite team,” Knick coach Jeff Van Gundy said yesterday, banging the drums for the Hawks. “They’ve dealt with a lot of injuries, but certainly they quietly and efficiently go about their business. They’re extremely well coached. They’re just a heck of a team. Obviously, we’re going in the heavy underdog again – they’re the fourth seed, we’re the eighth.”
Right now the Hawks’ business is to beat the Knicks in the second round, something that opponents have accomplished in each of the previous four seasons.
Even though the Knicks’ 78-77 Game 5 win over the Heat was dramatic, ending with Allan Houston following the bouncing ball to Nirvana, consider this: All the Knicks really proved with that victory is that they are as good as last year’s Knicks, a team that went .500 without Patrick Ewing, a team that beat the Heat without Ewing.
The Knicks then went on to the second round and got smacked around by Indiana, losing in five games. They catch a huge break this year, not having to face Indiana in Round Deuce, but Atlanta is a formidable opponent, even though it did take the Hawks five games to oust a mediocre Detroit team.
“It’s the second round, and if we win that series it will be even sweeter,” Chris Childs said yesterday. “We don’t have time to relax. It’s time to go back to work.”
Said Houston, whose 10-foot leaner in the lane with 0.8 seconds remaining made the Knicks winners: “We’ve survived for another day. As hard as it is, you have to put it behind you and we’ve got to look forward. Even though it was a great moment, I’d like to be in bigger games – the finals. Anything can happen.”
To get the finals, these Knicks first have to find a way out of the second round.
Van Gundy, who praises opponents with gusto, had many kind words for the Hawks. When he was done, it sounded like the Hawks were a team of Michael Jordans. But such is the art of coaching these days in the sad-sack NBA.
Because the teams are so equal, you are looking for every edge you can get to keep your players focused. Van Gundy does not want to let the Knicks get too full of themselves because, as they have proved over and over, they are a team that does not handle prosperity.
The Hawks shot .444 in their series against the Pistons while the Heat managed only a .400 percentage against the Knicks. In point guard Mookie Blaylock, shooting guard Steve Smith and center Dikembe Mutombo, the Knicks have their hands full, especially considering Ewing is a walking M*A*S*H unit.
The Hawks are well-coached, too, and Lenny Wilkens had praise for the Knicks yesterday.
“They’re a real smart, veteran team,” he said. “They have guys who canput points on the board real quick, so our defense has to be consistent and we’ve got to contest everything.”
“There’s not too many times you can go from playing against a Pat Riley team to playing a guy with more wins,” Van Gundy said of Wilkens. “There’s only one. Longevity and results in different places, to me, just shows his greatness as a coach. He’s done it in a very dignified manner, gets his teams to play totally unselfishly and play extremely hard defensively. That’s good coaching.”
There’s also the possibility the Knicks will be suffering a Heat hangover this series, just as they did last year when they were beaten in Game 1 in Indiana.
“We had that Game 5 we played in Boston a long time ago, went to Detroit the next game and got blown out,” Van Gundy said. “Last year we came off a Game 5, went to Indiana, jumped off very good but didn’t have it. They caught us in the second quarter. Certainly, we want to be right mentally, emotionally and physically as much as we can. We don’t want to give one away because of a mental standpoint.”
The best thing the Knicks have going for them this year, besides the new-look of Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby, is that this opponent is not Indiana.
The Hawks are a good team, not a great team. Opportunity is knocking for the Knicks again. Will they open the door or, for the fifth straight season, have it slammed in their faces in the second round?