KNICKS ENJOY ROLE REVERSAL; MILLER MISSES CRUCIAL 3-POINT SHOT, EWING MAKES BIG FREE THROWS FOR WIN : NEW YORK 93, INDIANA 90.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Reggie Miller Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965, in Riverside, California) is a retired American professional basketball player. Miller spent the entirety of his 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. spotting up at the elbow very near; at hand. See also: Elbow of the 3-point line. Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played most of his career with the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. standing still at the foul line foul line n. 1. Baseball Either of two straight lines extending from the rear of home plate to the outer edge of the playing field and indicating the area in which a fair ball can be hit. 2. . In the past, you couldn't ask for a better recipe for an Indiana victory. This time, though, history didn't repeat itself in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Ewing calmly made four straight free throws over the final 51 seconds and Miller missed a 3-pointer from his favorite spot with 15 seconds left Sunday as the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Knicks defeated the Indiana Pacers “Pacers” redirects here. For other uses, see Pacers (disambiguation). The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 93-90. ``Reggie has killed us so many times by hitting the big 3s, and we started trapping him,'' Ewing said. ``If someone was going to beat us, it was going to have to be someone else.'' As they did in the first round against Miami and the second round against Atlanta, the Knicks wrested homecourt advantage Noun 1. homecourt advantage - the advantage of playing on your home court in front of fans who are rooting for you advantage, vantage - the quality of having a superior or more favorable position; "the experience gave him the advantage over me" away from their opponent in the first game of the series. Game 2 is Tuesday night at Market Square Arena. In a physical, back-and-forth game, Miller had a chance to put the Pacers ahead when he freed himself along the baseline and got open at the 3-point line with 15 seconds left - the same spot from which he hit two big 3-pointers in the 1995 playoffs and another Knicks-killing 3-pointer in Game 3 of the second round last year. ``Well, he didn't hit it today,'' New York's Latrell Sprewell said. The Knicks rebounded and went ahead 92-88 on two free throws by Chris Childs with 12.4 seconds left. Indiana had one more chance to tie after Childs made only one of two from the line with 6.5 seconds left, but Mark Jackson, his foot close to the 3-point line, shot an airball from the corner just before the final buzzer. It was the team-record sixth straight playoff win for the Knicks, who got 19 points from Allan Houston, 16 each from Ewing and Sprewell and 15 from Larry Johnson. It was their fourth straight postseason road win. Miller had 19 points to lead the Pacers, who trailed for much of the game as Rik Smits (4 for 12), Jackson (1 for 8) and Jalen Rose (4 for 12) had trouble getting untracked offensively. The Pacers finished 3 for 9 from 3-point range. ``For the most part, we guarded the 3-point line well, which is critical for us,'' Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy Jeff Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962 in Hemet, California) is an American basketball head coach, most recently with the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets. Van Gundy attended Nazareth College (1985). said. The Knicks tied their season-low by committing eight turnovers and went 9 for 10 from the foul line over the final 93 seconds. Four of those makes were by Ewing, whose career has included numerous free-throw misses in the closing moments of tight games. ``Every miss has been chronicled,'' Van Gundy said, ``and every make has been overlooked.'' Said Miller: ``He made big free throws. We tried to do everything to ice him out there, and he made all net. ``I think he's been getting a lot of unwarranted criticism in New York. He's been the backbone of that team for so many years, and it seems he's always proving the media and the crowd wrong there.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO New York's Patrick Ewing shoots over Indiana's Rik Smits during the Knicks' win Sunday in Indianapolis. Ewing finished with 16 points. Tom Stratton/Associated Press |
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