Inside legendary moments that lit fire under fierce Knicks-Heat rivalry: ‘Afraid for our lives’
If you want a taste of Heat-Knicks hatred from the 1990s, listen to former coach Jeff Van Gundy change topics during an interview this week.
As he reminisced about “The Shot’’ — Allan Houston’s magical floater from 15 feet that won the epic 1999 first-round series over Miami — Van Gundy delivered an unsolicited riff on Tim Hardaway being hired last season as a Knicks scout.
Hardaway, a noted Heat villain, buried the Knicks with 38 points, seven assists and five steals in Game 7 of the 1997 Eastern Conference semifinals to clinch that Heat-Knicks war. It was the first of four straight playoff battles between the teams from 1997-2000 — with the Knicks winning three of them.
“Tim Hardaway being a Knicks scout is so unnerving to me,’’ Van Gundy told The Post. “It was hard enough watching his son play for the Knicks. Now he works for the Knicks? They’re taking my patience to another level.’’
Now a legendary broadcaster, Van Gundy will cover the renewal of Knicks-Heat, though he is not assigned to Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday afternoon at the Garden.
“If [Hardaway] is at the game wearing a Knicks sweatshirt, I might have to puke,’’ VG said. “He should seriously be able to go home for a week’s moratorium, go back to his Heat roots, so he doesn’t have to fake it and we don’t have to fake it. What’s next, Scottie Pippen as Knicks alumni director?’’
Or maybe owner James Dolan will name Pat Riley as the new Knicks CEO?
Jeff Van Gundy holds on the Alonzo Morning’s leg during the 1998 Knicks-Heat brawl. Jason Szenes
Riley earned the moniker “Pat the Rat” after he faxed the Knicks his resignation following the 1994-95 season to bolt for South Florida sunshine. The Heat were penalized a first-round pick for owner Mickey Arison tampering while Riley was coaching the Knicks.
“It was a great rivalry, and there seemed a million reasons why,’’ former Garden president Dave Checketts told The Post. “Pat drove it, but also Patrick Ewing versus Alonzo Mourning. Alonzo versus Larry Johnson. All the New Yorkers living in the Miami area.’’
Riley, according to Checketts, also wanted to heist Van Gundy.
“He wanted to take Jeff with him [to Miami], and I said no,’’ Checketts said. “It made Jeff mad — until he suddenly became the head coach.’’
The Georgetown dynamic between Ewing and Mourning, both Hoyas stars in college, was complicated.
“Patrick was much bigger than Alonzo,’’ Checketts said. “Alonzo had trouble because of Patrick’s size. They were good friends, but on the court they wanted to get the best of each other.’’
According to an NBA source, players in the locker room thought Ewing had an extra edge against Miami because he believed Riley chose the younger Mourning over him.
The dislike between Mourning and Johnson stemmed from a disagreement they had as teammates with Charlotte, which ignited when Mourning complained publicly about L.J.’s big contract.
Larry Johnson challenges a shot by Alonso Mourning in 1999. Charles Wenzelberg/ New York Post
“Those two wanted to kill each other,’’ said Checketts’ son, Spencer, who was in his late teens during the 1990s battles with the Heat and now hosts a sports talk radio show in Utah.
During the 1998 first-round playoff series, Mourning and Johnson squared off like heavyweight boxers, but the lasting image is of Van Gundy, sprawled on the court and clutching Mourning’s leg during the brawl.
The Knicks were 3-1 in those four series — with the lone defeat, in the 1997 conference semis, marked by the raft of suspensions that came after P.J. Brown flipped Charlie Ward late in Game 5, sparking a brawl that led to Ewing getting suspended for putting one toe onto the court.
“[The team in] 1997 was the best team they had and didn’t win because of the suspensions,’’ Spencer Checketts said. “1999 really was the last season Ewing was Ewing, and he didn’t make it healthy to the Finals. The Knicks should’ve won all four [Miami] series instead of 3-1.’’
Spencer Checketts sat with his father behind the Knicks’ bench on May 16, 1999, at the old Miami Arena, grabbing his dad’s arm as Houston caught an inbound pass.
Houston then hit one of the most famous baskets in Knicks history. The first two baskets by the hobbled Willis Reed to open Game 7 of the 1970 Finals and Johnson’s four-point play versus the Pacers in the 1999 second round also rate.
A defeat that day certainly would’ve led to Van Gundy’s firing after a tumultous season. Maybe Phil Jackson, whom Dave Checketts flirted with, would’ve been Knicks head coach in his prime instead of what he became: Knicks president past his prime.
Though the Knicks made it to the NBA Finals in 1999, losing to the Spurs, they had struggled in assembling a handful of new players, such as Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby. That led to an eighth seed in the East and the firing after the season of general manager Ernie Grunfeld, who had battled with Van Gundy over playing time for the new additions.
Houston’s shot saved Van Gundy.
“I know [Allan] gets asked about it a lot just like I get asked about P.J. Brown all the time,’’ said Ward, who is still buddies with Houston.
The Knicks, trailing the Heat by a point in Game 5 of the best-of-five opening-round series, maintained possession with five seconds left after a sloppy possession in which Sprewell fumbled the ball out of bounds but the ball was ruled to have gone off Miami’s Terry Porter.
Ward prepared to inbound as Van Gundy signaled for “Triangle Down.”
“I always took the ball out in late-game situations’’ said Ward, now coach at Florida State High. “That was a play we normally run there.’’
“It was a low-scoring game,’’ Spencer Checketts said. “There wasn’t a lot of confidence. Baskets were at such a premium. Everyone felt that game was over.’’
After getting a pick from Ewing, Houston raced out to the top of the key to accept Ward’s inbound pass as the Heat’s Dan Majerle trailed in pursuit. That created a pathway for Houston to drive, with Majerle a step behind. He tried to block the shot, but made contact with Houston instead.
Houston pulled up for a leaning floater that bounced off the front of the rim, hit the glass and dropped through the net with 0.8 seconds left for a 78-77 lead that became the final score.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks vs. Heat NBA playoff series
“Monumental moment,’’ Ward said. “We were fortunate to get that bounce but the play was well executed.’’
“What makes it special to me was Allan got hit upside the head by Majerle,’’ Van Gundy said. “It should’ve been a foul. To take that blow and have the skill and touch to have it drop through showed his greatness as a player, an exceptionally clutch player. To do it while getting fouled was truly an incredible shot.
“The joy of Allan running down the court and pumping his arm was a memory but we still had to get a stop.”
The events that ensued became legendary for Van Gundy watchers. With 0.8 seconds left, Porter got a good look from 40 feet after catching and dribbling once, but missed. A Knicks celebration ensued — except for Van Gundy, who tore after referee Ed Rush, chewed him out for minutes.
Dave Checketts had to run back onto the court to retrieve Van Gundy, who had felt robbed in Miami the previous season when a tap-in by Houston that would have given the Knicks a win was disallowed at the final buzzer.
One version of the story said Van Gundy was motivated to put it in referees’ minds for the next series. Van Gundy said that’s a folk tale.
Alan Houston drives against the Heat in 1999. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
“I was just f–king mad,’’ he said. “I’m not that calculating. It was absurd they would’ve counted it on a catch, dribble, pick-up and a shot [by Porter] in 0.8 seconds. I wasn’t faking anger. It was wrong, and back then there was no replay [review].’’
The scene inside the arena felt surreal.
“It was a carnival atmosphere,’’ Spencer Checketts said. “The Heat contingent was a combination of silence, shock and disbelief. And there’s a pocket of delirious Knicks fans going crazy.’’
The players endured a trip to the locker room filled with a fusillade of profanities. Dave Checketts’ new Brooks Brothers suit was ruined when a fan spilled beer on him and Johnson.
“We were afraid for our lives,’’ Dave Checketts said. “People were throwing things at the team and screaming. We got back to the locker room area and Larry — no wonder he had a bad back — saw me, picked me up, hugging me. And I’m not a small guy. I was covered in sweat but so happy for a lot of reasons, happy for Jeff.’’
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The Knicks flew straight to Atlanta for the second round. The next afternoon at the hotel, Van Gundy was summoned to the front desk, where he received a congratulatory letter from Riley. They hadn’t been on speaking terms for a year.
“It was very nice,’’ Van Gundy said. “It showed how things were changing from a bit of disdain to more appreciation how good the other team was.’’
Van Gundy won’t acknowledge that it saved his job, but said, “It didn’t hurt.’’
“The organization hadn’t given him a tremendous vote of confidence and Jeff always coached every game like it was his last,’’ Spencer Checketts said. “To beat his mentor, Pat Riley, that was validation for him and for the organization they had the right guy. He had outcoached Pat. It meant a lot to Jeff to show the world he was up to the challenge to hang with Pat and outcoach him.’’
Because the Knicks fell short of breaking the championship drought in a five-game Finals wipeout against San Antonio, “The Shot,” as Houston’s basket was nicknamed by team historian Dennis D’Agostino, didn’t erase the painful memory of 1997’s Ward-Brown brawl. In that 1997 East semifinal series, he Knicks blew a 3-1 lead in the suspension-laden finish and lost in seven games.
“1997 was our best team — we were loaded,” Grunfeld said. “The Bulls were in our sightlines. Six players were suspended, and we had to do it alphabetically. We wanted all six players to be suspended for one game, but that’s not the rule. We never got the full roster for Games 6 and 7. It was the best chance to get the Bulls while they still had Michael [Jordan].’’
Last May, in a 25th anniversary story on “The Flip,” Ward told The Post he and Brown had patched things up, with the former Heat forward making a donation to Ward’s downtrodden Pensacola, Fla., football team a few years back. The two had been in pregame chapel together.
Van Gundy said it was his fault for not controlling the bench, but one team source said the crazed player reaction to Brown sending Ward flying to the hardwood stemmed from Ward’s popularity.
“The locker room was filled with a lot of real physical guys who wanted to mix it up and went out and had a good time when they weren’t playing,’’ the team source said. “Charlie was the spiritual leader of that locker room. I often wonder what the reaction would’ve been if it wasn’t Charlie. That’s not the dude you go after. P.J. is 6-10. Charlie is 6-foot. That fired the guys up.’’
That 1997 Game 5 brawl started with a hard pick Hardaway set on Charles Oakley with the Heat up 12 and 1:55 left. Hardaway crashed to the floor. Oakley and Mourning got entangled and skirmished. Oakley retaliated by bumping Mourning and was ejected.
Tempers were hot when Brown and Ward tangled as they lined up along the lane for Hardaway’s ensuing free throws, and Ward appeared to go for Brown’s legs on the box out.
“A lesson for everyone involved,’’ Ward said.
Some of the same cast members will be on hand Sunday. Current Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was on Van Gundy’s staff. Rick Brunson, a Thibodeau assistant, was the Knicks’ 12th man during their 1999 and 2000 playoff runs. Houston and Hardaway, who were not permitted to comment this week as Knicks employees, will be there. Riley is the longtime Heat president. Arison still owns the Heat.
Maybe there will be a resurfaced Garden chant of “Riley sucks.’’ Dave Checketts said he hopes not, crediting Riley for changing the Knicks’ culture starting in 1991.
Dave Checketts said he and Riley mended matters in Springfield, Mass., in 2008, when Ewing and Riley were each inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Pat Riley coaching against the Knicks in 1999. Nury Hernandez
“After the speeches were over — and Pat unexpectedly thanked me for bringing him to New York — he and I embraced and let it all go,’’ Checketts said. “We said, ‘We had a great time together and sorry about what happened at the end. Let’s move on.’ ”
The franchises last danced in the playoffs in 2012 when LeBron James’ Dream Team won in five — a series noted more for the Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire nearly severing his finger when punching a hallway fire extinguisher than court theatrics. One eyewitness said it was the most blood he’d ever seen in a locker-room area. In the 1990s, the blood was on the playing floor.
“Coaches knew each together very well and had very similar styles,’’ Ward said of the 1990s. “Very similar players, similar plays. There’s a reason why they say opposites attract. And when you have teams alike, they’re butting heads because they’re thinking alike. What you get with similar styles is friction and emotion.”
South Florida fans are abuzz.
“The names are the same as far as the franchises but the players are all different,’’ said Grunfeld, who is retired and a self-proclaimed lifelong Knicks fan. “But it brings back some of those old memories for Knicks fans who went through the great period of the 1990s.’’
Source: New York Post
