Another Knicks season ends in disappointment
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Despite the guarantees, there will not be a return to the NBA Finals for the New York Knicks.
|  | | Patrick Ewing faces another summer of questions. |
The latest season to end without a title finished Friday night
when the Indiana Pacers pulled away in the fourth quarter for a
93-80 victory in Game 6.
The loss in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals means no
repeat trip to the NBA Finals for the Knicks, who won their last
championship in 1973.
It also added a non-title year to the Patrick Ewing era. New York's center since the 1985-86 season was one of the players who
guaranteed a win that would send the series back to Indiana for a
Game 7.
"I'm very proud of my teammates," Ewing said. "I think we
worked extremely hard. The outcome doesn't show all the work and
effort and the energy we put to get back to the championship. I
thought we worked hard. We deserve to be there, but I guess it
wasn't our turn again."
Ewing and Latrell Sprewell had the sellout crowd at Madison
Square Garden thinking there would be that deciding game when they
combined to score all but two of New York's 21 points in the third
quarter when the Knicks turned a 50-41 halftime deficit into a
62-62 tie.
Sprewell, who had nine points in the third quarter, opened the
fourth with a 3-pointer that gave the Knicks a 65-62 lead, their
last as Reggie Miller led the Pacers on a 10-0 run. New York was
never closer than four points the rest of the way.
"I don't know if we ran out of gas," Knicks coach Jeff Van
Gundy said. "I think we played extremely hard. I just think we got
outplayed. I think it is very simple."
Both Ewing and Sprewell fought through injuries in the series as
did teammates Marcus Camby and Larry Johnson, but that wasn't
enough as Miller scored 17 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter.
"It's going to be difficult to accept for a couple of weeks
while others are still playing games," Sprewell said.
Sprewell finished with 32 points, while Ewing had 18 points and
12 rebounds. Only Allan Houston, with 10 points, was also in double figures for the Knicks, who had won Games 6 and 7 against Miami to advance to the conference finals.
"You're going to face elimination games as you go along in the
playoffs unless you're a dominant team," Van Gundy said. "Indiana
faced theirs against Milwaukee and got through it. We faced two
against Miami and got through it. Certainly you would rather play
with a cushion and be ahead. Playoff basketball is about responding
to whatever situation you're in. This isn't about anything except
they outplayed us tonight."
Sprewell said the elimination games did make a difference.
"The Miami series took a lot out of us," he said. "It took a
game or two to switch gears and get ready for Indiana.
"Last year, in every game I can think of at least two guys were
playing well. This year, minus Game 3, it seemed only one guy was
carrying us."
This was the Knicks' team-record 13th consecutive postseason
appearance. In that span there have been four trips to the
conference finals and two to the in the NBA Finals -- a seven-game
loss to Houston in 1994 and last season's five-game loss to San
Antonio.
The sellout crowd was the 347th in a row at the Garden and the
usual array of celebrities was on hand. All those people and the
Knicks left again without a title.
Van Gundy was asked what his message was to the team after the
game.
"Not after the game. It's not the appropriate time," he said. "We will get together Sunday, talk briefly and move on."
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