Tim Not Tiny for the Heat

MIAMI — Just when the New York Knicks thought it was safe to start patting themselves on the back again . . .

They had a four-game winning streak over the Miami Heat and were 1:13 away from making it five Friday night. Alonzo Mourning had fouled out again. And, of course, the Chicago Bulls are struggling so this could be the Knicks’ chance to beat them and everybody knows it’s a down year in the West, so crank up that parade!

What could go wrong?

There was only one thing, Tim Hardaway drove the lane, lofting a five-footer over Patrick Ewing’s fingertips and into the hoop for last of his 34 points and the winning shot with 49 seconds left as the Heat won, 88-84, to tie this Eastern Conference blood feud, 1-1.

Hardaway, asked if he knew he’d have to be the one to take that shot, summed it up with a succinct: “Yeah.”

“Everybody looked at me,” he said. “They said, ‘Timmy, you got to go to the hole and make something happen.’

“It’s big for us. We let them beat us up mentally and physically four games in a row. We need to come out here and play tougher, play a lot harder, get the loose balls, just be crazy and grab everything.”

Unfortunately for the Heat, the series is leaving here, heading for New York to begin its Tabloid Phase, in which Pat Riley is Pat the Rat in headlines and the fans boo him from the moment his moussed hairdo comes into view.

Their Knicks almost brought their fans a 2-0 lead as a present, which would have made it perfect. Since sweeping Charlotte in the first round, they have fallen in love with themselves again and have celebrated accordingly. Larry Johnson danced so much, Hornet Coach Dave Cowens called him “goofy.”

After the Knicks won Game 1 here, even Riley appeared to concede that he was in against a superior force and couldn’t cover up his weaknesses forever.

“You can beat anyone one time, but in seven games, the best team is going to win,” Riley said between games. “That’s been my experience.”

In Game 2, the gap seemed to widen. Hardaway scored 34 points. Mourning scored 24. The other three Miami starters, Jamal Mashburn, Voshon Lenard and P.J. Brown, made three shots all night among them.

Somehow, the Heat hung in. In the last 2:41 of the first half, Hardaway went crazy, scoring 13 points (a scoop layup, a left-handed scoop layup and three three-pointers, including one at the buzzer), giving the Heat a 48-42 lead.

Miami hung on in the fourth quarter on sheer will and defense and the fact the Knicks missed their first 13 shots, until Ewing made a short jumper with 4:17 left.

With 1:13 left, however, Allan Houston knocked Hardaway backward with a shoulder, got away with it and made a 12-footer to put the Knicks up, 84-83. The Heat already feels persecuted enough, after the league forced it to settle with the Knicks for tampering with Riley and struck down its signing of Juwan Howard. If Houston’s shot had won this game, Miami might have seceded from the NBA on the spot.

But Hardaway had one more shot left, putting the Heat ahead, 85-84. At the other end, Chris Childs missed a layup in traffic. The Heat got the ball and ran the clock down until Mashburn, left wide open, made a three-pointer to put it away.

“Voshon has been really struggling in these two games,” Riley said later. “We’ve always had at least one other guy step up, but we haven’t gotten it yet. I’d like Jamal to do it. We definitely need another player.”

It’s unlikely they can acquire one by Sunday’s Game 3, so Hardaway and Mourning had better get their rest.