Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 19, 1993 TAG: 9305190418
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ED HARDIN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The win advanced the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals, where they will play the Chicago Bulls. Charlotte's season ended only after the young Hornets pushed the Knicks to the end.
"We took it as far as we could," Alonzo Mourning said. "We don't have to hang our heads."
"We need to take some time the next couple of days just gathering the psyche of this team," New York coach Pat Riley said. "It's going to be tough."
Mourning held Patrick Ewing to nine points - his lowest total of the season - and the Hornets took the fifth and deciding game down to the closing minutes. The Knicks will stagger into their series with Chicago.
"We took a lot out of them," Hornets guard Muggsy Bogues said. "They know they've been in a war."
The Hornets will spend the off-season knowing they were a lot better than most people believed - themselves included.
"We gained confidence as we went along," guard Dell Curry said. "We were pretty good all along. We got hot at the right time. We could have beaten New York. We know now we can beat anybody."
The Knicks did not handle the pressure well in either of their opening-round series against Indiana and Charlotte. And on Tuesday, New York hardly looked like the team that had won more games than any other outfit in the conference this year.
Despite holding Charlotte to 30-percent shooting in the first half, the Knicks could muster only a three-point lead.
Despite playing a Hornets team without leading scorer Larry Johnson, who picked up three fouls in the first quarter, New York struggled to keep a lead.
Despite coming into the game with a 3-1 edge in the best-of-seven series, New York seemed timid.
"There was a lot of pressure on us," Knicks forward Charles Smith said. "Now the pressure will subside, but not for long."
The Knicks came out of a series they hoped to dominate with the dread feeling that they could have lost every game to Charlotte.
Each game started with New trying to put the brash expansion team away quickly, only to end up struggling to win at all.
The Knicks went for the final knockout in the early minutes Tuesday, rattling the young Hornets with defense and Ewing dunks. New York's lead reached 11 only four minutes into the game.
At that point, Charlotte looked out of place in the semifinals of the NBA Eastern Conference series. Things got worse.
Johnson, who picked a foul on New York's first possession of the game, picked up his second wih 6:03 left in the first period. After an extended argument, he received a technical, his second of the series.
Only 42 seconds later, Johnson commited his third personal.
For the first time in the series, Charlotte looked like an expansion team. But that was precisely the point where the more experienced Knicks came unraveled.
Ewing, who picked up his first foul 33 seconds into the game, picked up his second with 4:43 left in the first quarter, then, too, earned a technical.
With Ewing on the bench, the game took its first major turn. Charlotte roared from behind, just as it did in Games 1, 2 and 4, and tied the game at 26 on a baseline drive by Kendall Gill.
The half ended with Charlotte trailing 45-42 with Johnson going scoreless, Mourning making only 2 of 9 shots from the field and David Wingate missing 5 of 6.
Charlotte continued to struggle in the third, falling behind by 12 late in the period after its defense began to come apart. The Hornets began to stand around and watch their shots clang off the rim, and New York took advantage, turning its half-court game into a running attack against tiring Charlotte.
In the end, the Hornets played out their season with nothing left for the Knicks except adrenaline.
"Heart," Mourning said. "This team has a heart that won't quit. We'll be back next year."
Close losses in Games 1 and 2 and a double-overtime win and a two-point loss at Charlotte left the Hornets depleted. Those games took their toll as Charlotte went at the Knicks one last time in the closing seconds.
"We went out swinging," Bogues said. "We can be proud, but we aren't happy. We wanted to win. I thought the fourth quarter was ours."
The fourth quarter started out like it would be Charlotte's worst nightmare. But the Hornets rallied.
"They just wouldn't quit," Riley said. "We played a very committed team that played beyond its years. Now it's time to move up."
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by CNB