In case you’ve forgotten, two years ago the Knicks were on their way to a second-round victory over the Heat when P.J. Brown flipped an undercutting Charlie Ward and all hell broke loose.
The Knicks were leading the series 3-1 at the time and would have lost that Game 5 anyway, but shorthanded because of suspensions, they never recovered and lost Game 6 at the Garden, 95-90, then were bounced out of the playoffs in Game 7 with a 101-90 defeat. Three straight bitter defeats added up to another second-round knockout.
Last year they got their revenge, bouncing the Heat out of the first round with a Game 5 victory in Miami.
As the Knicks and Heat are set to begin Round 3 tomorrow in Miami, Van Gundy wants his team to remember one very important lesson from last year’s series: Come out fired up, but under control.
The Knicks were so concerned about acting like fools the previous year in The Fight that they were too cool to win in Game One in Miami last year, losing, 94-79. He doesn’t want to see history repeat itself.
“Last year we were so poised in the first game we didn’t play hard,” Van Gundy said yesterday at Purchase College. “We got run out of there. After that we got back to who we are, which is play hard and play intense. When a skirmish comes about, which inevitably it will in five games, that’s where you use your poise to walk away and not go over the line then.
“Neither team is a dirty team,” insisted Van Gundy. “Both teams play hard.”The Knicks will need more poise this year because being the eighth seed is a tremendous hurdle to jump. Only once has an eighth seed beat a No. 1 seed.
“They’re a much better team than they were last year, much better,” Van Gundy said. “We’re going to have to play much, much better to win.”