For those who desire a taste of Heat-Knicks hatred from the Nineteen Nineties, take heed 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 primary of 4 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 a different level.’’
Now a legendary broadcaster, Van Gundy will cover the renewal of Knicks-Heat, though he just isn’t assigned to Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday afternoon on the Garden.
“If [Hardaway] is at the sport wearing a Knicks sweatshirt, I may need to puke,’’ VG said. “He should seriously give you the chance to go home for every week’s moratorium, return to his Heat roots, so he doesn’t need to fake it and we don’t need to fake it. What’s next, Scottie Pippen as Knicks alumni director?’’
Or possibly owner James Dolan will name Pat Riley as the brand new Knicks CEO?
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 fantastic rivalry, and there seemed 1,000,000 the reason why,’’ former Garden president Dave Checketts told The Post. “Pat drove it, but in addition Patrick Ewing versus Alonzo Mourning. Alonzo versus Larry Johnson. All of the Recent Yorkers living within the Miami area.’’
Riley, in accordance with Checketts, also desired to heist Van Gundy.
“He desired to take Jeff with him [to Miami], and I said no,’’ Checketts said. “It made Jeff mad — until he suddenly became the pinnacle coach.’’
The Georgetown dynamic between Ewing and Mourning, each Hoyas stars in college, was complicated.
“Patrick was much larger than Alonzo,’’ Checketts said. “Alonzo had trouble due to Patrick’s size. They were good friends, but on the court they desired to get one of the best of one another.’’
In line with an NBA source, players within the locker room thought Ewing had an additional edge against Miami because he believed Riley selected the younger Mourning over him.
The detest between Mourning and Johnson stemmed from a disagreement that they had as teammates with Charlotte, which ignited when Mourning complained publicly about L.J.’s big contract.
“Those two desired to kill one another,’’ said Checketts’ son, Spencer, who was in his late teens throughout the Nineteen Nineties battles with the Heat and now hosts a sports talk radio show in Utah.
In the course of the 1998 first-round playoff series, Mourning and Johnson squared off like heavyweight boxers, however the lasting image is of Van Gundy, sprawled on the court and clutching Mourning’s leg throughout the brawl.
The Knicks were 3-1 in those 4 series — with the lone defeat, within the 1997 conference semis, marked by the raft of suspensions that got here 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 one of the best team that they had and didn’t win due to 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 4 [Miami] series as a substitute of 3-1.’’
Spencer Checketts sat together with his father behind the Knicks’ bench on May 16, 1999, on the old Miami Arena, grabbing his dad’s arm as Houston caught an inbound pass.
Houston then hit some of the famous baskets in Knicks history. The primary two baskets by the hobbled Willis Reed to open Game 7 of the 1970 Finals and Johnson’s four-point play versus the Pacers within the 1999 second round also rate.
A defeat that day definitely would’ve led to Van Gundy’s firing after a tumultous season. Possibly Phil Jackson, whom Dave Checketts flirted with, would’ve been Knicks head coach in his prime as a substitute of what he became: Knicks president past his prime.
Though the Knicks made it to the NBA Finals in 1999, losing to the Spurs, that they had struggled in assembling a handful of latest players, reminiscent of Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby. That led to an eighth seed within the East and the firing after the season of general manager Ernie Grunfeld, who had battled with Van Gundy over playing time for the brand new additions.
Houston’s shot saved Van Gundy.
“I do know [Allan] gets asked about it lots similar to I get asked about P.J. Brown on a regular basis,’’ said Ward, who continues to be buddies with Houston.
The Knicks, trailing the Heat by a degree in Game 5 of the best-of-five opening-round series, maintained possession with five seconds left after a sloppy possession by which Sprewell fumbled the ball out of bounds however the ball was ruled to have gone off Miami’s Terry Porter.
Ward prepared to inbound as Van Gundy signaled for “Triangle Down.”
“I all the time 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 whole 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 highest of the important thing to simply accept Ward’s inbound pass because the Heat’s Dan Majerle trailed in pursuit. That created a pathway for Houston to drive, with Majerle a step behind. He tried to dam the shot, but made contact with Houston as a substitute.
Houston pulled up for a leaning floater that bounced off the front of the rim, hit the glass and dropped through the online with 0.8 seconds left for a 78-77 lead that became the ultimate rating.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks vs. Heat NBA playoff series
“Monumental moment,’’ Ward said. “We were fortunate to get that bounce however the play was well executed.’’
“What makes it special to me was Allan got hit upside the pinnacle 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 enjoyment of Allan running down the court and pumping his arm was a memory but we still needed to get a stop.”
The events that ensued became legendary for Van Gundy watchers. With 0.8 seconds left, Porter got an excellent look from 40 feet after catching and dribbling once, but missed. A Knicks celebration ensued — aside from Van Gundy, who tore after referee Ed Rush, chewed him out for minutes.
Dave Checketts needed 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 may have given the Knicks a win was disallowed at the ultimate buzzer.
One version of the story said Van Gundy was motivated to place it in referees’ minds for the following series. Van Gundy said that’s a folk tale.
“I used to be just f–king mad,’’ he said. “I’m not that calculating. It was absurd they might’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 improper, and back then there was no replay [review].’’
The scene inside the world felt surreal.
“It was a carnival atmosphere,’’ Spencer Checketts said. “The Heat contingent was a mixture of silence, shock and disbelief. And there’s a pocket of delirious Knicks fans going crazy.’’
The players endured a visit to the locker room stuffed with a fusillade of profanities. Dave Checketts’ recent 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 on the team and screaming. We got back to the locker room area and Larry — no wonder he had a foul back — saw me, picked me up, hugging me. And I’m not a small guy. I used to be covered in sweat but so pleased for a whole lot of reasons, pleased for Jeff.’’
The Knicks flew straight to Atlanta for the second round. The subsequent afternoon on 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 12 months.
“It was very nice,’’ Van Gundy said. “It showed how things were changing from a little bit of disdain to more appreciation how good the opposite team was.’’
Van Gundy won’t acknowledge that it saved his job, but said, “It didn’t hurt.’’
“The organization hadn’t given him an amazing vote of confidence and Jeff all the time coached every game prefer it was his last,’’ Spencer Checketts said. “To beat his mentor, Pat Riley, that was validation for him and for the organization that they had the suitable guy. He had outcoached Pat. It meant lots to Jeff to point out the world he was as much as the challenge to hold with Pat and outcoach him.’’
Since the Knicks fell wanting 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 within the suspension-laden finish and lost in seven games.
“1997 was our greatest team — we were loaded,” Grunfeld said. “The Bulls were in our sightlines. Six players were suspended, and we needed 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 total roster for Games 6 and seven. It was one of the best likelihood to get the Bulls while they still had Michael [Jordan].’’
Last May, in a twenty fifth anniversary story on “The Flip,” Ward told The Post he and Brown had patched things up, with the previous Heat forward making a donation to Ward’s downtrodden Pensacola, Fla., football team a couple of years back. The 2 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 response to Brown sending Ward flying to the hardwood stemmed from Ward’s popularity.
“The locker room was stuffed with a whole lot of real physical guys who desired to mix it up and went out and had an excellent time after they weren’t playing,’’ the team source said. “Charlie was the spiritual leader of that locker room. I often wonder what the response 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 blokes up.’’
That 1997 Game 5 brawl began with a tough pick Hardaway set on Charles Oakley with the Heat up 12 and 1:55 left. Hardaway crashed to the ground. 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 everybody involved,’’ Ward said.
Among the same forged members will likely be available Sunday. Current Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was on Van Gundy’s staff. Rick Brunson, a Thibodeau assistant, was the Knicks’ twelfth man during their 1999 and 2000 playoff runs. Houston and Hardaway, who weren’t permitted to comment this week as Knicks employees, will likely be there. Riley is the longtime Heat president. Arison still owns the Heat.
Possibly there will likely 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.
“After the speeches were over — and Pat unexpectedly thanked me for bringing him to Recent York — he and I embraced and let all of it go,’’ Checketts said. “We said, ‘We had a fantastic time together and sorry about what happened at the tip. Let’s move on.’ ”
The franchises last danced within 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 probably the most blood he’d ever seen in a locker-room area. Within the Nineteen Nineties, the blood was on the playing floor.
“Coaches knew each together thoroughly and had very similar styles,’’ Ward said of the Nineteen Nineties. “Very similar players, similar plays. There’s a reason why they are saying opposites attract. And when you could have teams alike, they’re butting heads because they’re considering alike. What you get with similar styles is friction and emotion.”
South Florida fans are abuzz.
“The names are similar to far because the franchises however the players are all different,’’ said Grunfeld, who’s retired and a self-proclaimed lifelong Knicks fan. “However it brings back a few of those old memories for Knicks fans who went through the nice period of the Nineteen Nineties.’’