Knicks Lose The Hard-A-Way

April 25, 1998 / 1:27 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Tim Hardaway sank a 3-pointer and punched the air with his fist. Eric Murdock made the same gesture when he converted a three-point play.

That's as violent as things got Friday, when the Miami Heat landed the biggest blows and beat the New York Knicks 94-79 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Hardaway scored 34 points and Murdock added 16 off the bench as the Heat built a 24-point lead and then withstood a Knicks' comeback. Game 2 will be Sunday in Miami.

The opener had no repeat of the disputed last-second call that cost New York a victory at Miami earlier this month, and little of the bad behavior that has marked the rivalry.

"With all the rhetoric and talk during the week, I got the feeling we were playing in the finals," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We're in the first round. Miami-New York obviously brings out a lot of feelings, but our guys got past that and just came to play. We want to win, but we're not trying to prove anything to the Knicks."

The game was nearly six minutes old before the first foul occurred, and the only punch was Miami's inside-outside combination, which overwhelmed New York in the early going.

Miami repeatedly penetrated the lane, setting up open shots on the perimeter. Hardaway made six of Miami's 11 3-pointers, and Voshon Lenard and Dan Majerle had two each.

"It's a good shot for us," Riley said. "If you get a good shot against the Knicks, you've got to take it. They don't give you many."

The Heat built a 65-41 lead early in the second half and then went cold, missing 14 of their next 17 shots. While center Alonzo Mourning sat on the bench with four fouls, New York repeatedly got to the free-throw line and closed to 79-71 with 6:40 left.

"You can't give them CPR," Mourning said. "You can't give them life, and that's what we were doing."

The Knicks finished 26-of-29 at the line, but it wasn't enough. Murdock, a reserve point guard who finished one point shy of his regular-season high, converted a pair of three-point plays to help slow New York's comeback.

"Eric was the key to the game," Riley said. "We know Tim is going to be pressured, and Eric has to come in and take some of the pressure off. He was rock solid. He made every big play for us in the fourth quarter when we needed it."

The Knicks, still without injured center Patrick Ewing, had counted on Allan Houston to spark their offense. But he had trouble shaking Majerle and missed 13 of 18 shots to finish with 17 points.

Larry Johnson had 21 to lead the Knicks. They shot just 37 percent, including 1-for-5 on 3-pointers.

"We've got to find a way to score," coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "You can't shoot 37 percent in the playoffs and win games."

Haraway had 14 points in the first quarter and 24 by halftime, when Miami led 57-37.

"I just wanted to be aggressive, go to the hole and make my shots," he said.

Mourning said the Heat's preparation in practice paid off.

"We were eating, sleeping and drinking Knicks for about four days," he said. "When we got here, we were so full of energy we were like a bomb ready to explode."

The Heat built their cushion without much help from Mourning, who played just 22 minutes because of foul trouble. Power forward P.J. Brown took up the slack inside and had 12 points and nine assists in the first half.

All the pre-game attention on the bruising nature of the rivalry may have worked against New York.

"It's about passion bumping and grinding and being on the edge," Knicks center Buck Williams said. "We're too concerned with the officiating. We have to have the mentality we had all season long."

Notes: Ewing, still recovering from wrist surgery in December, watched from the bench in street clothes. He is on the Knicks' playoff roster, but the team says he'll sit out the first round. ... Moulning said he'lll wear a mask for the remainder of the playoffs as protection for his left cheekbone, which was fractured March 31. ... Heat coach Pat Riley improved to 15-1 in the opening game of the playoffs. His only loss was with the Heat against Chicago in 1996. ... Heat forward Jamal Mashburn came off the bench for the first time this season and scored three points in 23 minutes. Mashburn missed two months with a fractured thumb before returning last week. ... The Knicks have lost seven consecutive road games, including their last six in the regular season. ... New York has advanced to the second round every year since 1991.