Van Gundy

NEW YORK -- They were here a little more than 23 years ago, being eliminated in the first round of the ABA playoffs and wondering whether the franchise would participate in another professional basketball game.Well, the San Antonio Spurs were one of four teams to make the cut in 1976, becoming a member of the NBA. And last night, they were crowned league champions with a 78-77 win over the New York Knicks before a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden.The Spurs won the best-of-seven NBA Finals, 4-1, completing a postseason in which they went 15-2, tied for the second-best playoff run in NBA history.

BaseballAstros: Signed P Bob Scanlan, former Orioles P Brian Williams, P Jeff McCurry, C Marc Ronan, C Randy Knorr, C Pedro Lopez, IF Casey Candaele, former Orioles OF Brent Bowers, OF Alex Diaz and Ryan Thompson (Chestertown) and invited them to spring training.Cardinals: Named Jose Oquendo bench coach. Named Brian Rupp manager of Single-A Peoria.Diamondbacks: Signed P Stephen Randolph, IF Junior Spivey, OF Jason Conti, OF Dante Powell and OF Rob Ryan.Mets: Signed P Jeff Tam to one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration.

In the wake of the firing of Ernie Grunfeld as the president/general manager of the New York Knicks, coach Jeff Van Gundy has been quiet. And he has good reason: He realizes he'll be the next to go if the Knicks don't finish strong and make the playoffs.With the highest payroll in the NBA ($69 million), the Knicks figured to contend for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. Instead, they're struggling to stay at .500 (22-21) and enter today's game at Miami tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with Toronto and Charlotte.

NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks can be obnoxious, even obscene, but say this for America's anti- heroes: Their impure hearts never stop beating.Down two games in the NBA Finals, the Knicks were in their favorite position last night: backed into a corner, fighting for survival, the entire world against them.Naturally, the Knicks made it difficult on their home court, never losing the lead but squandering advan- tages of 14 points in the first quarter and 10 in the fourth.Naturally, they missed 19 of their 23 shots in the third quarter, with Latrell Sprewell going 0-for-6 from the field and missing four free throws.

NEW YORK -- After attempting just nine shots in the Indiana Pacers' Game 3 loss, Reggie Miller vowed to be more aggressive last night. But on a night in which Miller again looked ordinary, it was the play of two other struggling swingmen that provided the offensive boost.Jalen Rose rebounded from a postseason scoring low of two points to contribute 18 off the bench last night, while starting small forward Chris Mullin added 18 as the Pacers defeated the New York Knicks, 90-78, to even the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series at 2-2.In splitting the two games in New York, the Pacers regained the home-court advantage that the team lost in dropping the series opener at Market Square Arena.

NEW YORK -- After the San Antonio Spurs' 12-game playoff winning streak ended Monday night, David Robinson wasn't ready to panic. The reason: Robinson said his team had a history of responding well to losses.The Spurs proved him a prophet last night as their twin towers of Robinson and Tim Duncan came through big, leading San Antonio to a 96-89 win in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.With the victory, the Spurs took a commanding, 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and can win the first championship in franchise history -- and become the first former ABA team to win an NBA crown -- with a victory at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night.

LANDOVER -- For years the Washington Bullets have been bullied by the New York Knicks. The Knicks would start the game with their usual pushing and shoving, and the cowering Bullets would be finished for the rest of the game.Not last night, under new coach Bernie Bickerstaff. The Bullets hit back, and sometimes even hit first. And while they wound up losing the game, 97-92, the Bullets gave an indication that, indeed, there will be a different way about things over the second half of the season.

For NBA fans living in Salt Lake City, it's almost become an annual tease. They cheer their hearts out for the Utah Jazz as it wins its usual 50 to 55 games, get excited during the playoffs with the hope this will be the year Karl Malone and John Stockton are able to bring a title home, and suffer when the Jazz gets eliminated short of its goal -- yet another season ending in disappointment.Which is why there is little excitement in the Utah camp these days, even as the Jazz enters tonight's playoff opener as the top seed in the Western Conference, with a team-record 64 wins under its belt, including 19 victories over its last 20 games of the regular season.

After New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said last month that Michael Jordan "cons" younger players into a false sense of security, the league's best player scorched the Knicks for 51 points and gave Van Gundy an earful after several baskets.Van Gundy is not repeating the comments heading into Sunday's game against Chicago at Madison Square Garden, but he recently gave insight why he did what's almost unthinkable -- question Jordan's motives."I finally admitted to myself the other day: I am absolutely obsessed by [the Bulls]

NEW YORK -- Patrick Ewing always promised one day to hoist a championship banner inside Madison Square Garden. Never before has such a moment appeared so remote.Now, the Knicks are praying Ewing will once again have the ability to shoot one of his patented jump shots.The Knicks' title dreams for this season unofficially expired early yesterday morning in a Manhattan hospital when Ewing underwent season-ending surgery to repair torn ligaments and a dislocated bone in his right wrist.Team physician Dr. Norman Scott said Ewing will be in a cast for two months before he can start rehabilitation.

Rolling out yet another set of sports media notes while denying that the items are being mandated by the league office, no matter what Tim Donaghy says: After the latest round of bombshells by disgraced NBA referee Donaghy, included the allegation that the league told officials to call fouls on a particular player after an owner complained, Jeff Van Gundy had a chance to shout out a big "I told you so." Though Donaghy didn't specify, he clearly was referencing the Houston Rockets' Yao Ming and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

It's not difficult to spot Stan Van Gundy at an NBA arena before games. Just look for the shortest coach with the biggest mustache and smile. When you're guiding one of the hottest teams, one of the brightest stars and one of the best comeback stories in the NBA this season, it can be tough to keep a straight face. Van Gundy is only one month into the regular season with his new team, but he already has the Orlando Magic in position to make franchise history. Orlando won 14 of its first 18 games and entered last night flirt ing with the franchise's best start since 1993-94.

Pat Riley kept saying it wasn't about him. The coach and vice president of the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat hasn't been wrong about much this season, even if the way he got to where he is has a lot of wrong about it. But on the night the team he built finally reached the NBA Finals, he was wrong about whose victory this really was. It was a win for Shaquille O'Neal - but Riley pulled the trigger on one of the great thefts of all time, from...

MIAMI - They will wonder about the "could-have-beens." They will ponder the "what-ifs." In the end, a season of incredible accomplishment and unprecedented joy will be haunted by heartache for the Miami Heat. Last night, Miami's season of dreams came to a premature end, the combination of Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade not enough to catapult the Heat past the Detroit Pistons and into the NBA Finals. In the final two minutes of the game, the Pistons outscored the Heat 12-4, turning a one-point deficit into an 88-82 victory, claiming the Eastern Conference finals, four games to three, and earning a return trip to the Finals, where they will defend their 2004 title against the San Antonio Spurs.

MIAMI - The Miami Heat had its fun early and took care of its business late. It added up to a 108-102 victory last night over the Washington Wizards and a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven NBA Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series. "There were a lot of things we didn't do well," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said, "but we kept fighting." After building a 12-point first-quarter lead with a series of spectacular alley-oop dunks and a nasty reverse by forward Eddie Jones, the Heat, as it did in Game 1 of the series, gave the lead back.

HEY, HAVE you heard? NBA playoff games are fixed! Silly question. Of course you've heard it. David Stern has heard it for at least a decade. Worse, he knows that everyone else had heard it. It's spring, the talk-show hosts saw their shadows, and that means six more weeks of conspiracy theories. If you wonder why the commissioner went nuclear in response to what seemed like another round of playoff coaches' gamesmanship this week, that's why. Because he heard that tired refrain one too many times: "We can't get any calls because the NBA wants Team X or Player Y to win [or lose]

You'd hardly know it to watch him, but there was a time early this season when Miami Heat point guard Dwyane Wade had trouble moving his teammates around. Considering that's what point guards do, Wade had a bit of a problem and, in turn, so did the Heat, which stumbled to an 0-7 start. "At the beginning of the year, it was tough. I really didn't want to tell guys to do something," Wade said. "Now, you have to earn the respect of your teammates and I think I've done that, so I have no problem doing it now. Once you get the respect of your teammates, and they know the kind of player you are and person you are, and that you're not saying anything that would be wrong for them, they'll listen and I have done that."

If the old saying that you have to take a step backward to make a positive step is true, then Isiah Thomas got his first indication on how far he has to go to rebuild the New York Knicks. Thomas, who took over as president of the Knicks on Dec. 22, upon the firing of Scott Layden, was rebuffed in his first attempt to upgrade the team. He lost out to the New Jersey Nets to sign free-agent forward Eddie Griffin, who was released last month by the Houston Rockets. In the mind of Thomas - who meant no specific disrespect to the Nets, who, after all, have been to the Finals the past two years - losing a player to another team is like a beauty queen passing over Fabio for an average Joe. "We've got to get our franchise back to the point where players want to come play for the New York Knicks and don't give it a second thought," Thomas told the New York Daily News last week.

NEW YORK - The Houston Rockets are expected to meet this week with Jeff Van Gundy about becoming Rudy Tomjanovich's replacement as coach, according to an NBA source. Houston must get permission from the New York Knicks before it can formally interview Van Gundy, who is still under contract with the team until July 31. As of late yesterday, Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson had not spoken to Knicks president Scott Layden. Knicks officials yesterday declined to comment on Van Gundy's status.

The New York Knicks have had a recent history of Type A - or even Type AA or AAA - coaches. From Hubie Brown to Rick Pitino, from Pat Riley to Jeff Van Gundy, the Knicks were often as overcoached as they were overanalyzed by a media crowd that rivals the one covering the war in Afghanistan. Now the landscape has changed, with assistant coach Don Chaney taking over after Van Gundy's sudden resignation Dec. 8. Chaney, Coach of the Year with the Houston Rockets in 1990-91, already has stated that he doesn't plan on working 18-hour days and watching game tape in the middle of the night, two habits that made some label Van Gundy "Van Grumpy."