Heat-Knicks rivalry still alive for those who were part of battles: ‘We still remember’

The peak of the Miami Heat-New York Knicks rivalry was more than 20 years ago. The videos and images of the brawls, game-winners and heartbreaking moments from their intense postseason battles live on, but for some that’s about all that has endured through the years as the Heat and Knicks open their second-round playoff series on Sunday.

“I don’t think it matters to either of the locker rooms, and that’s OK,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about the significance of the rivalry leading into this year’s playoff matchup. “Those battles were so long ago. It probably means something to the organizations. But for the players in the locker room, this is just about right now. It’s not about the history of it.”

But for those who were part of the Heat-Knicks rivalry when it culminated during four straight seasons of hard-fought playoff meetings in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, the emotion from that time is still very real leading into Game 1 of the teams’ latest playoff series on Sunday at Madison Square Garden (1 p.m., ABC).

What does the schedule for the Heat’s second-round playoff series vs. the Knicks look like?

Just ask one of the main characters from that time Tim Hardaway, who was the Heat’s starting point guard during that entire era.

“Let’s beat the Knicks,” Hardaway said to the Miami Herald when asked what his first thought was when he learned the Heat would face the Knicks in this year’s playoffs. “As a Heat player who played in that era, who went through the battles that we went through with the New York Knicks, the ups and downs of the games, of the series, we still remember.”

Heat executive Alonzo Mourning, who was Miami’s starting center during that era, posted the famous photo of then-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy hanging from his leg to his Instagram on Friday with the caption: “Looking forward to revisiting one of the most intense rivalries in NBA history.” Van Gundy found himself wrapped around Mourning’s leg toward the end of Game 4 of the teams’ 1998 first-round series in hopes of breaking up a fight between Mourning and then-Knicks forward Larry Johnson.

“No matter what, we still remember it,” said Hardaway, who was actually hired as a Knicks scout last season but does not work for the Knicks anymore. “When this is a game or a series or a playoff series that they’re about to embark on and play again, we feel those emotions. Well, I do feel those emotions again of playing against the Knicks. When you see those two jerseys go at each other for seven games or six games, there’s an emotional tie to it.”

The central figure of the Heat-Knicks feud of yesteryear is actually still at the top of Miami’s organizational chart: Heat president Pat Riley.

Riley, who is in his 28th season with the organization, was the Heat’s coach at the time of those playoff clashes against the Knicks.

Riley left the Knicks after four seasons as their head coach from 1991-95 to become the Heat’s head coach and president starting in the 1995-96 season. With the Knicks accusing the Heat of tampering while Riley was still under contract, Miami ended up sending a first-round pick and $1 million to New York on Sept. 1, 1995.

“When Pat Riley left, that’s when it became a rivalry,” Hardaway remembers. “When I went there, I didn’t know the magnitude of what had happened and what went down and everything. I read about it and you listen to this, you listen to that, you hear about it. But until you’re actually playing the game against the Knicks or playing at the Garden or playing at Miami Arena, that’s when you really felt what the effects of what happened with Pat Riley and the Knicks organization. That’s where it comes from. It didn’t come from us building that rivalry. And then once the very first fight broke out, then it went to another level.”

Along with four straight seasons of playoff matchups, the Heat and Knicks also faced off in a first-round series in 2012 during Miami’s Big 3 era. The Heat has won two of its first five playoff series against the Knicks, in 1997 and 2012.

From Mourning trying to shake Van Gundy off his leg, to P.J. Brown throwing Charlie Ward out of bounds and starting a melee, to Allan Houston’s game-winner for the Knicks, the memories from those heated playoff series are relevant again even if enough time has passed for most involved in this year’s series to brush them off.

“Everything is going to come up again,” Hardaway said. “But these players were 2, 3, 4 ,5 years old [at the time]. I mean, if you’re not 30 years old, you don’t know about what went on. They don’t know. But they’re going to read about, they’re going to hear about it in the news, they’re going to hear about it all over the place. But to them, it’s not a rivalry because they never experienced what happened back then.”

But to Hardaway, the passion and memories from those Heat-Knicks battles are still fresh in his mind. When asked for his favorite moment from the rivalry, Hardaway quickly singled out his 38-point performance that led the Heat to a Game 7 win over the Knicks in the second round of the 1997 playoffs.

“Game 7, when I busted their ass,” Hardaway said.

New Heat-Knicks moments and memories will be created in the days ahead.