Johnson rebounded from one of the worst playoff games of his career and came up big after Patrick Ewing went out with a foot injury, scoring 25 points against the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

But the Knicks faded in the final minute, watching helplessly as the Pacers scored the last six points for an 88-84 victory and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Johnson blamed himself on the game's deciding play with Indiana holding an 86-84 lead.

Dale Davis, who outplayed Johnson badly in Game 1, grabbed an offensive rebound after missing a free row with 5.8 seconds remaining. His New York counterpart wasn't around, having taken off down the court in hopes of getting in position for a tying or winning basket.

Davis, who had 16 rebounds in all, tipped the ball away from the shorter Charlie Ward and found Jalen Rose wide open under the basket while the rest of the Knicks scrambled futilely to get back in position.

Rose dunked home the clincher with 2.4 seconds to go and the clock ran out on the Knicks.

"I should have stayed at the line," Johnson said. "I was figuring he would miss and we would get the rebound, so I wanted to get down court for the shot."

He was only following the orders of coach Jeff Van Gundy, who wanted to have his best 3-point shooters in position in case Davis made one of his two free throws. The Knicks had no timeouts remaining to set up a play, and it didn't matter when Davis hustled for the rebound after missing both foul shots.

"I should have stayed there," Johnson said again.

He was invisible in Game 1 on Tuesday night, scoring just three points, managing only five rebounds and losing miserably in the head-to-head battle with Davis, who had 14 points and 16 rebounds.

Johnson knew he couldn't have another game like that when Ewing went down after only seven minutes with a strained tendon in his right foot. He didn't return.

"LJ stepped up for us," said Kurt Thomas, who filled in for Ewing. "That's what we needed from him. He came up huge for us. When he wasn't scoring, he was dishing off to the open man. That's what he's been doing all year and he's got to keep doing it for us the rest of the series."

Johnson has a history of rebounding for poor showings in the playoffs. In 1997 against Miami, he managed only three points and one rebound in Game 5, but came back with 20 points and nine rebounds the next time out.

Last year, he failed to score in a clinching victory over Atlanta in the second round. When the conference finals against Indiana opened six days later, Johnson was back on track with 15 points and five rebounds.

The Knicks' Larry Johnson (2) slips under Indiana's Dale Davis for two of his 14 first-half points.(AP)

On Thursday night, he came through with 14 points and six rebounds in the first half, pushing the Knicks to a 43-42 lead at the break. He added seven points in the third, sending New York to the final period up 66-61.

"When Patrick went out, I got more touches," Johnson said. "I got an opportunity to score more."

But the Knicks couldn't finish. Johnson hit only 1-of-3 shots in the fourth quarter and New York managed a 7-of-20 performance in the final period. In the meantime, Rose and Rik Smits scored 10 points apiece for the Pacers, who stepped up to shoot 10-of-18 with the game on the line.

At the end, some of the Knicks thought Davis broke off the line before the ball hit the rim, which would have given possession to New York. Johnson wasn't sure what happened.

"I was down the court," he said. "I couldn't really see it. I should have stayed at the line."