As anyone who has chronicled them the last couple of seasons will attest, they are sometimes at their best when they are ... well, a little Knicked up. That was the case once again Saturday in the Knicks' 98-95 victory over the Pacers.

When the Knicks showed up to work Saturday afternoon trailing the Indiana Pacers 2-0 in these Eastern Conference finals, it didn't exactly send shock waves across the locker room when it became official that Patrick Ewing wouldn't play in Game 3 because of acute peroneal tendinitis in his right foot.

Yeah, he's a future Hall of Famer and perhaps the biggest reason the Knicks were able to come back from the dead in the second round against the Miami Heat.

But just go back in time to a year ago. Remember it was Ewing who came up large in a decisive game at Miami, only to be lost for good in the Conference finals against the Pacers. The Knicks, if you recall, rode Marcus Camby's energy to win three of the final four games of that series without Ewing.

That being the case, you could have forgiven the Knicks if they got deflated when Camby hobbled off the court late in the second quarter with a sprained medial collateral capsule in his right knee.

Instead, it only inspired them more.

"I do believe our team has exceptional pride," said Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy. "You could have subconsciously had a little give to you after halftime. I just thought we hung in there very well. "

There's a good reason for that.

With two of their most prominent players gone for the day -- and possibly longer -- an old friend came back.

The energized, athletic and attacking Knicks -- that's who came back in this three-point victory that was never really that close in the fourth quarter.

The team that buried these Pacers last spring with a wide-open style had somehow gone in mothballs for much of this year and even more so in the playoffs. In fact, Saturday's 98 points were a team high from this postseason, and marked just the second time they had topped 90 points.

It is foolish to say the Knicks are a better team without Ewing, and anyone who thinks that needs an education in winning basketball 101. But the fact is, there are certain Knicks who are afraid to put the pedal down hard when the slow-footed Ewing is on the floor.

Allan Houston is the most prominent. And so it was that the Houston of '99 resurfaced Saturday, just in time to save this year's team, whose offense so often didn't seem Y2K compliant.

Houston got that look in his eyes in the second half. The same look he had when he scored 32 in Game 6 against the Pacers last year when Ewing was out and Larry Johnson was lost to a freak injury early in the game, much like Camby was this time.

It was as if the entire Knicks faithful was saying, Houston, we have a problem. If that was the plea, Houston responded with 28 points this time, on 11-for-21 shooting from the field. More important, he didn't stay on the perimeter. He attacked the basket and dared the Pacers to stop him.

Latrell Sprewell was equally brilliant, pumping in 32. But Sprewell is always aggressive. He knows no other way. It's just that he scores more when he is playing off Houston instead of Ewing. When Houston and Sprewell are both on, and playing in tandem, the Knicks are extremely tough to beat.

"I just thought Allan and I were really aggressive," Sprewell said. "We felt really good and got into a rhythm. We played with a lot of confidence."

Somehow, the Knicks had survived up to this point in the playoffs with their most dynamic duo mostly disappearing in fourth quarters. Both missed key shots down the stretch in Game 2, a game the Knicks should have won but gave away in the final two minutes.

"That's what we needed from them," said point guard Charlie Ward, who did a terrific job dictating tempo on Game 3. "I was watching the TV and they were talking about the struggling Knicks and (Sprewell and Houston's) pictures were on there. They have been struggling in the fourth quarter and down the stretch of games but those guys are scorers and they're ballplayers. They're going to try and find ways to score. Whenever you're a scorer and you get enough looks and touches, it's hard to defend."

Just ask the Pacers, who tried in vain all day.

"If Allan Houston is posting up and hitting shots, he is very tough to defend," said Pacers coach Larry Bird, who was openly miffed at his team's lethargic effort. "When Sprewell and Houston both get it going, they are very tough to defend. We just didn't have the guys to match up with their quickness and it's a problem."

So it is up to the Knicks to make sure they continue to make it a problem when Ewing comes back, which could happen as early as Monday's Game 4.

The Knicks' Allan Houston shoots over the Pacers' Mark Jackson during Game 3.(AP)

"We can't be happy with one win because we were a little undermanned," said Van Gundy, who has taken numerous classes in the Pat Riley school of psychology. "We have to find a way to win on Monday."

The Pacers won't make it as easy in Game 4. Aside from Rik Smits, who buried the pivot-less Knicks early and finished with 25 points, no Indiana player had a game worth nothing. Forget about Jalen Rose's 26 points, as most of them came once the Knicks were already in command.

"Guys were floating out there," Bird said. "We just didn't play."

Neither did Ewing, and at least for one day it seemed to hurt Indiana more than the Knicks.

"The interesting thing about having Patrick out of the game is that frees up the paint," Rose said. "It allows Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell room to operate."

"It was a matter of getting into the position I wanted to get in and getting the shots I wanted to get," Houston said. "Whether I made or missed, I wanted to make sure I got the shots that were good shots for me. It just so happened I was able to get to the basket some and mix it up a little. That's what I have to do for this team to be successful. I have to attack on the offensive end and not rely on jump shots.

"We shouldn't be in this position but we are. We dug ourselves a hole and the only way we can get out of it is to win a game. You can't worry about who's out. Marcus went down and guys are nicked up, but you can't worry about it, you just have to do whatever it takes to win the game."

On Saturday, what it took was to get Houston and Sprewell the ball and get out of their way.