NBA Playoff Notebook: The Knicks are close to going on vacation

Stephon Marbury finished with 18 points and 10 assists for the Knicks, who trailed by as much as 14 early in the final stanza. Anfernee Hardaway and Nazr Mohammed each contributed 18 points in the loss, while Kurt Thomas netted 15 and grabbed 12 boards for New York.

The Knicks were a brutal 11-of-22 from the foul line in the loss.

"That can’t happen in the playoffs," said New York swingman Anfernee Hardaway after Thursday’s loss. "I think I missed two of them myself in the first half. You have to make those free throws."

New Jersey controlled the boards in Game 3, outrebounding the Knicks by a 49-39 margin.

"Anytime that the other team gets the ball back it means they get twice as many opportunities at the basket," said New York head coach Lenny Wilkens. "We were giving help but there were some long rebounds and those are the ones you really want to get. Your defensive effort gets wasted when they can get long rebounds and get another shot at the basket."

New York has never been able to overcome a 3-0 series deficit in its history, failing three times. In the 1951 NBA Finals, the Knicks won three straight before finally losing to the Rochester Royals in seven games. The other two occasions, the Knicks were swept by the Philadelphia 76ers.

"It’s very frustrating," said Hardaway about being down 3-0. "They (Nets) are a good team. They came in here knowing that if we had won game three, game four would have been crazy. We knew the same, but they came in and took care of business in the second half, again. The third quarter we just couldn’t make baskets, they got back into the game and went into the fourth quarter up ten - that’s what good teams do."

Marbury has tried to take the Knicks on his back against the Nets. He has averaged 18 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists in the first three contests.

"Steph (Marbury) is trying to be a leader," said Mohammed. "He is trying to go out there and distribute the ball and he is trying to be a scorer. He is in a tough situation right now. He is our scorer and our point guard."

The Knicks have been unable to control the boards and have been simply overmatched by New Jersey, which has outrebounded New York 131-117 in the first three games of the series.

"We have to block out," said Mohammed. "He (Kenyon Martin) has done a great job of rebounding, but no one on their team has really had big rebounding games. That is how it is sometimes. One guy does a great job, but you still have to keep other guys off the boards."

Wilkens knows that in order to keep the Knicks’ season alive, his team will have to play tough defense. He saw some flashes of that in Game 3.

"I’ve told them that we have to contest every shot and play good defense," said Wilkens. "If you can’t play good defense, then you can’t play. Every team I’ve coached has been a pretty good defensive team and the Knicks will become a good defensive team as well. They showed that they’re capable and once we see that a team is capable, we expect nothing less."

The Knicks, who lost in the first round of the 2001 postseason in five games, 3-2, to the Toronto Raptors, were last swept in the opening round of the 1991 playoffs by the Chicago Bulls, 3-0.

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday at Madison Square Garden. A Knicks win would force a Game 5, which would be played on Wednesday, April 28 at Continental Airlines Arena.

"You just have to come out and play hard and leave it all out there," said Thomas. "It’s going to come down to either win or go home, so we have to go out and give it all."