HART ATTACK: RIOTS ERASE 21-POINT DEFICIT, STUN KNICKS 71-69

For two games, the Newark Riots had found ways to lose by two points.

In Game 3, they finally found a way to win by two - and naturally, they chose the least comfortable route possible.

The New York Knicks walked into Newark with a 2-0 series lead and spent the opening quarter looking ready to make it 3-0. New York ripped off a 27-7 first quarter, carried a 37-22 lead into halftime and eventually pushed the margin to 21. The top-seeded Knicks had Newark exactly where they wanted them: frustrated, chasing the game and one more bad stretch away from an elimination game.

Then the game changed.

Newark chipped away in the third quarter, winning it 19-14, but still entered the fourth down 51-41. That was when the Riots finally looked like the team they had spent the first two games threatening to become.

They scored 30 points in the fourth quarter.

They pressured the ball. They ran off turnovers. They stopped giving New York comfortable possessions. And with the game hanging in the balance, Josh Hart finished the job.

Hart played all 16 minutes and delivered the complete line Newark needed: 12 points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal and only one turnover. He shot 3-for-4 from the field, hit both of his three-point attempts, went 4-for-4 at the line and finished plus-11.

Then he hit the game-winning threeWatch highlight.

After two games in which Newark's late decisions became part of the story, Game 3 ended with the ball and the moment finding exactly the right guy.

Austin Reaves matched Hart with 12 points and helped keep Newark attached long enough for the comeback to happen. Michael Ray Richardson handed out a game-high six assists and finished plus-9. Bobby Portis Jr. grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Mikal Bridges scored only three points, but Newark won his minutes by a game-best 15.

The Riots did not steal this game because they suddenly became a great three-point team. They were only 6-for-21 from deep. They won it because the pressure finally became productive.

Newark finished with 11 steals to New York's six, committed only 10 turnovers to the Knicks' 14 and generated 16 fast-break points while New York managed four. The Riots were also perfect at the foul line, 7-for-7, while the Knicks left six points there by going 3-for-9.

New York still shot 52.8 percent from the field and 40 percent from three, numbers that normally travel just fine. Jalen Duren and Larry Johnson scored 11 apiece. But Carmelo Anthony was held to seven points on 3-for-11 shooting, and the Knicks could not protect a game they had controlled for most of the night.

Ron's reaction afterward became the line of the night: "I wish I had five Josh mfin Harts."

For Newark, the win does not erase the first two losses. The Knicks still lead the series 2-1.

But the feeling around the matchup is different now.

Game 1 was a two-point Knicks win. Game 2 was a two-point Knicks win. Game 3 was a two-point Newark win after the Riots came back from 21 down.

Three games. Six total points of separation.

And for the first time in the series, it is New York that has to answer what just happened.