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NEW YORK (Ticker) -- When the Miami Heat face the New York Knicks in the postseason, baskets always are at a premium. So rookie Anthony Carter used a new approach. Carter's baseline runner rainbowed high over the backboard, bounced off the rim and dropped through with 2.2 seconds to play, giving the Heat a 77-76 overtime victory over the Knicks and a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Carter's shot initially was waved off for offensive goaltending, then overruled. It clearly was shot from behind the plane and above the top of the backboard, which should have made it illegal. More likely to show up in a game of horse, Carter's shot was allowed to stand, bringing a wild finish to a crazy game that would have been the lowest-scoring contest in playoff history --had the Heat and Knicks not gone to overtime for the first time in 20 playoff meetings over the last four years. "I don't know how much more I'm prepared to take of this," said Carter, who played a nearly flawless floor game in place of the injured and ineffective Tim Hardaway. The undrafted free agent had 10 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and just one turnover in 35 minutes off the bench. The Heat won a playoff game in Madison Square Garden for the fourth straight year and reclaimed the home-court advantage they lost with Game Two's setback. Game Four is Sunday in New York. "If you look back at the history, we're so evenly matched," Heat forward P.J. Brown said. "Home court doesn't mean a lot." The Knicks forced overtime on Patrick Ewing's 18-footer with 2.6 seconds left in regulation, opened a 75-71 lead midway through the extra session and still held a 76-75 edge after Ewing split a pair from the line with 13 seconds left. The Heat went to playoff leading scorer Jamal Mashburn, who quickly was double teamed and passed to Carter on the right side. With the 7-foot Ewing coming at him, Carter dribbled to the baseline and lofted a shot over the glass that bounced off the rim and through. "I'm gonna have to look at the replay," Carter said. "It's over now so I thought it was a great shot. I saw Patrick coming and I didn't want to get the shot blocked so I dodged him and just shot it with one hand and it took a great bounce for me. I just know it was high." Heat center Alonzo Mourning put his hand above the rim and initially was called for basket interference by trail official Dan Crawford at mid-court, which brought a stampede of players and coaches off the Heat's bench. But Crawford correctly was overruled and the basket stood, stunning the sellout crowd of 19,763. "They got the right call for the wrong reason," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "They called it no good and they called it for goaltending, which it wasn't. But the ball was shot from behind the backboard, which should result in our ball out of bounds on the side." "We feel it was the correct no-call," Crawford said. "The ball has to come directly over the backboard and we saw that shot but we did not deem it coming directly over the backboard. It came over on an angle to where we didn't think it came over the top." Carter, who missed a tough jumper in the final minute of regulation, sprinted to his bench in elation after the final ruling. "I was saying, 'No, please don't take it from me,'" he said. "It was the greatest shot of my career and I didn't want them to take it from me." Carter's shot instantly made him a villain in basketball's unofficial capitol. The high bounce off the rim and in with the outcome in the balance was eerily similar to Knicks guard Allan Houston's last-second shot in Game Five of last year's first round, which eliminated the Heat on their home floor. "I'll probably have to stay in the hotel," Carter said. "Just to be a part of it, it's great." "I hope this is the payback, because we are still playing," Houston said. "That is the difference." Mourning scored 23 points, Mashburn added 16 and Brown 14 and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who shot just 36.5 percent (31-of-85) from the field but stayed in the game with rebounding. Miami had a 45-34 edge on the glass, including 16-5 on the offensive end. "We have been outrebounded in three straight games," Van Gundy said. "We are just not nearly as good a rebounding team as we have needed to be and particularly on the offensive boards." Houston scored 24 points and Latrell Sprewell added 23 for New York, which shot 41 percent (26-of-64). Ewing had nine points and nine rebounds. "If you want high-flying, high-scoring games, I don't think this is the series to watch," Heat coach Pat Riley said. Ewing's tying shot came off a pass from a double-teamed Houston, who had scored seven points in the fourth quarter. It came after Houston had missed a jumper and Charlie Ward missed a 3-pointer, with Miami failing to grab the rebound each time. "You always are real disappointed when you think you may have the game in the balance if you had gotten one more rebound," Riley said. At 68-68, it sent the teams to overtime for the first time in a playoff game and prevented them from breaking the record for the lowest-scoring game in playoff history at 142, matched earlier this postseason by San Antonio and Phoenix. "It felt good, being the fact that I was struggling the whole game," said Ewing, who made just 4-of-10 shots. "All this time, you'd think we would've had an overtime game," Brown said. "It was a long time coming. We were due for one. Anything can happen with these two teams." Sprewell hit a jumper and Mashburn and Houston traded 3-pointers before Marcus Camby dunked a lob pass to beat the shot clock and give the Knicks a 75-71 lead with 2:14 remaining. But New York scored just one more point. Carter hit two free throws, Mourning made a turnaround jumper to tie it and the teams traded empty possessions, setting up Ewing's free throw. The first quarter was considerably more spirited than the plodding of Game Two and the Heat emerged with a 25-21 lead behind 11 points from Mourning. But the teams reverted to scratching and clawing in the second period. The Knicks went nearly the first six minutes without a basket and still managed to grab a 37-36 halftime lead as Sprewell and Houston scored 12 points each. Meanwhile, the Heat stumbled, failing to draw a shooting foul in both the second and third quarters. "Certainly both teams would like to play better offensively," Van Gundy said. "It is very, very difficult to get a shot, a quality shot." New York opened a 49-42 lead midway through the third period and with Mourning on the bench with four fouls, Miami appeared to be in trouble. But Brown and Clarence Weatherspoon repeatedly knocked down jumpers and the Heat took a 56-55 lead into the fourth quarter.
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