NYK 78 MIA 77 Player of the game: Patrick Ewing, 22 PTS, 11 REB, 1 STL New York Knicks guard Allan Houston raced down the court, pumping his right fist as if to deliver a final blow to the Miami Heat's season. His shot, with eight-tenths of a second left, hit the front of the rim, then the top of the backboard, and finally fell through the net, securing a 78-77 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. The crowd of 14,985 at Miami Arena, like the Heat, fell silent. "It hung up there for what seemed like two minutes, not two seconds," Houston said of his final shot. "I got a friendly bounce from above." With Miami holding possession and a 77-76 lead, Latrell Sprewell deflected the ball from Tim Hardaway with 24.9 seconds left as Hardaway penetrated the lane. Larry Johnson recovered the loose ball and called a timeout. Hardaway and Sprewell, once teammates in Golden State, had been feuding for years. Sprewell's steal set up Houston's heroics. "We never quit," Sprewell said. "We were down with 19 seconds to go. It says a lot about the character of this team. We never quit."