With a stirring fourth-quarter rally, with Stephon Marbury fastened to the bench for the final three quarters, the Knicks still managed to beat the Hornets last night, 101-97, to postpone the delicious matchup of Knicks-Nets, Stephon Marbury vs. Jason Kidd.

With one game left, the possibility of the Knicks facing Rasheed Wallace and the Detroit Pistons in Round 1 is very much alive, thanks to fourth-quarter heroics by backup point guard Moochie Norris, who scored a season-high 21 points, and relentless Michael Sweetney, who notched a career-high 16 points with nine rebounds. , 9 rebounds).

All it takes now to get Detroit is for the Knicks to beat Cleveland tomorrow at the Garden and New Orleans to lose tomorrow against Washington. The Knicks would then overtake the Hornets for the sixth seed and avoid the Nets. The Knicks will be big underdogs against either the Nets or Pistons, but at least they had a potential Kidd neutralizer in Marbury.

"It's amazing," Marbury said of the bench. "We're goiing into the playoffs with some momentum. We're going to need them.

"To me it doesn't matter who we play, it doesn't matter to the team," said Norris, who will make his playoff debut said. "I'm just excited to be in."