CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The New York Knicks try to accomplish something they have not done in 20 years tonight when they host the Atlanta Hawks in Game Four of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Knicks, playing their best basketball of the season, have a chance to sweep a best-of-seven series for the first time since knocking off the Baltimore Bullets in 1969 in what was then known as the division semifinals. New York is hoping to follow the pattern set on Sunday by the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs, who both swept their respective conference semifinal series. The Pacers, undefeated in the playoffs, knocked off the Philadelphia 76ers, 89-86, in the Eastern Conference, while the Spurs eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers, 118-107. Indiana awaits the winner of the Knicks-Hawks series, while San Antonio, which has home-court advantage throughout the postseason, will play either the Portland Trail Blazers or Utah Jazz. Portland took a commanding 3-1 series lead on Sunday with an 81-75 victory over the two-time defending Western Conference champions. New York has won four straight playoff games dating to Game Five of the first round against Miami, tying its longest winning streak of the regular season, set twice during February. A win tonight over the Hawks would give the Knicks their longest winning streak since taking seven straight from February 26-March 9, 1997. The Knicks have swept two first-round best-of-three series under Jeff Van Gundy, eliminating the Charlotte Hornets in 1997 and the Cleveland Cavaliers the year before. New York won the first two games of the 1996 series with the Cavaliers in Cleveland before recording a 81-76 victory in Game Three, representing the last time it has clinched a playoff series at Madison Square Garden. Sunday was the one-month anniversary of the Knicks' 110-105 win over the Charlotte Hornets, a victory that snapped a four-game losing skid and ignited them to a 6-2 record down the stretch and a postseason berth. Allan Houston's dramatic leaner with eight tenths of second left in Game Five of the first-round series eliminated the Heat, and the Knicks are now on the verge or reaching the conference finals for the first time since 1994, when they advanced to the NBA finals before falling to the Houston Rockets. A victory would also set up another a fourth playoff meeting in six years with the Pacers, who eliminated New York in the second round in 1995 and last year. The Knicks won a dramatic seven-game series in the 1994 conference finals. For the fourth time in as many games, the Pacers showed their experience while the 76ers showed their age on Sunday. Indiana did not panic during an awful fourth quarter and made all the key plays down the stretch. The first best-of-seven series sweep in NBA franchise history made Indiana the first team since the 1993 Chicago Bulls to go undefeated through the first two rounds. The Pacers returned to the conference finals for the fourth time in six years but are still looking for their first trip to the NBA Finals. In Los Angeles, Tim Duncan had 33 points and 14 rebounds as he continued to stake his claim as the NBA's best player and helped San Antonio turn back repeated rallies by Los Angeles. In Portland, the Blazers looked like the postseason veterans down the stretch as the Jazz faltered. Isaiah Rider scored seven of his 24 points in the final 30 seconds as Portland pushed the Jazz to the brink of elimination. The Blazers can clinch their first trip to the conference finals since 1992 when it visits the Delta Center on Tuesday for Game Five, where Portland won Game Two. Utah has participated in the Western Conference finals in each of the past three seasons and reached the NBA finals the last two, losing to Michael Jordan and the Bulls both times. --=-=-- 