May 10, 1973: The Knicks' Last Title & Wilt Chamberlain's Last Game

May 10, 1973, 50 years ago: The New York Knickerbockers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 102-93, at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California, winning Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and taking the NBA Championship.

In this clincher, the Knicks used only 8 players: Earl Monroe scored 23 points, Bill Bradley 20, Walt Frazier and Willis Reed 18 each, Jerry Lucas 10, Phil Jackson 6, Dean Meminger 5, and Dave DeBusschere (a more defense-oriented player) 2.

For the Lakers: Gail Goodrich scored 28, Wilt Chamberlain 23 (and had 21 rebounds), Jim McMillan 19, Jerry West 12, Bill Bridges 9, Keith Erickson 2, and Happy Hairston, Mel Counts and Pat Riley didn't score any.

For the Knicks, this capped their greatest period ever: 1970 to 1973, 4 seasons, 3 trips to the Finals (all against the Lakers), 2 titles. Their only 2 titles.

Hail the champions: William "Red" Holzman, head coach; Eddie Donovan, general manager; 6, Tom Riker, center; 7, Dean "the Dream" Meminger, guard; 10, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, guard; 12, Dick Barnett, guard; 15 Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, guard; 17, Henry Bibby, guard; 18, Phil Jackson, forward; 19, Willis Reed, center, team Captain; 22, Dave "Double D" DeBusschere, forward; 23, Luther Rackley, center; 24, Bill Bradley, forward; 32, Jerry Lucas, forward; 40, John Gianelli, center; and 43, Harthorne Wingo, forward.

Frazier, Barnett, Reed, DeBusschere and Bradley also played for the Knicks on their 1969-70 title. Jackson was in the organization at that time, but missed the entire season due to injury.

Members of the 1970 Knicks who were not also 1973 Knicks were center Nate Bowman (Number 17), forwards Don May (5), Dave Stallworth (9), Bill Hosket (20) and Jazzy Cazzie Russell (33); and guards Mike Riordan (6) and John Warren (16).

Frazier, Barnett, Reed, DeBusschere and Bradley would have their uniform numbers retired by the Knicks. Holzman would be honored with a banner with the number 613 on it, for the number of games he won as Knicks coach. Frazier, Jackson, Reed, DeBusschere, Bradley, Lucas and Holzman would be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Frazier, Reed, DeBusschere and Lucas would be elected to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players and its 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players -- though it should be noted that Lucas was elected for what he did with the Cincinnati Royals; he was a stabilizing veteran presence for the '73 Knicks.

Bibby was the father of later NBA All-Star Mike Bibby. Bradley was elected to 3 terms in the U.S. Senate, representing New Jersey, and ran for President in 2000.

And, yes, kids, that Phil Jackson, the one who would coach the Chicago Bulls to 6 titles and the Lakers to 5. He was a decent player, not a great one. As was Pat Riley, who played for the Lakers against the Knicks in those Finals, and would later coach the Lakers to 4 titles, the Knicks into a Finals, and the Miami Heat to a title.

After one more year, Reed, DeBusschere and Lucas all retired, and the Knicks began to fall apart. Pearl, obtained from the Baltimore Bullets (forerunner of the Washington Wizards) after the Bullets beat the Knicks in the '71 Eastern Conference Finals, was the last to remain, in 1980.

The clinching Game 5 was the last game for NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain. He signed on to be player-coach of the American Basketball Association's San Diego Conquistadors, but an injunction in a legal court kept him off the basketball court, enforcing the last year of his contract with the Lakers.

He sat out the 1973-74 season as a player, got the Conquistadors into the 1st Round of the ABA Playoffs, and then decided he was done with pro basketball. The greatest player in the sport's history -- yes, he was better than Michael Jordan, and he would have eaten LeBron James -- never drew another paycheck from a pro basketball team, in any capacity.

He would, however, have his uniform Number 13 retired by every team he played for: The University of Kansas (1956-58), the Harlem Globetrotters (1958-59), the Golden State Warriors (1959-65, including 1959-62 in Philadelphia), the Philadelphia 76ers (1965-68), and the Lakers (1968-73). And a statue of the West Philadelphia native stands outside the 76ers' Wells Fargo Center.

Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, like Reed, DeBusschere and Lucas, would hang on for one more year. Lew Alcindor had just recently changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Julius "Doctor J" Erving would soon move from the ABA's Virginia Squires to the Nets. Bill Walton was still at UCLA, winning the recent National Championship, the 7th straight for coach John Wooden, in the middle of an 88-game winning streak.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were in junior high school. Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley were in grade school. Shaquille O'Neal was a rather large baby. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and LeBron James weren't born yet.

The Knicks went into decline, and, despite a brief revival in 1984, a stretch of contention in the 1990s that included Finals berths in 1994 and 1999, have become the most underachieving team in the NBA. In 2023, they are a Playoff team again, but don't yet look like title contenders.

Red Holzman died in 1998, Eddie Donovan in 2001, Dave DeBusschere in 2003, Dean Meminger in 2013, Luther Rackley in 2017, Harthorne Wingo in 2021, and Willis Reed just 50 days ago. The remaining '73 Knicks are still alive.