The Knicks (almost nobody calls them by their full name) were founded in 1946, as a charter franchise in the Basketball Association of America, which became the National Basketball Association in 1949. They and the Boston Celtics are the only 2 charter franchises still playing in their original cities. The only other charter franchise still playing is the Philadelphia Warriors, who moved to San Francisco in 1962, and have been known as the Golden State Warriors since 1971.
The Knicks reached the NBA Finals in 1951, but lost in 7 games to the Rochester Royals, who are now the Sacramento Kings. They reached the Finals again in 1952, losing to the Minneapolis Lakers in 7. They reached the Finals again in 1953, losing to the Lakers in 5. They had not reached the Finals since.
The Lakers, on the other hand, won the 1948 National Basketball League title, and were admitted into the NBA, where they then won 5 of the next 6 titles. In 1959, they lost the Finals to the Celtics. After the 1960 season, they were moved to Los Angeles, where they won the Western Division title in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969 -- and lost to the Celtics every single time, including in 7 games in '62, '66 and '69.
By this point, the Knicks had been rebuilt under head coach William "Red" Holzman (who had played for the '51 Royals), chief scout Dick McGuire (who had been a star on those early 1950s teams), and general manager Eddie Donovan. Playing at the new Madison Square Garden that had opened in 1968 were future Hall-of-Famers Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley.
Red Holzman
In 1969, the Knicks got to the Eastern Division Finals, losing to the Celtics. The 1969-70 season was when it all seemed to be coming together. They had an 18-game winning streak, an NBA record (but for only 2 more years).
In the Playoffs, despite the presence of Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, one of the few players who could match "Clyde" Frazier for flashiness, the Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets in 7 games. Then, despite the presence of Alcindor and already-all-time great Oscar Robertson, the Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, to reach their 1st NBA Finals in 17 years.
Clyde. 'Nuff said.
Let's put this in perspective. At this point, the Yankees had won 20 World Series. The Giants had won 4 NFL Championships. The Rangers had won 3 Stanley Cups. And in the preceding 16 months, the Jets had won the Super Bowl, and then the Mets had won the World Series. The Jets had only been in existence since 1960, the Mets since 1962. The Knicks had been a founding franchise of the NBA, in 1946, and in 24 years had never won a Championship. They needed one.
In their way were the Lakers, who had 3 of the defining figures of the NBA's 1st quarter-century: Wilt Chamberlain, the best player the game has ever known; Elgin Baylor, the 1st man to really make the game stylish; and Jerry West, the best shooter the sport had yet seen and a really good defensive player, too. The Knicks would have home-court advantage, but they were huge underdogs. The Lakers seemed to have both talent and hunger on their side.
Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West
*
April 24, 1970. Game 1 at The Garden. It was surprisingly easy for the Knicks, as they won, 124-112.
April 27, 1970, Game 2 at The Garden. So much for easy. The Lakers struck back, and won 105-103.
April 29, 1970, Game 3 at The Forum, in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. The Knicks thought they had the game won when DeBusschere made a basket with 3 seconds left. But then came the first true "buzzer-beater" in NBA history: West fired a shot from behind half-court, and it went in. No 3-point field goals in those days (although the American Basketball Association used it), so this sent the game to overtime.
Instead of being stunned by West's shot, the Knicks showed their professionalism, and got the job done, winning anyway 112-108.
May 1, 1970, Game 4 at The Forum. The Lakers had already shown the Knicks that they weren't going to give up without a fight, and they tied the series up again, winning this game 121-115 in overtime.
May 4, 1970, Game 5 at The Garden. A surreal day. Earlier, on the campus of Kent State University in the Cleveland suburb of Kent, Ohio, a demonstration was held, protesting President Richard Nixon's decision to expand the Vietnam War to Cambodia. This would have disastrous consequences for Southeast Asia, both short-term and long-term. Ohio National Guardsmen shot 13 students, resulting in 4 deaths and 1 permanent paralysis.
Al Albert was a student at Kent State at the time. His brother, Marv Albert, was a broadcaster for the Knicks, the Jets, and the New York Rangers. Marv had heard of the massacre, and, not knowing the names of the dead and the wounded, had made some calls to find out if his brother was all right. He had to broadcast the 1st half of the game not knowing. Finally, during halftime, he was handed a note saying that Al had been reached, and was fine, that he was nowhere near the demonstration.
In the middle of Game 5, Knick Captain Reed went down with a torn thigh muscle. Up until then, he had been keeping Chamberlain in check. But without Reed, their biggest physical presence and their emotional leader, the Knicks were in trouble.
DeBusschere stepped up, and kept Chamberlain from running riot across the Garden floor, and the Knicks won, 107-100.
May 6, 1970, Game 6 at The Forum. Without Reed available, this was the least close game of the series. Chamberlain ran riot across the Forum floor, and the Lakers won, 135-113. To put that in perspective, until this point, the highest point total in the series was the Knicks' 124 in Game 1; the Lakers' highest, 121 in Game 4.
Wilt Chamberlain and Walt Frazier
It meant that the Knicks needed Reed for Game 7. And the nature of his injury made it look like he wouldn't be available. At this point, pretty much everybody expected the Lakers to win the game easily, and thus win the title.
*
This is what the world was like on May 8, 1970, 50 years ago:
There were 14 teams in the NBA, 7 each in an Eastern and Western Division. These included the Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), the Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings), the San Francisco Warriors (who would move to Oakland for the 1971-72 season, and change their name to the Golden State Warriors), the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder), and the San Diego Rockets (who became the Houston Rockets in 1971).
This was the season in which NBA officials switched from traditional striped referee shirts to short-sleeved gray shirts, which they have worn ever since. This was also the rookie season for the man who had led UCLA to 3 straight National Championships and an 88-2 record, Lew Alcindor of the Milwaukee Bucks. He would lead them to the title in 1971. After another season, he would announce his conversion to Islam, and the change of his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
After the 1970 Finals, 3 expansion teams would be created: The Cleveland Cavaliers, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers). The NBA was realigned into an Eastern and Western Conference, each with 2 Divisions.
Madison Square Garden -- or, as the arena, then just past its 2nd "birthday," was still being called, "the New Madison Square Garden Center" -- is the only NBA arena used in the 2019-20 season that was being used in the 1969-70 season.
The arenas then used by the Lakers, the Bucks, the Bullets, the Rockets, the Detroit Pistons, the Atlanta Hawks and the Phoenix Suns still stand, but those teams have since moved. The 1st arena used by Portland, starting the next season, also still stands, but no longer hosts NBA games. The Indiana Pacers, who would win the ABA Championship, were playing in an arena that still stands, but they no longer use it.
Madison Square Garden is also the only 1970 NHL arena still in use. Lambeau Field in Green Bay is the only 1970 NFL stadium still in use, and only 5 Major League Baseball stadiums from that year are still in use.
The Knicks, the Lakers since moving to Los Angeles, the Bucks, the Warriors since moving to the Bay Area, the Trail Blazers, the Bullets, the Sonics, the Pistons, the Rockets, the Chicago Bulls, the San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat, the Dallas Mavericks, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors had not yet won an NBA Championship.
The Bucks, the Suns, the Trail Blazers, the Sonics, the Rockets, the Bulls, the Spurs, the Pacers, the Heat, the Mavericks, the Cavaliers, the Orlando Magic, the Utah Jazz, the team now known as the Brooklyn Nets had not yet made the NBA Finals.
The Spurs, the Pacers, the Nets and the Denver Nuggets were in the ABA. And the Cavaliers, the Trail Blazers, the Clippers, the Magic, the Jazz, the Heat, the Mavericks, the Raptors, the Charlotte Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Orleans Pelicans did not yet exist.
All of these facts are no longer true.
The NBA was close to celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Its Commissioner was J. Walter Kennedy. Its original Commissioner (1946-63), Maurice Podoloff, was not only still alive, but was older than the sport itself: He was born in 1890, and basketball was invented in 1891.
Chamberlain and West were still active. So was Oscar Robertson. Bill Russell had retired only a year earlier.
The defining basketball players of my youth? As I said, Kareem was a rookie. Elvin Hayes was in his 2nd season. Pete Maravich and Dave Cowens were seniors in college. Julius Erving and Bill Walton were in high school. Moses Malone, Bernard King and Larry Bird were in junior high. Earvin Johnson was 10 years old, and nobody had yet thought to call him "Magic." Isiah Thomas was 9. John Stockton was 8. Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were 7. Karl Malone was 6.
The 1970 NBA Finals was the 1st NBA Finals shown live on television. But this would not hold. As late as the clinching Game 6 in 1980, the games would be shown only on tape delay, and this proved to be so embarrassing that the NBA and TV got closer together. Perhaps a little too close.
Current Knicks head coach Mike Miller was 6 years old. Current Lakers head coach Frank Vogel wasn't born yet. Barry Trotz of the Islanders was 7, David Quinn of the Rangers was 3, and the rest of the head coaches/managers of New York Tri-State Area teams weren't born yet: Chris Armas of the Red Bulls in 1972, Aaron Boone of the Yankees in 1973; Jacque Vaughn of the Nets, Alan Nasreddine of the Devils, and Ronny Deila of NYCFC all in 1975; Adam Gase of the Jets in 1978, Luis Rojas of the Mets and Joe Judge of the Giants in 1981, and Walt Hopkins of the Liberty in 1985.
The Knicks and Lakers were attempting to dethrone the Celtics as NBA Champions. The Boston Bruins, thanks to a "flying goal" from Bobby Orr, were about to complete a sweep of the St. Louis Blues, to win the Stanley Cup, dethroning the Montreal Canadiens. And the Mets and Jets were titleholders in their leagues. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Joe Frazier -- with an asterisk, if you believe the title was unfairly stripped from Muhammad Ali.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America 4 times, Canada 3 times, Japan twice, Russia twice, Korea twice, Germany, Austria, Bosnia, France, Spain, Norway, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Britain and Brazil. The World Cup has since been held in Mexico and Germany twice each, and once each in America, Argentina, Spain, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
There were 25 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. You had to be at least 21 years old to vote, but 18 to be drafted -- as writer P.F. Sloan and singer Barry McGuire put it, "You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'." The 26th Amendment, reducing the voting age to 18, would be passed by Congress, and then ratified by the States, the next year.
The Environmental Protection Agency would begin operation the following December 2. The 1st gay pride parade would be held in 7 weeks, on the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Riot. Title IX and Ms. magazine were 2 years away; legalized abortion, 3 years away. The idea that people of the same gender could marry with all the rights and protections of regular couples was considered ridiculous -- but then, so was the idea that corporations were "people" and entitled to the rights thereof.
The President of the United States was Richard Nixon. Former Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman, their wives, and the widows of John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower were still alive. Gerald Ford was the House Minority Leader. Jimmy Carter was about to be elected Governor of Georgia. Ronald Reagan was about to be re-elected Governor of California. George H.W. Bush was a Congressman, but was about to be defeated in a run for the Senate.
Bill Clinton was in his Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, and had recently -- legally, if suspiciously -- avoided being drafted into the Vietnam War. George W. Bush was serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Donald Trump got a deferment. Barack Obama was 8 years old. Joe Biden also had a medical deferment, and his was far less suspicious. He had just begun the practice of law, and was launching his 1st run for office, for New Castle County Council in Delaware, which he would win.
The Governor of the State of New York was Nelson Rockefeller. The Mayor of the City of New York was John Lindsay. The Governor of New Jersey was William T. Cahill. As for the current occupants of those offices: Governors Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy were then both 12 years old, and Mayor Bill de Blasio was celebrating his 9th birthday on May 8, 1970.
Canada's Prime Minister was Pierre Trudeau. He was young (50), dashing and charismatic. It was as if John F. Kennedy was singing lead for the Beatles – in French. Canada was also about to get its first Major League Baseball team, the Montreal Expos. And a group called The Guess Who was about to become Canada's biggest rock band ever (to that point). For the first time ever, Canada was hip -- and I don't mean "tragically hip." Especially if you were an American worrying about being drafted. Trudeau's son Justin was born a year and a half later.
The Pope was Paul VI. The current Pope, Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, would not be ordained until later in the year. René Samuel Cassin, The United Nations' International Labor Organization had recently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Elizabeth II was Queen of England -- that still hasn't changed -- but she was just 44 years old. Britain's Prime Minister was Harold Wilson. There have since been 10 Presidents of the United States, 9 Prime Ministers of Britain and 5 Popes. There were still surviving veterans of the Spanish-American War and the Boer War.
The English Football League was won by Everton, the "blue club of Liverpool." The FA Cup was won by West London team Chelsea, their 1st time winning it. Feyenoord of Rotterdam became the 1st team from the Netherlands to win the European Cup.
Major novels of 1970 included Deliverance by James Dickey, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Paper Chase by John Jay Osborn Jr., QB VII by Leon Uris, Papillon by Henri Charriere, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight by New York Daily News writer Jimmy Breslin, and Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach -- which my all-time sports hero, Reggie Jackson, then a 23-year-old slugger with the Oakland Athletics, would later claim as his favorite book, outside of The Bible.
In children's literature, Roald Dahl wrote The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Maurice Sendak wrote In the Night Kitchen, and Judy Blume wrote Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. In non-fiction, Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock, Arthur Janov wrote The Primal Scream (and would soon have former Beatle John Lennon as one of his followers), Dee Brown wrote Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Helene Hanff wrote 84 Charing Cross Road, and baseball pitcher Jim Bouton published his diary of the 1969 season, which made many people laugh and other people steam: Ball Four.
J.R.R. Tolkien was still alive. Stephen King was a senior at the University of Maine. George R.R. Martin was a senior at Northwestern University. J.K. Rowling was 4 years old.
No one had yet heard of Spenser, Lestat de Lioncourt, T.S. Garp, Arthur Dent, Jason Bourne, Hannibal Lecter, Kinsey Millhone, Celie Harris, Forrest Gump, Jack Ryan, Alex Cross, Bridget Jones, Robert Langdon, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan or Katniss Everdeen.
Major films released in the Spring of 1970 included Patton, A Man Called Horse, Too Late the Hero and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. This was during the brief George Lazenby period for James Bond. Jon Pertwee had just taken over as The Doctor. Adam West was the most recent live-action Batman, Bob Holliday the most recent live-action Superman. Gene Roddenberry was figuring out what to do after Star Trek. Neither George Lucas nor Steven Spielberg had yet directed a feature film.
No one had yet heard of Dirty Harry Callahan, Cheech & Chong, John Shaft, Paul Kersey, Leatherface, Rocky Balboa, Howard Beale, Michael Myers, Jake & Elwood Blues, Max Rockatansky, Jason Voorhees, Ash Williams, John Rambo, the Terminator, the Ghostbusters, Freddy Krueger, Marty McFly, Robocop, John McClane, Jay & Silent Bob or Austin Powers.
All My Children had just debuted on ABC, and 23-year-old Susan Lucci had made her debut as 15-year-old Erica Kane. The Hollywood Palace, ABC's Saturday night, pre-taped, Los Angeles attempt to rip off CBS' Sunday night, live, New York-based The Ed Sullivan Show, wrapped up after 6 years, with Bing Crosby hosting the last installment, as he had the first. But Sullivan only lasted another year anyway.
No one had yet heard of Mary Richards, Keith Partridge, Archie Bunker, Kwai Chang Caine, Fred Sanford, Bob Hartley, Theo Kojak, Arthur Fonzarelli, Barney Miller, J.R. Ewing, Mork from Ork, William Adama, Arnold Jackson, Ken Reeve, Bo & Luke Duke, or any of the legendary TV characters of the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
Robert Kardashian was in law school, Bruce Jenner in college, and Kris Houghton in high school. As far as I know, none of them had ever met the others.
The Number 1 song in America was "ABC" by the Jackson 5. Paul McCartney had announced the breakup of the Beatles 28 days earlier. The Supremes had also just broken up. Elvis Presley had been a smash in his Las Vegas debut. Bob Dylan had recently released Nashville Skyline, and Frank Sinatra had released A Man Alone, an album of songs by Rod McKuen.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $6.65 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 6 cents, and a New York Subway ride 30 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was 33 cents, a cup of coffee 44 cents, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) 94 cents, a movie ticket $1.55, a new car $3,543, and a new house $27,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that day, a Friday, at 717.73.
The tallest building in the world was still the Empire State Building in New York, but construction was already underway on the original World Trade Center in New York and the Sears Tower in Chicago. There were telephones in cars, but not yet mobile telephones that you could walk around with.
This would be the 1st year that more American homes had color televisions than didn't. Automatic teller machines were still a relatively new thing, and many people had never seen one. There were no home video games, and the existence of ARPANET, the original Internet, was still new and known to very few people. Steve Jobs was 15 years old, Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee were 14.
There were heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants, and artificial kidneys, but no artificial hearts. There were birth control pills, but no Viagara.
In the Spring of 1970, the Apollo 13 mission was launched, but a malfunction meant it couldn't land on the Moon, and the astronauts barely managed to return to Earth safely. A gas explosion in the construction on the subway system of Osaka, Japan killed 79 people. An avalanche killed 74 people at a hospital in the French Alps. An earthquake killed 70,000 people in Peru. Israel bombed what they thought was a terrorist site in Bahr el-Bagar, Egypt, instead hitting a school, killing 47 children. The People's Republic of China launched its 1st satellite.
In America, the 1st Earth Day was celebrated. A tornado killed 26 people in Lubbock, Texas. American Motors introduced the AMC Gremlin. Legendary hockey goaltender Terry Sawhcuk died from injuries sustained a few days earlier in a fight with teammate Ron Stewart, a fight he admitted he'd started. Stewart was cleared of wrongdoing. Basketball star Maurice Stokes also died, as the result of a long-term battle with a head injury sustained in a game. United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther was killed in a suspicious plane crash.
It had been 11 weeks since the convictions of five of the Chicago Seven (which were overturned 2 years later). Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning cigarette advertising on television. And he ordered U.S. military activity in Cambodia, which he thought would aid the Vietnam War effort.
This seemed to break his promise that he was winding the war down. This led to protests around the country, and led not only to the aforementioned Kent State Massacre, and another shooting that killed 2 at Jackson State University in Mississippi the following week, but, on the morning of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, a counter-demonstration, known as the Hard Hat Demonstration.
It was construction workers marching down 5th Avenue, in support of Nixon and the war, even attacking people protesting them near City Hall and Wall Street. Blue-collar guys marching in New York, in support of the war, and against civil rights. The conservative backlash to a decade of liberalism was well and truly on. The day of Martin Luther King was done, and the day of Archie Bunker had begun.
Ed Begley Sr., and Gypsy Rose Lee, and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Ray Schalk died. Melania Knauss (Trump), and Nicklas Lidstrom, and Andre Agassi were born. On the very day of that Game 7, Luis Enrique, star player and manager for Spanish soccer giants FC Barcelona, and now manager of the Spain national team, was born.
That's what the world was like on May 8, 1970. And, at what could have been their moment of greatest triumph, Knick fans were at their moment of greatest despair.
*
There were 19,500 paying customers at The Garden that Friday night. Among them, Woody Allen was sitting courtside. Also from Brooklyn, but sitting up at the very top, in what were then known as the Blue Seats, was 13-year-old Shelton "Spike" Lee, who would also later become a renowned film director, and would also eventually be sitting courtside. And the one thing on the minds of Woody, Spike, and everybody in between was, "Will Willis play?"
On radio station WHN, 1050 AM (now WEPN, the flagship of ESPN Radio), Marv Albert himself asked, "The big question is, 'Will Willis Reed play tonight?'" Shortly, he got his answer, "And here comes Willis! The crowd is going wild!"
Reed limped out onto the court for warmups, and hit a few shots. The Lakers stopped and watched. It was over: He was in their heads. They were already beaten.
When the game began, Willis dragged his bad leg around the court, took the Knicks' 1st 2 shots, and made them both. It was effectively over. Willis played only 27 of the 48 minutes. That was more than enough.
Everyone remembers it as The Willis Reed Game. But Frazier had his best game: 36 points to lead all players, 19 assists to lead all players, 7 rebounds. Barnett had 21 points. DeBusschere had 18 points and 17 rebounds. Bradley had 17, Nate Bowman 6, Mike Riordan 5, Dave Stallworth 4, Cazzie Russell 2.
Despite 28 points from West, 21 points and 24 rebounds from Chamberlain, and 19 points from Baylor, the Knicks won 113-99, and were World Champions for the 1st time. It became a particular point of pride for the Knicks that they held the Lakers to under 100 points in that Game 7.
Nationally, the game was broadcast on ABC. In the locker room afterward, Howard Cosell told Reed, "You exemplify the very best that the human spirit can offer."
Cosell (before his infamous toupee, but dripping with champagne),
Reed and Holzman
The Knicks finally had their title, and this game has only grown in New York sports legend. It's one of those games where a person who doesn't remember it must think that the venue must have held a million people, because that's how many people have said they were there that day.
In 1997, NBC had a promo for their sitcom Mad About You, with the following exchange:
Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt): "What was the most amazing moment of your life?"
Paul Buchaman (Paul Reiser): "Okay, you ready? 1970, NBA Finals, Game 7, Willis Reed limps onto the court, scores 4 points, Knicks win. I was there."
Jamie: "For me, it was our wedding."
In 2006, as part of the league's 60th Anniversary celebrations, the NBA took an online poll to determine "The NBA's 60 Greatest Playoff Moments." Willis Reed taking the court on May 8, 1970 came in 3rd, behind Michael Jordan's last shot to clinch the 1998 title for the Chicago Bulls, and Magic Johnson switching to center for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to win the 1980 title for the Lakers.
The moment is still there. Willis limping up the court is up there with the fans storming the field at Shea 7 months earlier, and Joe Namath waving that "We're Number 1" finger 14 months earlier. There have been huge moments since: The Yankees and Mets having many, the Giants having their Super Bowl wins, the Islanders winning 4 Stanley Cups, the Devils 3, and the Rangers the 1 that "will last a lifetime!"
But the Knicks have won just 1 title since, and that 1972-73 title just didn't have a signature moment that everybody remembers. Ask the average Knick fan how many games the Finals took, or if the title was clinched at home or on the road, or who the leading scorer was in the clincher, and they might not even know. (It was Game 5, at The Forum, and Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, obtained from Baltimore early in the 1971-72 season, scored 23. It was May 10, and the Knicks won 102-93.)
*
The Knicks lost the 1971 Eastern Conference Finals to the Baltimore Bullets; got to the NBA Finals again in 1972, after trading for Monroe and Jerry Lucas, but lost to the Lakers; then beat the Lakers for the title in 1973. But Reed, DeBusschere and Lucas all retired after the 1974 season, and that was it for that generation of Knicks.
They didn't get back to the Finals until 1994, losing to the Houston Rockets in 7 games. They made it back in 1999, losing to the San Antonio Spurs in 5. They got back to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2000, losing to the Indiana Pacers. Since then, in 19 completed seasons, they have won a grand total of 9 Playoff games, and just 1 Playoff series, the last of each coming in 2013.
Oddly, the 1970 title looms larger than the last title in 1973. That's probably because the '73 title just didn't have an iconic moment like "And here comes Willis!" The fact that the '70 Finals went the full 7 games, and the '73 Finals didn't, may also have something to do with it. Also, nobody thought it would be that memorable in the long term, because everyone thought the Knicks would win another title.
But after the Bernard King-led team of the early 1980s got broken up -- physically and organizationally -- and then the Patrick Ewing-led team of the 1990s kept crashing into the Chicago Bulls, the Pacers and the Miami Heat, and James Dolan began running The Garden's operations, the greatness seemed to drift further into the past. This is also true of the other team he runs at The Garden, the NHL's New York Rangers.
Eddie Donovan left his post as general manager after the 1970 title, to take the same job with the expansion Buffalo Braves, and was named NBA Executive of the Year in 1974. He died in 2001, at the age of 78.
Red Holzman was both head coach and GM for the Knicks through 1977. He was brought back in 1978, and stayed through 1982, retired, and never coached again. He died in 1998, at 78.
Dick McGuire continued to work in the Knicks' front office until his death in 2010, at 84.
Nate Bowman was lost to Donovan's Braves in the 1970 Expansion Draft. He played in the NBA through 1973, and died in 1984.
Bill Hosket was also lost to the Braves in the 1970 Expansion Draft, he retired after the 1972 season, and ended up running a sports foundation in his native Ohio. He is 73.
Don May was also lost to the Braves in the 1970 Expansion Draft, and played in the NBA until 1975. He is 74.
John Warren was also lost in the 1970 Expansion Draft, but to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played for them through 1974, and retired. He is 73.
Cazzie Russell was traded to the Golden State Warriors in 1971, played in the NBA until 1978, and went into coaching, at a high school in Columbus, Ohio. He then served as head coach at Savannah College of Art and Design, and assistant coach at Armstrong State University -- in each case, until the school discontinued the sport. At 75 (76 next month), he is now an assistant coach with the women's team at Flagler College.
Mike Riordan was included in the 1971 trade with the Bullets for Earl Monroe, and stayed with them until 1977, moving with them to Washington in 1973, and just missing their 1978 NBA title. He is 74.
Dave Stallworth was sent to the Bullets in a different trade, in 1972, and briefly returned to the Knicks in 1974 before retiring. He died in 2017, at 75.
Dick Barnett retired after the 1973 title, got a doctorate in education at Fordham University, and is now retired from teaching sports management at St. John's. He is 83.
Willis Reed retired in 1974, went into coaching, and succeeded Holzman as Knick head coach in 1977. He didn't do well, and was fired after just 1 season. He later coached the Nets and Creighton University, and worked in the front office of the team now known as the New Orleans Pelicans, in his home State of Louisiana. He is 77. (UPDATE: He died in 2023, at 80.)
Dave DeBusschere retired in 1974, took a front office job with the New York Nets, and became the last Commissioner of the ABA, steering 4 of its teams into the NBA: The Nets, the Pacers, the Spurs, and the Denver Nuggets. He became the Knicks' director of basketball operations, and as luck (or, perhaps, Commissioner David Stern) would have it, he got the top pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, and used it on Patrick Ewing. He died in 2003, at 62.
Dave DeBusschere and David Stern at the 1985 Draft
Bill Bradley stayed with the Knicks through 1977, retired, and ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from New Jersey. He was elected in 1978, 1984 and 1990, retiring before the 1996 elections. So many people thought, even while he was leading Princeton University to the 1965 NCAA Final Four, that he might run for President someday. He only did so once, in 2000, and finished 2nd to Vice President Al Gore in Democratic Party Primary Delegates. He is 76.
Walt Frazier stayed with the Knicks through 1977, and was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, retiring in 1980. He became a Knick broadcaster, still known for his spectacular suits, and adding rhyming slang to his legend. At 75, he remains the greatest basketball player, and the coolest athlete, in New York Tri-State Area history. Yes, cooler than Joe Namath.
Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley
with the 1970 NBA Championship trophy
Phil Jackson, injured for the 1969-70 season, was a key reserve on the 1972-73 title, and remained with the Knicks through 1978. He won 6 NBA titles as coach of the Bulls, and 5 more with the Lakers, but his tenure as the Knicks' GM was a disaster. He is 74.
Phil Jackson
He's not still broadcasting for the Knicks.
But is he still broadcasting basketball? "Yessssssss!"
Reed, Frazier, DeBusschere, Bradley and McGuire have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as players. Holzman and Jackson have been elected as coaches. Reed, Frazier and DeBusschere were named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players in 1996. (UPDATE: All were also named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players in 2021, with no new additions like Bradley.)
The Knicks have retired the uniform numbers of Frazier (10), Barnett (12), McGuire (15), Reed (19), DeBusschere (22) and Bradley (24). They also hung a banner for Holzman, featuring the number of games he won as their coach (613). Earl Monroe wasn't with them in 1970, but he was on their 1973 title team, and 15 was retired for him before someone realized it should have been retired for McGuire first. They now share it. Russell's Number 33 is also retired, but for Ewing, not him.
The early 1970s New York Knicks get talked about as the epitome of team basketball, of Red Holzman's vision. Actually, they weren't doing anything that Red Auerbach's Boston Celtics weren't doing throughout the 1960s. But you know the New York media.
Due to the Coronavirus epidemic, there has not yet been an official celebration for the 50th Anniversary of the 1970 Knicks. Bill Bradley has suggested that one will happen at the start of the next season, whenever that may be.
But the 1970 Knicks are always celebrated. The mind of Red. The courage of Willis. The flash of Clyde. The ruggedness of Double D. The awareness of Dollar Bill. And the passion of the New York fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment