Hello r/NYKnicks, I am a robot claw and I enjoy researching and writing about sports history. In particular, I like to research teams that came close to becoming enshrined among the all time great franchises in sports history, but fell just short. I feel that there are many great teams that don’t get the respect they deserve and are overshadowed by the dominant and popular team of their time. So I have chosen you as my first piece! By the way, any critique, both good and bad is all welcomed by me. Feel free to tell me what you like and didn’t like, how terrible my formatting might be, any opinions on the piece you agree or disagree with, and anything you feel like I should have added! Thanks. If you choose to read this, I hope you enjoy your time doing so.

Setting

Within this post I examine the NBA basketball team New York Knickerbockers of the early 1990’s headed by Patrick Ewing and coached by Pat Riley. In particular, I look at the Knick’s playoff runs and whether it was realistically possible for them to achieve a modern day NBA dynasty.

The Lead Up

With the first ever NBA lottery occuring in 1985, the Knicks would obtain the ultimate prize by drafting Patrick Ewing of Georgetown at the number 1 overall pick who would later go on to win rookie of the year. Two years later, the Knicks would select Mark Jackson with the 18th pick of the 1987 draft and would also be rewarded rookie of the year for his outstanding point guard play. It became evident that in time, the Knicks would become one of the top contenders of the Eastern Conference and were expected by many at some point to win a NBA crown. Although they made four consecutive playoff appearances from ‘86-’87 to ‘89-’90, the young Knick team was not quite ready to make their mark as they were bounced out early each year in non-competitive series’ by the Celtics, Bulls, Pistons and Bulls again respectively. So, after being swept by Chicago 3-0 in the first round of the 1990 NBA playoffs, Pat Riley was brought to the helm and so began the peak age of New York Knicks basketball.

Emergence: 1992 Eastern Conference Semifinals vs Chicago Bulls

The Knicks had not made an ECF appearance since losing to the Celtics in 1974, and they had a chance to do so having just come off a 3-2 series win vs the Pistons. Most expected the Bulls to once again dominate the series as they had done in the previous year, but to the surprise of almost everyone this was not to be the case. The Knicks proved to be more than just a thorn in the side of Chicago, as Michael Jordan said himself after the game 6 loss in New York

“We were living on the expectations of everyone wanting us to sweep this team, and when we didn’t sweep, it became mentally draining.”

The Knicks had brought physicality to the series. In games 1 through 6, they had tallied up 150 personal fouls (5 of which were flagrant), while both teams had 10 technical fouls between them. One foul by John Starks on Scottie Pippen was seen as particularly malicious, although Starks was not ejected from the game for it (https://youtu.be/gxBIZGa54cI?t=485).

So what did the Knicks do so successfully in the first 6 games of the series that had given them a chance to pull off one of the biggest playoff upsets of all time? For one, they were setting playoff records on defense, holding the Bulls to less than 90 points in the opening two games in Chicago:

Knick’s defense

Regular season: 97.7 PPG (2nd in NBA)

1st Round: 84.8 PPG (5 game series record)

Games 1-6 of 2nd Round: 89.5 PPG (7 game series record: 89.0 PPG)

Secondly, while ultimately they could not thwart the hall of fame duo of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, they had substantially shut down their supporting cast:

Bulls Regular Season

87 shots/game, MJ/Pippen 39 shots/game

Game 1-6 vs NYK

74 shots/game, MJ/Pippen 38 shots/game

The Knicks were not only driving down the shooting percentage of Chicago’s stars (Jordan’s FG% was down 5% for the series to 47%, while Pippen’s was down 14% to 37%), they were taking the ball out of the hands of the shooters around them. In the meantime, wild card shooting guard John Starks was being exactly that:

John Starks

In 3 victories: 18.3 PPG on 51% shooting

In 3 losses: 7.6 PPG on 35% shooting

The question was, could the Knicks do it one more time in the biggest game 7 of their lives on the floor of the defending NBA champions? Moments like these certainly can change the tides of a league and the perception of an NBA franchise, and this was exactly what was on the line for everyone involved. It didn’t help that Ewing had endured a mild ankle sprain in game 6...possibly something that would play a role in the big game to come.

Game 7

The game began with a clear statement from both team’s superstars: they were going to get their touches early with the need to dominate. MJ started the first two minutes of the game with an emphatic 10 points, going 4 of 5 shooting along with 2 free throws. On the other side, if Ewing had any ankle issues, it was showing as he managed only 1 of 5 shooting while missing 1 of 2 free throws in the first 4 minutes of the game.

First Quarter

MJ 18 points on 5/8 shooting, 8/8 free throws

Ewing 7 points 3/10 shooting, 3/4 free throws, 0 rebounds

Anyone can have a bad shooting night, but for Ewing to accumulate zero rebounds in an entire quarter of play (he did not sit the entire 1st quarter) is astounding. Still after one quarter, the Knicks only trailed 30-25. John Starks came up big off the bench mid way through the first, going 3 for his first 3 (with two 3 pointers) and collecting 3 steals to boot. Meanwhile, Charles Oakley was working the glass to make up for Ewing’s absence with 7 rebounds (4 offensive) by the end of the half. The Knicks seemed to have weathered the storm of Michael Jordan. At the very least, Bull’s starting point guard John Paxson would go an ineffective 1/4 shooting and get into early foul trouble. For the Knicks, Mark Jackson was having a good shooting game to help keep the his team within reach early.

After taking 10 shots in the first quarter, Ewing would not attempt another shot until 1:10 remaining in the half. What had also become evident over the course of the first half was that the Knicks were not willing to engage defensively as they had so effectively over the first 6 games. Their fouls were not discouraging the Bulls like in previous games (https://youtu.be/gxBIZGa54cI?t=562), but rather encouraging Michael Jordan and others to take the ball at Ewing who was quickly getting into foul trouble (The Bulls were in the penalty half way through the first quarter, make of that what you will). It seemed like the Chicago stars had their way with the shots they wanted, as was reflected in their first half stats:

First Half

MJ 29 points on 10/15 shooting, 9/9 free throws

Pippen 10 points on 4/5 shooting, 1/2 free throws

Ewing 14 points on 4/11 shooting, 6/8 free throws

Starks 8 points on 3/6 shooting, 1/2 free throws, 3 steals

And yet through it all, the second quarter was played even as the Bulls only maintained their 5 point first quarter lead.

Ewing had picked up his 4th foul before the midway point in the 3rd quarter, and would only sit for less than 2 minutes before coming back in. If the Knicks were already not looking good defensively, this only worsened matters. Pat Riley at times was frantically calling for double teams to get the ball out of Pippen’s hands whenever he was put in a 1 on 1 situation against Ewing (https://youtu.be/enC4PYo0aNE?t=4685) , which began to free up other people as the Bulls would go on to shoot well over 50% as a team for the game. (BJ Armstrong 5/7, Horace Grant 6/10) Although the Knicks managed to pull the lead down to 3 at one moment in the 3rd, they finished the quarter shooting below 40% with the Bulls building a 79-64 lead and would never look back. The ending was a blow out, 110-81 as the Knicks surrendered their first 100 point game of their entire 1992 playoff run.

Final

MJ 42 points on 15/26 shooting, 12/13 free throws, 6 Rb, 4 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 Blk

Pippen 16 points on 7/11 shooting, 1/2 free throws, 11 Reb, 11 Ast

Bulls 43/74 for 58.1% shooting, 31 Ast, 14 TOs

Ewing 22 points on 8/19 shooting, 6/8 free throws, 9 Rb

Starks 18 points on 6/13 shooting, 4 Stl, 5 Ast

Jackson 10 points on 4/9 shooting, 10 Ast

Knicks 28/74 for 37.8% shooting, 21 Ast, 17 TOs

Ewing did not attempt a free throw in the second half, often times electing to shoot from the midrange, presumably to avoid the possibility of an offensive foul (as he was already at 4 early in the half). He shot more efficiently in the second half, but by that point the game seemed largely out of reach. The Bulls had superior ball movement that resulted in a high field goal percentage. For context, in 2017 the Golden State Warriors lead the NBA with 28.7 assists per game. In game 7, the Bulls had 31 assists.

Overall, in a series that had 12 techs and over 5 flagrant fouls, the only incident during game 7 was a mix up of words between Jordan and the “X-Man” McDaniel, in which Jordan can be seen mouthing the words “Fuck you” as he comes to Pippen’s aid. (https://youtu.be/enC4PYo0aNE?t=1313) The Knick’s seemed to lack the edge that they had shown games 1 through 6.

Could the Knicks have won game 7?

At that point in time, I don’t think so. Apart from Mark Jackson and John Starks, shooting in game 7 was abysmal for the entire team who never really seemed to pose a serious threat to the defending champions. The Knicks may have challenged the Bulls throughout the series, but when it came to the legacy defining game 7, they couldn't deliver. Defensively, they had set historical numbers going into game 7 but it was all for not as they struggled to keep the Bulls from driving the lane and getting the shots they wanted. It’s hard to say how much of it had to do with the Bulls stepping up their game and the Knicks not being up to the moment. You could give Ewing a pass and say there was a chance he was playing with a sustained ankle injury, hence underlining his lack of rebounding and shot making early on. You could also say the Bulls seemed like the more experienced and battle hardened team when it came to big playoff moments at this point, and that the Knicks were lacking in those areas. In the end, the legacy of the Bulls was never really in doubt on that night and the Knicks would have to wait until the next year to get another shot at them. Before game 7, Magic Johnson made the comment directed towards the Knicks, “ What they must do is keep having fun and stay loose.” I know it sounds like a cliche, but what I think Magic was trying to say that the Knicks are their own worst enemy in this game if they let the pressure mount within them and ultimately underperform. I don’t think the Knicks could have realistically begun to establish a dynasty just yet.

Let us also remember that this was Pat Riley’s first year with the Knicks, and while they did achieve good results, it’s hard to expect a coach (great as Riley was) to fully mesh with a new team in his first season. The Knicks would need time to develop their system, ‘91-’92 was not a year they were expected to dominate the league.

'92-'93 Conference Domination

The Knicks would have one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, posting a record of 60-22 that earned them the overall number one seed in the east. Clearly they had gone to work in the off season. They dominated at home with 37 wins and only 4 losses as they ended the regular season winning 24 of 28, including 5 consecutive games. Meanwhile, Pat Riley had won coach of the year during his second season with the Knicks, while they had let PG Mark Jackson go in favour of adding Doc Rivers. To add to their confidence, the Knicks had also bested the Bulls in the season series 3 games to 1, winning both at home and splitting the series in Chicago (though Jordan was not active in the home game Chicago lost: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199302120CHI.html) The only team that had managed to post a winning record against them during the regular season were the LA Clippers out of the west (0-2) who didn’t manage to make the playoffs.

The Knicks would end the regular season with one of the most feared defenses in modern times which the statistics had backed,

-Opp FG 42.6% (1st, with 2nd at 45.6%)

-Opp ppg 95.4 (1st, with 2nd at 98.9, only 3 teams had averages below 100 that year)

-Opp offensive rbd 12.6 per game (tied 2nd)

-Defensive rbd 32.4 per game (1st)

-Opp turnovers 16.6 per game (7th, 3rd in east)

They also ranked 2nd in the league with 25.7 personal fouls per game, but they weren’t touch fouls. Simply put, the Knicks didn’t let you walk down the lane.

Dominating the Pacers and Hornets in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Knicks lost a total of only two games, both of which were on the road. This was the first time the Knicks had reached the ECF since 1974.

1993 Eastern Conference Finals

New York had won 23 consecutive home games coming into the series, something that would be of no small consequence as they went up against the Chicago Bulls who had eliminated them during their last two playoff runs. The Bulls were to the Knicks now as the Pistons had been to the Bulls in the 80s. They were the team they would have to defeat in order to claim the NBA throne. So if the Bulls could do it, why couldn’t New York? They seemed better, more confident, and perhaps most importantly they had won 6 consecutive home games versus the Bulls. With home court advantage in the ECF, it appeared as if there was a realistic possibility that the Knicks could finally dethrone the seemingly immutable gods of basketball. Maybe then, they could start a dynasty of their own.

New York came out limping in game 1 looking nervous and not like the number 1 seed they had played like all season. It was clear Chicago had a game plan to put the pressure on the Knicks from the outset. Turning the ball over 3 consecutive times in the first 6 minutes of the game (with a total of 8 in the first quarter), the Knicks were having a hard time against the full court trap https://youtu.be/rE6EJTJI-Bc?t=326 and in general just making sloppy passes https://youtu.be/rE6EJTJI-Bc?t=362 . After what seemed like an early case of the jitters against their bitter rivals, the Knicks would eventually settle down into their offense, lead by Ewing and complemented with a big game from Starks,

Game 1

Ewing 25 points on 9/16 shooting, 7/11 free throws, 17 rebounds

Starks 25 points on 8/14 shooting

The Knicks came into the series as the number 1 defensive rebounding team, and they out rebounded the Bulls 33-28 in game 1. Ewing had over half of the teams rebounds compared to having none in the first quarter of game 7 last year. They were also able to hold Jordan to a poor shooting night, something that would become a theme in the series,

MJ (game 1) 27 points on 10/27 shooting, 5/6 free throws, 5 ast

What was becoming apparent for the Knicks was that their future hall of fame big man had learned to pass out of the double teams, something he had been criticized for as a major weakness earlier in his career. In game 2, Ewing had 0 turnovers and was passing the ball well out of Chicago traps and double teams

https://youtu.be/fchEKO6MyvE?t=82

https://youtu.be/fchEKO6MyvE?t=4007

Meanwhile, the Knicks continued their aggressive defensive methods, once again holding Jordan to a poor shooting night,

MJ (game 2) 36 points on 12/32 shooting, 11/13 free throws, 1/7 3pt, 1 ast

https://youtu.be/fchEKO6MyvE?t=6055

New York took a commanding 2-0 series lead, extending their home court winning streak to 25 games. Unfortunately, the series looked like it would have to be won at Madison Square Garden, as the next two games in Chicago were never really in question. In particular, Jordan regained his shooting touch during game 4, torching the Knicks for 54 points on 18/30 shooting (This was the most points scored by a single player against New York in playoff history). The bright side was, this seemed like an anomaly game in the series thus far for Jordan, one Chicago only won by 10 despite the record setting performance. They had held him below 40% shooting in games 1 through 3 (and in particular, below 20% on 3/18 shooting in game 3), while the Knicks as a team were shooting 49.2% through 4 games. And they knew they had the homecourt, which they were virtually unbeatable in during the course of the season.

Game 5

This would be the first time the New York Knicks would play a basketball game in the month of June, and coming in they had defeated the Chicago Bulls 6 consecutive times in the Garden.

“These could be the defining moments in the career of Patrick Ewing, who is seeking his first championship ring. But...can he come up big as Michael Jordan has in...huge ball games?” - Marv Albert on NBC.

The game opened similar to game 1, with Chicago trying to pressure New York in the full court. But where in game 1 the pressure got to the Knicks, here they were clearly prepared, effectively passing out of the trap and converting their passes into buckets (they only turned the ball over 3 times in the first quarter).

https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=446

https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=480

https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=589

Last year in game 7, Ewing and Jordan took volume shots early in the game. This time, it was the polar opposite as both players looked to establish team mates early on via the passing game (Jordan himself said his goal was to get 10 ast for the game in a pre game interview).

First quarter

MJ 6 points on 2/6 shooting, 2/2 free throws, 5 ast

Ewing 3 points on 1/3 shooting, 1/2 free throws

Chicago held a 31-28 lead going into the second quarter. Now the Knicks would come on strong, managing a 9/9 shooting streak while Bulls went a cold 6 minutes without a field goal. New York would play a nearly perfect first half of basketball, shooting over 60% from the field while committing only 5 turnovers. And yet, going into the half they only managed to take a 1 point lead at 56-55. The Knicks seemed to give the Bulls their best shot, so why weren’t they running away with game 5? Two reasons in my mind,

-Terrible free throw shooting. They were 5/12 at one point in the first half. The Knicks shot above 70% for the season, but in game 5 they shot 57% from the line.

-Scottie Pippen. While Jordan struggled once again to find his shot, Pippen would go 8/9 shooting in the first half for 17 points.

Think about that. If the Knicks shot their average of 9/12 free throws, and Pippen has an average 5/9 shooting, New York goes into the locker room with an 11 point lead. Things look and feel a lot different then.

Jordan and Ewing became more assertive in the second half, upping their shot volume. The third quarter saw the Knicks regress to the mean on their shooting as the Bulls took an 80-77 lead going into the 4th. One of the larger reasons the Knicks were not down by even more was due to the bench support they received from Anthony Mason who would tally 17 points on 8/11 shooting.

The fourth quarter was awful for New York. They lost the poise they began the game with, turning the ball over 3 times in the first 4 minutes. With 6:30 left in the game, the Knicks had only managed 4 points in the critical frame. Meanwhile, Jordan had caught fire and scored the Bull’s last 14 points, putting them up 87-80 with 7:40 to go in regulation. The Bulls had gone over 10 minutes without a basket from another player. But Ewing would go on his own 5-0 mini run to put the Knicks back up by 1 with under 5 to go. https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=5796 Ewing seemed to be changing the script as he was leading the Knicks back in crunch time.

Unfortunately, the rest of his team couldn't follow through in the late stages. First there is this really awful pass with the Knicks up 1 https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=5899 that leads to Jordan splitting free throws to tie the game. Starks then proceeds to take an isolation 3 point attempt when he was ice cold all game (he shot 3/11 for the game) Then the Knicks forget to put a body on Jordan when rebounding a key missed shot (remember the Knicks are the best defensive rebounding team in the NBA) https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=6002 allowing for the easy put back 2 off the tip and the Bulls now up 2. More missed free throws (18/30 now) to cut the lead to 1.

Ewing continued to play great down the stretch, but not by scoring. Driving to the centre of the key, he was able to suck the defense in and find Doc Rivers for the go ahead 3 pointer https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=6174 He finds another open man here with a chance to go up 3, but missed the wide open shot: https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=6217. Ewing would also hit 2 clutch free throws later.

Jordan would come down the court and deliver some great passing of his own. Teammates having not scored a field goal for an entire quarter of play, MJ trusts the open man and hits BJ Armstrong for 3 to put the Bulls up by 2 with over a minute left to play in regulation https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=6390 You can see how the play develops as Doc Rivers is so concerned about helping on the Jordan drive that he loses sight of Armstrong and is not warned about the back screen that comes to keep him from getting to the corner in time to defend. A well designed and executed play by Chicago.

And finally, this happens https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=6636. Ewing delivers another good pass inside, but Smith gets denied one too many times. It’s possible if Smith collects himself after the second failed attempt, he could find Ewing getting up for a wide open shot in the corner. But he didn’t and he missed again, and again, and the Knick’s lost their first home game in 26 games to go down 3-2 in the series.

Final game 5 stats

Ewing 33 points on 12/23 shooting, 8/14 free throws, 9 Rbd, 3 Tov

Starks 8 points on 3/11 shooting, 2/5 free throws, 6 Rbd, 8 Ast

MJ 29 points on 11/24 shooting, 7/9 free throws, 10 Rbd, 14 Ast, 5 Tov

Pippen 28 points on 12/23 shooting, 4/7 free throws, 11 Rbd

A big non factor in the game was Charles Oakley who had to come out early after injuring his head following a big dunk as he butt heads when another player (incidentally) https://youtu.be/sIdr_dUMhyY?t=592 . Oakley had averaged 12.5 rebounds over the first 4 games, and the injury may have rendered him less effective than normal as he only managed to pick up a total of 4 rebounds in game 5. Furthermore, he was not in the game when Jordan managed to secure the aforementioned big offensive rebound to put the Bulls back ahead.

Total Rebounds

NYK 26 def, 11 off, 37 total

CHI 31 def, 17 off, 48 total

In such a close game, the Knicks couldn’t afford to be outrebounded this heavily, which was surprising given that they were the #1 rebounding team over the course of the season.

Aftermath. Could the Knicks have won the series?

New York would lose game 6 96-88 in Chicago and lose the series 4 games to 2. After dominating the first 2 games of the series, the Knicks dropped 4 in a row, the most stunning defeat taking place on their home court in game 5. The Bulls on the other hand would go on to win their third consecutive NBA title and had established their dynasty of the 90s.

So, Could the Knicks have won game 5, and ultimately the series? My answer to these questions is a definitive Yes and a hesitant Maybe. It’s entirely easy to see how they could have won game 5. They were not demonstrably out played (one could even make the argument that they out played Chicago), and had more than one path to victory:

-Shooting better than 57% from the free throw line (at one point Pat Riley elected to have Ewing shoot a technical foul, he missed it)

-Not getting dominated on the glass in their own building

-Scottie Pippen not saving the Bulls from a first half blow out

• Starks showing up to the game

-Taking better care of the ball to start the 4th quarter (3 turnovers in first 4:00)

Now should the Knicks have won game 5, it’s most likely the series would have gone the distance given how New York was playing in Chicago (not well). Ultimately I think the Knicks would have been the favourites to win game 7. Historically, game 7s are heavily skewed towards the home team, and New York would be riding a 26 game winning streak at home, 7 in a row against the Bulls. But I would not go as far to say they were a lock to win, given their history versus the Bulls and, well, their tendency to (up until this point) not be able to win the big game. I think it's a travesty they couldn't close the deal in game 5 so that we got to see what could have been. Even though they lost this series in 6 games, this was the best chance they had to dethrone Jordan and the dynasty of the Chicago Bulls during the first 3 peat.

One more shot: The ‘93-’94 Season

The Knicks got stronger not by addition, but by subtraction. The retirement of Michael Jordan took the basketball world by shock. The man who had put the dagger in their hearts year after year was gone, and the Knicks were seen by many as the team that would reap the bounty of this turn of events.

With Doc Rivers going out for the season due to injury after only 19 games, New York would trade for Derek Harper from Dallas. The Knicks would finish the season with 57 wins to earn them a 2nd seed going into the playoffs, once again topping out the league in many defensive categories,

-Opp fg 43.1% (1st)

-Opp ppg 91.5 (1st, with 2nd being 94.8)

-Opp Turnovers 17.3 ppg (5th, 2nd in the east)

-Opp offensive rbd per game 12.4 (tied 2nd)

1994 Eastern Conference Playoff Breakthrough

Once again, the Knicks defense would be the defining property of their playoff run as they set an NBA record for most games in a playoffs holding an opponent to under 95 points (23 games). They dispatched of the Nets in 4 games in the first round before meeting with the Chicago Bulls for the fourth consecutive season. Finally, the Knicks would come out on top, defeating the Jordanless Bulls in a gruelling 7 game series. Unlike last year, the Knicks would win the critical game 5 on the back of a controversial foul call to allow them to hit the game winning free throws. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6WyerTC8zA) The conference finals pitted the Knicks against the upstart Indiana Pacers, who surprised the Knicks in game 5 behind the clutch shooting of Reggie Miller, scoring 25 points in the 4th quarter to put Indiana up 3 games to 2. The Knicks managed to steal game 6 in Indiana and ultimately win the series in 7. The Knicks had reached the NBA finals.

The Finals

The New York Knicks would meet the Houston Rockets lead by Hakeem Olajuwon to determine the champion of the 1993-1994 NBA season. The Rockets would have home court advantage in the 2-3-2 series format.

The Knicks stifled the Rockets offense in the first 5 games of the series, as they had been doing to teams all playoffs,

Rockets Scoring

Regular Season 101.1 ppg

Rounds 1-3 101.9 ppg

Finals (games 1-5) 85.4 ppg

Patrick Ewing had already set a finals record through 5 games with 24 blocks (the previous record was held by Kareem at 23). Offensively he was also producing at 20 ppg. With the series tied 2 games a piece, the Knicks would get a big lift from Charles Oakley who would score 16 points and grab 20 rebounds, while John Starks amassed 11 fourth quarter points to give the Knicks a 91-84 win and a 3-2 series edge going back to Houston. They were one game away from an NBA crown.

With that being said, there was mounting pressure on the Knicks to take game 6 and end the series. In the last 19 game 7s in the NBA playoffs, the home team had never lost. New York felt like they needed to take the momentum from the consecutive home wins in 3 and 4 and finish the Rockets off.

Game 6

The game opened up with Ewing and Olajuwon exchanging blocks on each other as the tone was set defensively once more in the first quarter. New York was taking care of the ball, while they had forced 6 first quarter turnovers as the Houston crowd began booing their own team with 4:30 remaining in the quarter. https://youtu.be/kZ77Ne0oe9U?t=1284 The Knicks were able to play at their pace as the score after one quarter was 21-21. However, the tides began to shift in the second. Carl Herrera came off the bench for the Rockets and went 5/5 shooting in the half, while Patrick Ewing committed two consecutive turnovers off of double teams, something that had haunted him throughout his career,

https://youtu.be/kZ77Ne0oe9U?t=2704

https://youtu.be/kZ77Ne0oe9U?t=2778

Houston began building a lead off Herrera’s hot hand and Olajuwon's consistency as the Knicks turned the ball over 5 times in the second quarter and shot 36% in the half. The Rockets took a 46-36 lead into the locker room.

First half stats

Olajuwon 12 points on 5/10 shooting, 2/2 free throws

Ewing 8 points on 3/9 shooting, 2/2 free throws

Starks 5 points on 2/7 shooting, no free throws

Offensive woes continued for New York in the third, at one point missing 10 of 11 shots while the Rockets were getting reprieve from their bench, whom had outscored the Knicks 19-1 by this point. And when they were missing shots like this

https://youtu.be/kZ77Ne0oe9U?t=5030

Things were starting to look grim. But the Knicks had played well in the fourth quarter all series, and they had out scored Houston in every fourth quarter of the first five games of the series. So there was something to look forward to.

Now to say John Starks had a good fourth quarter is a bit of an understatement. While Ewing and Harper would eventually combine to go 0/6 in the fourth, Starks had picked his team up as he would ignite to go 5 for 5, including 3 for 3 from three point land. It was the lift the Knicks had needed. In a bizarre twist after Starks would score 8 consecutive points, the Knicks went away from him for six consecutive shots, all of them missing as the Rockets rebuilt their lead to 7 points with 3:15 remaining.The slump was broken as Starks drove the lane to convert a lay up and cut the lead to 5, after which he would force a turnover by pressuring the ball handler. Starks would hit a 3 as a result to cut the lead to 2 with 1:17 remaining in the regulation. https://youtu.be/kZ77Ne0oe9U?t=6955

The Knicks, having the ball and down 2 with 7.6 to go, run a series of screens for Starks who perhaps comes out too far from the basket knowing the Rockets had a foul to give. Instead of running out to half court, Starks should have cut his curl underneath Horry in a position where a foul would have been too risky, and Starks would have had a much better look anyways. Horry commits the foul to remove 2 seconds, leaving 5.5 left. https://youtu.be/kZ77Ne0oe9U?t=7317 On the final play with no fouls to give, Starks comes out far again and the pick and roll takes far too long in my opinion because it basically eliminates the threat of the pass to Ewing down the lane once Olajuwon makes the switch on Starks. As a result, even though Ewing has a free release down the lane, there is only 1 second left for Starks to make that pass, and instead he correctly puts up the shot that Olajuwon knows he can contest with time running out. He actually manages to get a block, and the Rockets hang on to win game 6.

Final stats

Ewing 17 points on 6/20 shooting, 5/5 free throws, 15 rbd, 4 blk

Starks 27 points on 9/18 shooting, 8 ast

Derek Harper 10 points on 2/10 shooting, 10 ast

Knicks 30/80 shooting for 37.5%

Olajuwon 30 points on 11/21 shooting, 8/8 free throws, 10 rbd, 4 blk

Carl Herrera 12 points on 6/6 shooting

Rockets 32/66 shooting for 48.5%

The Knicks took 14 more shots than the Rockets and lost the game by 2 points, 86-84.

The End of the Line?

The Rockets would extend the NBA game 7 home team winning streak to 20 as they took the final game by a score of 90-84. Olajuwon led all scorers with 25 while John Starks had one of the most awful playoff games of his career, shooting 2 for 18 with 8 points. It appeared that in the big playoff games over the last 3 years, the Knicks either had Starks or Ewing playing well, but never both at the same time, which to me seems really unfortunate. If both could rise to the occasion together they would have probably been able to put together at least 1, and maybe 2 championship runs. Or at the very least have knocked the Bulls off of their dynasty run in ‘92-’93. But it just wasn’t meant to be for New York.

Though the Knicks would continue to have playoff runs (and even making it to the finals one more time), I think in terms of trying to establish a dynasty, losing to Houston was the final nail in the coffin. It seemed 1993-1994 was the pinnacle of the Knick’s power house years in the East, as they would go on next year to lose to the Pacers in the ECSF and with the second coming of Jordan, a title seemed like a far off dream now.

Analyzing the Knicks playoff runs in the early 90s has given me an appreciation for the teams they had which I believe get overlooked due to the dynasty that the Chicago Bulls were able to achieve, along with the 2 year run of the Houston Rockets. If it was for maybe a bit of luck swinging their way, or maybe adding one more key player to their roster who could be a better 2nd option to Ewing on the perimeter, then history might have seen them differently. Ultimately, the reasons why the Knicks were not able to achieve an NBA dynasty in my eyes were

-They ran into another dynasty, one that was simply better then them.

-They lacked consistency from their star players in the big moments as a cohesive unit (one would play well and the other wouldn’t)

-The team lacked depth at the skill positions

To this last point, what I mean is that if you look at what the Bulls and Rockets had during the 8 years of combined championships the two teams won, there was more than just the hall of fame superstar players (In these cases, Jordan and Olajuwon). When we think of Jordan (together with Pippen) and Olajuwon, we also have in our peripherals the success of role players like John Paxson, Steve Kerr, Carl Herrera and Mario Elie that showed up in the biggest of moments. The superstars owe some of their success to the ability of their role players to come through for them in the clutch. With the Knicks, such role players didn’t seem to be there. A lot of critics blame Ewing (and Starks) for not being able to get it done in the clutch, which has its merits. However they didn’t exactly have the pieces to compliment them. Do you put this on the fault of management and coaching? I don’t know. It’s hard to fault the Knicks because they came so close to the top of the mountain on more than one occasion. For the parts they were built of, they achieved a level of success that seemed appropriate, if not exceeding expectations in hindsight.

Thanks!

If you somehow managed to make it through all this, I’d like to thank you for giving me some of your valuable time. And if you are a Knick fan, I hope one day you can celebrate with the title you and your team have been long waiting for. Good luck Knicks!