Glory Days: A Retrospective of the Championship Knicks by Hank Indictor
The basketball world was saddened by the death of Hall of Famer and legendary Knicks captain Willis Reed. Reed truly embodied what it meant to be a leader and that was never more evident than what he did on May 8th, 1970, when his presence helped to rally the Knicks to their first-ever World Championship.
Although those Knicks weren’t quite a dynasty in the same breath as teams such as the Micheal Jordan-led Bulls, the Lakers of Showtime and later Shaq and Kobe, or the Bill Russell (and to a lesser extent Larry Bird) Celtics, they would still capture the heart and attention of so many basketball fans throughout the entire world while winning an additional championship just three years later!
However, on a more somber note, Reed's death is also a bitter reminder that those glory days have become more of a distant memory over time not only because the Knicks have yet to win another title, but several of Reed’s teammates (such as Dave DeBusschere, Dave Stallworth and Dean “the Dream” Meminger) have also passed away. As of this writing, all living members of those championship teams are either approaching or are already in their 80s!
Nevertheless, these Knicks teams have had numerous books written about them and continually get immortalized by many generations of fans (even the ones who only know about them through stories and YouTube highlights). Here is the story of how those teams became famous.
The story of the glory days began in the 1964 NBA Draft. The Knicks were in the midst of a rebuild after having fallen on hard times at the beginning of the decade and one of the first moves made was to draft a center but little did they know that it would be the second-round pick from Grambling State University (Willis Reed) as opposed to the first round pick from Texas El Paso (Jim “Bad News” Barnes) who would go on to not only become the focal point for years to come but the heart and soul of one of the greatest teams in NBA History. A few years later, more talent would join him in the form of Clyde Frazier — who in what we like to call foreshadowing would lead the SIU Salukis to the NIT Championship at the Original MSG — and the man who would years later be known as Senator Bill Bradley, a star at Princeton who earned the Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. Also joining them was Dick Barnett, who would earn the opportunity for starting time in New York after being stuck on the bench in Los Angeles while being overshadowed by the likes of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
Longtime scout William “Red” Holzman would take over the Head Coach reins and the pieces were coming into place with the Knicks earning their first winning season in nearly a decade. But the big trade that put everything into place happened at the beginning of the following season when the Knicks traded Walt Bellamy and Howard Komives to the Detroit Pistons for Dave DeBusschere, who proved not only to be the rugged forward the Knicks were looking for but, more importantly, was a team leader who bought into the change in culture.
In addition, trading Komives enabled Frazier to establish himself as the starting Point Guard which was the key to getting their offensive system going! and shortly thereafter the Knicks notched several lengthy winning streaks and although they would lose a hard-fought series to the aging Celtics (in what would be the end of the Bill Russell reign of dominance). The best was yet to come and what followed was the greatest season in franchise history.
By the beginning of the following season, the city of New York had just experienced a pair of storybook upsets with Broadway Joe leading the Jets to glory and the “Miracle Mets” dominating an Orioles lineup full of sluggers and it wouldn’t be long before the Knicks added some storybook moments of their own! The Knicks would start the season 5-1 before rattling off 18 consecutive victories, with the signature victory being the miracle comeback in Cincinnati where they rallied from 6 points down in the final 16 seconds to beat the Royals (now the Sacramento Kings).
From there they would go on to win 60 games and cruise into the playoffs where they won a hard-fought series against Earl Monroe (remember that name for later) and the Baltimore Bullets before dominating a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) and the Milwaukee Bucks which set up a classic Finals matchup against Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and the legendary Los Angeles Lakers!
After splitting the first two games, the Knicks would go down to L.A. where they overcame Jerry West’s famous 55-foot, half-court shot, which happened moments after a long-range jumper made by Dave Debusschere, to beat the Lakers 111-108 in overtime, powered by a 38-point performance by Willis Reed! The Knicks' never-say-die attitude would resurface in Game 5. With the series tied at 2, Willis Reed severely injured his leg and with the Knicks down by 16 it seemed as if their championship hopes were slipping away. But suddenly, the Knicks rallied around their fallen hero, and one of Red Holzman’s main strategies was to have multiple players guarding Wilt Chamberlain, which worked because it pushed a lot of the Lakers out of their shooting range. The Knicks would take advantage by slowly chipping away until they took the lead for good and won by a score of 107-100. But without Willis Reed in Game 6, the Lakers would dominate and force Game 7, thanks to a dominant 45-point performance by Chamberlain.
So now the question remained, would Willis overcome his injury and play or would he sit out? Knicks fans would be in suspense heading into game time but as the players were getting ready to warm up Willis Reed appeared from out of the tunnel to thunderous cheers from the 19,000+ fans in attendance. Were the Knicks inspired by Willis’ comeback? Did the mere presence of Willis Reed get in the heads of the Lakers?
Both can be true, both can be true but what we do know is that even though Willis played at less than 100 percent and only scored the first 4 points of the game the Knicks still played the game of their lives, especially Clyde Frazier who dropped 36 points and chipped in with 19 assists to lead the Knicks to their first title and a 113-99 victory, cementing their place in New York City sports lore!
Despite their legendary status, the Knicks of the 70s never quite became a dynasty and due to reasons in and out of their control they could only follow up the legendary Willis Reed's return with one more title but even then the next few years were still memorable. They would come close to returning to the Finals in 1971 but would lose a heartbreaking series to the Bullets; this time Reed's injuries proved to be too much to overcome. But in the offseason, the Knicks would shock the entire league as they acquired Earl “The Pearl” Monroe from the Bullets in a massive trade! The idea of having the flashy Pearl seemed surprising not because many outsiders felt that he and Clyde Frazier would have their problems in sharing a backcourt. However, "The Pearl" would adjust his game to fit in with the team and although it meant a decrease in his points per game it would help the Knicks to continue their success as they returned to the Finals in 1972, but this time they would be easily rolled over by the Lakers. (Yes that would be the same '72 Lakers that not only set a since-broken record for most wins in a season but also established a remarkable 33-game win streak!).
The following year the Knicks had what might've been the deepest roster in franchise history, despite losing the division to the Celtics they still won 57 games with a roster featuring the likes of the Pearl, Clyde, Debusschere, Reed, Bill Bradley, and Jerry Lucas. They would even feature key role players such as Dean Meminger and future coaching legend Phil Jackson!
Although there wasn’t any iconic moment associated with this team as there was with the one three years prior, this team still had its fair share of memorable moments. For instance, on November 18th, 1972, the Knicks trailed the Milwaukee Bucks by 18 points in the fourth quarter and would end the game by scoring 19 consecutively to complete a stunning 87-86 comeback win! And after easily dispatching the Bullets in the first round, the Knicks would become the first team to defeat the Boston Celtics in a Game 7 at the notorious Boston Garden before capping off their special season with a dominant five-game series win over the Lakers in the Finals! As great as this team was however, injuries, age and trades prevented this core from winning another title, and 50 years later this remains the most recent Knicks championship victory.
In the half-century since their last championship, the Knicks have had some talented and notable players such as Bernard King, John Starks, Patrick Ewing, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and even the shooting star known as Jeremy Lin. But due to reasons in and out of their control, they have never been able to recapture the magic of the fabled 1970s teams due to mostly self-sabotage in addition to a little bit of bad luck (damn you Michael Jordan and Reggie Miller!). For most of my lifetime, the 70s Knicks teams felt like some sort of Aesop’s fable story given how long they've been and the dysfunctional mess James Dolan left me with (*curses in Isaiah Thomas*).
However, as of this writing the current team is about to embark upon a playoff run with a new cast of characters featuring Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and R.J. Barrett to name a few, and will hopefully be on the right track within the next few years. But for now, let's not only enjoy this playoff run but let's not forget about the greatness that was the 70s Knicks no matter how much time has passed!