question for knicks fans

[cranrab]

if patrick ewing doesn't get injured in the 1999 ECF, do the knicks go on an take the championship?

or was patrick ewing already too old to make much difference in your opinion?

had those 1999 NBA finals ended differently, i suggest that it would have had a tremendous ripple effect on so many perceptions: on the knicks as a franchise, coach van gundy as a head coach, patrick ewing as a player, sean elliot as a player, etc.

 

[playahaitian]

if patrick ewing doesn't get injured in the 1999 ECF, do the knicks go on an take the championship?

or was patrick ewing already too old to make much difference in your opinion?

had those 1999 NBA finals ended differently, i suggest that it would have had a tremendous ripple effect on so many perceptions: on the knicks as a franchise, coach van gundy as a head coach, patrick ewing as a player, sean elliot as a player, etc.

yes there is a good book about this by Frank Isola

Just Ballin': The Chaotic Rise of the New York Knicks

 

[RunawaySlave]

Is that the strike season? The year they only played like 50 games?

 

[Sango]

Is that the strike season? The year they only played like 50 games?

Yes, and I think that we might have stretched it to 7 games with Ewing in the lineup, because we had outside shooters in Sprewell and Houston.

 

[RunawaySlave]

It wouldn't have changed my perception of any of the people mentioned then. The 1999 title is tainted
Unless of course, the Knicks go on to win another title like Tim Duncan and the Spurs did. Thus proving they belonged

Patrick Ewing has nothing to prove. He's bought success to every team he's ever played on. If anything, it's up to
the people around him....and the COACHES, to prove that THEY'RE up to the task of bringing home a title. Because
anyone with any intelligence at all knows Ewing is going to give it everything he's got & leave it all on the floor

 

[cranrab]

Patrick Ewing has nothing to prove. He's bought success to every team he's ever played on.

If anything, it's up to the people around him....and the COACHES, to prove that THEY'RE up to the task of bringing home a title.

my thought is that some knicks fans would've viewed that 2nd trip to the NBA finals as a chance for patrick ewing to wash away the sour taste of the first attempt v. the rockets.

 

[P03t]

my thought is that some knicks fans would've viewed that 2nd trip to the NBA finals as a chance for patrick ewing to wash away the sour taste of the first attempt v. the rockets.

Patrick was done at that time...was that the season he broke his wrist...?

he didn't have much left on the court....especially for a young gifted Duncan at that time....

 

[jdc12]

if patrick ewing doesn't get injured in the 1999 ECF, do the knicks go on an take the championship?

or was patrick ewing already too old to make much difference in your opinion?

had those 1999 NBA finals ended differently, i suggest that it would have had a tremendous ripple effect on so many perceptions: on the knicks as a franchise, coach van gundy as a head coach, patrick ewing as a player, sean elliot as a player, etc.

Ewing was done by then. After he broke his wrist the season before, he was never the same player. It only sped up his decline. What many people forget is that many people viewed that injury as a blessing in disguise because it then forced Van Gundy to give even more minutes to Marcus Camby who was playing the best ball of his career at that point. The bench was a more efficient unit than the starters by that time with Sprewell and Camby basically being bench players who played starter minutes. If Ewing doesn't get injured, they may take another game in the series. But to be honest, I don't know if they even get to the finals without the injury.

 

[Costanza]

yes there is a good book about this by Frank Isola

Just Ballin': The Chaotic Rise of the New York Knicks

I lost this book and didn't know the title until now!

I highly recommend it and look forward to reading it again.

 

[Costanza]

if patrick ewing doesn't get injured in the 1999 ECF, do the knicks go on an take the championship?

or was patrick ewing already too old to make much difference in your opinion?

had those 1999 NBA finals ended differently, i suggest that it would have had a tremendous ripple effect on so many perceptions: on the knicks as a franchise, coach van gundy as a head coach, patrick ewing as a player, sean elliot as a player, etc.

I have espoused this theory since 1999.

My fascination with the unfairness of Ray Allen's shot and the rigid perceptions you mention can all be traced to this.

It's all random chance, so stupid, deterministic and unforgiving.

That series with the Spurs was more competitive than the 4 games to 1 result might suggest. The difference between Chris Dudley and Patrick Ewing is the margin of victory, IMO, going against the Twin Towers.

 

[Costanza]

Patrick was done at that time...was that the season he broke his wrist...?

he didn't have much left on the court....especially for a young gifted Duncan at that time....

It was two years after he broke his wrist.

 

[vandamation]

Patrick injured his achilles versus Indy in the playoffs...

BUT... It wasn't just Patrick... In that Finals... We lost LJ... and Camby...

Had we been Healthy for the Finals... WE WOULD HAVE WON IT...

Bottom line... The organization... FAILED EWING...

In his prime... They were TOO cheap to get him REAL help...

instead of adding a REAL star with him... they went to the Salvation Army... and tried to pass off Bum Ass John Starks and BUM ASS Anthony Mason as stars...