Watching the warriors brings back all the great memories from that season. My highlight other than "the shot" was Houston going off in game 6 at the Garden in the ECF against the Pacers....

POST YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES

How about the look on Zo's face when it sunk in that the Heat got knocked out? :)

Also, they sported (IMO) the best NYK jerseys ever.

[Edited by - K22 on 05-04-2007 01:07 AM]

"And I'm sure Larry Bird has told his guys, you know we got a couple choices here. We can foul for possession, or, don't foul on a three."



[Edited by - mythfaze on 05-04-2007 01:44 AM]

Posted by K22:

^ Gotta love LJ there. He was like "whoawhoawhoawhoa.... slow down, I still gotta make the free throw." :)

Childs is the one that ran over to him to bring him quickly back down to earth.

That's a testament to the type of leaders and MEN the knicks had on that team. Everyone was a leader. They all were men. Not a weak one in the bunch.

Houston's shot against Miami, Camby's dunk on Mutombo and LJ's 4-point play.

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by K22:

^ Gotta love LJ there. He was like "whoawhoawhoawhoa.... slow down, I still gotta make the free throw." :)

Childs is the one that ran over to him to bring him quickly back down to earth.

That's a testament to the type of leaders and MEN the knicks had on that team. Everyone was a leader. They all were men. Not a weak one in the bunch.

Yup. Never had to have guys running from post to post trying to defend the sensitivity of the players.

[Edited by - bippity10 on 04-05-2007 09:18 AM]

Again, winning colors everything.

Childs a leader? Please. The guy was a pumped-up tough guy, every bit the fugazi as Tim Thomas (or was that Kenyon Martin?), who went on to eat his way out of the league following his trade from the Knicks. No, not a sensitive soul, but an ass. Same with Sprewell, bless him. Houston was a captain because he scored 20ppg, not because he was a locker-room presence. Patrick was already somewhere else, in mind if not body.

The one leader on that team was Larry Johnson, and we saw how things fell apart after he retired. The one true warrior, he played through pain every night when Jeff Van Gundy was heaping too many minutes on his shoulders while reigning in Camby’s pt (and you want to talk about sensitive….).

Its not like I didn’t love that team, just pointing out how easily we romanticize (read rewrite) history when there was a positive outcome in the end. Sort of. This current team starts winning some ball-games and new heroes will emerge. Its all about wins, not “effort” or “leadership” or “toughness”, all those things are there. We see them as fans when they win, they all just a bunch of sissies when they lose.

Camby jumping on everyone in celebration after game 6 indiana was realy nice and seeing those 99eastern conference champs shirts/hats was beautiful.

Posted by RemBee76:

Again, winning colors everything.

Childs a leader? Please. The guy was a pumped-up tough guy, every bit the fugazi as Tim Thomas (or was that Kenyon Martin?), who went on to eat his way out of the league following his trade from the Knicks. No, not a sensitive soul, but an ass. Same with Sprewell, bless him. Houston was a captain because he scored 20ppg, not because he was a locker-room presence. Patrick was already somewhere else, in mind if not body.

The one leader on that team was Larry Johnson, and we saw how things fell apart after he retired. The one true warrior, he played through pain every night when Jeff Van Gundy was heaping too many minutes on his shoulders while reigning in Camby’s pt (and you want to talk about sensitive….).

Its not like I didn’t love that team, just pointing out how easily we romanticize (read rewrite) history when there was a positive outcome in the end. Sort of. This current team starts winning some ball-games and new heroes will emerge. Its all about wins, not “effort” or “leadership” or “toughness”, all those things are there. We see them as fans when they win, they all just a bunch of sissies when they lose.

Not at all.

What was so great about the team was the heart, toughness and edge they played with. Watching them outhustle and outfight their opponents in the playoffs.

Childs = Thomas? Hardly. Childs was a great defender, he was tough, and yes, he was a leader. He gave it his all. LJ was the heart and soul of the team, yes. He set the tone for the entire team.

Why do you think the Garden loves Balkman, Lee, Nate (they still cheer loudly for him whenever he comes in) and now up and comer Collins? It's not because they've been leading us to a slew of victories recently. It's because they play with heart, toughness and hustle. Reckless abandon, even. We were used to this style of play on a daily basis in the 90s, and we appreciate any glimmer of it we see.

So no, its not just about the wins.

We cheer the young guys like Balkman, Collins and Lee for their efforts despite the losing because they aren't the guys shouldering the blame for those losses. That will change when they take on more regular roles on the team and the expectations of them will not only be that they fly around the court with "reckless abandon” but actually produce.

Of course the Garden has always appreciated a good show, this is why Sprewell did so well here. But this isn’t the same as leadership. Spree was no leader, nor Camby and no, neither was Childs. Johnson and Oak are examples of two guys who gave it their all on the court and stepped up to be examples for the team to follow.

Sit around and take cues from Marbury, if you can see under his towel? Eat brownies with Eddy over the summer? Talk bad about Brown and then play like a soft headed wuss, like Frye?

All this is just nonsense. Excepting Johnson, I think there is as much real leadership on this team as there was in ’99. Richardson and Rose are strong voices in the locker-room, and I see Marbury making the effort, talking to guys on the court and doing things to get them involved. And although I never tire of the “Eddy Curry is a fat ass” jokes (they really give me a good solid belly laugh every damn time) the reality is that at the end of the season he stepped forward and said that he wasn’t going to take a break this summer, that he was going to keep working on his conditioning and his game to turn things around, thus setting a positive example for his team mates.

I agree completely that this team has yet to find its identity. Over all, you get the sense that the team, as a unit, was much tougher this year than last, and that’s a good start. But a system/identity isn’t yet in place. That’s a tough thing to find because its one part the personnel you have, another part the personnel you are trying to get; it depends on the priorities your coach is putting forward, and also whatever the team absorbs from the city and fans they are playing in front of. When Riley came to New York he went from Showtime to a hard-nosed Slugfest that came from the personnel we had but also the city these guys were playing in.

I’d love for this unit to find some of the toughness on D those 90’s teams had, but they are also working on their own identity. Look at the guys we've picked up in the draft the last few years and you get a good idea of where we are trying to take this team. And yes, once they start winning, they'll have an identity New Yorkers can applaud and identify with.