“I love the 90’s” is the motto of every long suffering Knicks fan who has seen mostly losing basketball over the past decade and has celebrated just one lousy playoff victory.Patrick Ewing’s legend is growing as long as his wingspan the more post-Ewing Knicks trip over themselves. A return to the glory days of the 90’s, when the Knicks twice reached the NBA Finals and were a perennially contender for eight years, would be a welcomed change.
But here’s the rub. The Knicks could have their best season in 12 years and it likely won’t be enough because they are about to run into the same problem the 90’s Knicks often faced; there is always somebody better.
Michael Jordan and the Bulls, of course, dominated the 90’s by winning six NBA titles. When Jordan briefly retired to attempt to hit a minor league curveball, Hakeem Olajuwon was suddenly in his prime and won back-to-back titles with the Houston Rockets, including a grueling seven game series against Ewing’s Knicks in 1994. By the end of the decade, Jordan was gone and in his place emerged Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.
Today, the dominant force standing in the Knicks way is LeBron James and the Miami Heat. The Knicks opened the 2012-13 season on Friday against the defending NBA champs and with the understanding that all roads to a title pass through South Beach.
“They’re a great team,” says Knicks head coach Mike Woodson. “We’re a team that’s trying to get to where they were a year ago and that’s to the title round, and perhaps win the title.”
It’s unlikely for any team to make the jump from winning one playoff game to winning the 16 needed to lift the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy. Even LeBron has gone through growing pains; swept by San Antonio when he played with Cleveland and losing to Dallas two seasons ago in his first year with Miami.
LeBron was playing with the weight of the world on his shoulders last season. He had alienated a legion of NBA fans with his televised special to announce his was taking “my talents to South Beach.” He also raised questions to whether he had the chops to win it all after disappearing in the fourth quarter against the Mavs in the final four games.
But LeBron changed the narrative of his career with a brilliant performance in both the regular season and playoffs. And that’s troubling news for the NBA and specifically the Knicks. Even Knicks center Tyson Chandler acknowledged over the summer that once LeBron captured that first title there may be no stopping him.
LeBron understands the history of the league as well as anyone and knows that in order to be mentioned in the same breath with Magic, Bird, Jordan and more recently Kobe Bryant and Duncan he needs to win multiple rings.
Miami has upgraded its roster since June by signing Ray Allen and adding Rashard Lewis. The two provide much needed perimeter scoring. They are still lacking some muscle under the basket but LeBron is a type hybrid small and power forward. He can defend multiple positions and is the league’s best two-way player.
The Knicks have a talented, albeit aging, roster. Carmelo Anthony is an elite player but not on the level of LeBron. Amar’e Stoudemire would be the best interior player on either team but there’s no telling when or if Stoudemire will be healthy again.
Twenty years after Jordan and Chicago, it is now LeBron and Miami who are the giant road block standing in the Knicks way. But if you’re looking for a silver lining perhaps this is it; LeBron also fancies himself as a baseball player. Maybe the Yankees can sign him for a couple of years.
- FRANK ISOLA / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS -
