10 essentials on Knicks-Celtics playoff rivalry
Posted: April 20, 2013 Filed under: Basketball, NBA | Tags: Boston Celtics, Knicks-Celtics playoff rivalry, Larry Bird, NBA playoffs, New York Knicks, Walt Frazier Leave a comment »
Here are 10 things you absolutely had to know about the storied playoff history between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, the NBA’s two remaining charter franchises.
1. All-Time Record
The Celtics and Knicks are meeting for the 14th time in playoff hyistory. Boston won seven of the previous 13, including a 2-0 win in a curious 1954 round robin with the Syracuse Nats. Overall Boston leads the series 34-27.
2. Common Foes
That’s second all-time to the 18th playoff meetings between Boston and the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers. They have met 19 times, though just twice since 1985.
3. The First Time
Boston faced New York for the first time in 1951, when the Knicks beat the Celtics, 2-0 behind Max Zaslofsky, a guard from Brooklyn and St. John’s, who averaged 17.9 points a game.
4. Knicks in the 50s
The Knicks won the first three playoff meetings — in 1951, 1952 and 1953 — and advanced to the NBA Finals each year, losing all three times.
5. Eventual Champs
Four times the winner of the Celtics-Knicks playoff series has gone on to win the NBA Championship — Boston in 1969, 1974 and 1984 and New York in 1973.
6. Seventh Heaven
Twice the series has gone seven games, in 1973 and 1984. The Celtics had never lost a Game 7 before 1973, but the Knicks marched into Boston Garden and won 94-78 behind Walt Frazier.
7. Larry Legend
The Knicks pushed the Celtics to seven games in 1984, but Boston dominated the finale and won 121-104 behind Larry Bird, who averaged a career post-season high 27.5 points that year.
8. King of the Court
Knicks forward Bernard King averaged 29.1 points per game for the Knicks in the 1984 series, the highest single series scoring average in the history of the rivalry.
9. The Last Time
The Celtics swept the Knicks in four straight in a 2011 first round meeting. Before that, they last met in the playoffs back in the spring of 1990, when Paul Pierce was 12 years old and rooting for the Lakers; Carmelo Anthony was in kindergarten.
10. Knicks Break Streak
In 1990, the Knicks rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series and won Game 5 to break a 26-game losing streak over six years at Boston Garden.
Will these Knicks have the 1973 knack?
Posted: April 16, 2013 Filed under: Basketball, NBA | Tags: 1973 Knicks, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Earl Monroe, Knicks, Knicks-Lakers, NBA Champions, NBA Finals, Spike Lee, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed Leave a comment »
The 1973 Knicks….and Spike Lee….were reunited recently at Madison Square Garden.
Through the years, New York sports fans have been spoiled by success. The Yankees have won more championships than any other professional team in North America. The Giants have won a pair of Super Bowls since 2008, both stirring wins over the favored new England Patriots. The Mets and the Jets have experienced miracle moments. Even the Rangers ended a 54-year drought to win the 1994 Stanley Cup.
And then there are the New York Knicks, Gotham’s answer to the Chicago Cubs, who for all their failures throughout the years might as well be stationed in Cleveland.
The Knicks enter the playoffs as second seed in the East, a team with high expectations but also a team with the weight of the world on its shoulders.
It’s been 40 years since the Knicks, one of the NBA’s two remaining charter franchises (the Boston Celtics are the other), last won a title. Back in 1973. Watergate was percolating, gasoline cost 40 centers a gallon, and George Steinbrenner was buying the Yankees from CBS for $12 million.
Things were different on the court too. For the most part, the game was played below the rim. The players wore tight shorts and funny sneakers and had long hair. And there was no three-point line.
Some refer to the 1973 Knicks as the forgotten champions. New York had won its first NBA title three years earlier, a championship ingrained in basketball lore when injured center Willis Reed walked on the Madison Square Garden court to spark his teammates to a Game 7 victory.
After losing the Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals in 1972, the Knicks realized their window of opportunity was closing fast. But with a Hall of Fame starting five — Reed was joined by forwards Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley and guards Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe — the Knicks beat Boston in seven games in the Eastern finals, then took Los Angeles in five games for the championship.
Every Knick team since then has been unfavorably compared to those two championship squads of the early 70s.
Until recently, no known footage of that 1973 championship clincher existed. Proving that perhaps you can go back, the MSG Network recently unearthed a copy of that Game 5 win.
10 Facts On Celtics-Knicks Playoff Rivalry
Posted: April 16, 2011 Filed under: Basketball, NBA, Uncategorized | Tags: Bernard King, Celtics-Knicks playoff rivalry, Dave Cowens, Earl Monroe, Knicks-Celtics, Larry Bird, NBA playoffs, Walt Frazier Leave a comment »
Earl Monroe shoots over Dave Cowens in 1973 Eastern Conference Finals.
Here are 10 things you absolutely had to know about the playoff history between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, the NBA’s two remaining charter franchises.
1. All-Time Record
The Celtics and Knicks are meeting for the 13th time in the playoffs. They split the previous 12, unless you count Boston’s 2-0 win in a curious 1954 round robin with the Syracuse Nats. Overall Boston leads the series 30-27.
2. Common Foes
That’s second all-time to the 18th playoff meetings between Boston and the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers. They have met 18 times, though once since 1985.
3. The First Time
Boston faced New York for the first time in 1951, when the Knicks beat the Celtics, 2-0 behind Max Zaslofsky, a guard from Brooklyn and St. John’s, who averaged 17.9 points a game.
4. Knicks in the 50s
The Knicks won the first three playoff meetings — in 1951, 1952 and 1953 — and advanced to the NBA Finals each year, losing all three times.
5. Eventual Champs
Four times the winner of the Celtics-Knicks playoff series has gone on to win the NBA Championship — Boston in 1969, 1974 and 1984 and New York in 1973.
6. Seventh Heaven
Twice the series has gone seven games, in 1973 and 1984. The Celtics had never lost a Game 7 before 1973, but the Knicks marched into Boston Garden and won 94-78 behind Walt Frazier.
7. Larry Legend
The Knicks pushed the Celtics to seven games in 1984, but Boston dominated the finale and won 121-104 behind Larry Bird, right, who averaged a career post-season high 27.5 points that year.
8. King of the Court
Knicks forward Bernard King averaged 29.1 points per game for the Knicks in the 1984 series, the highest single series scoring average in the history of the rivalry.
9. The Last Time
The Celtics and Knicks last met in the playoffs back in the spring of 1990. Paul Pierce was 12 years old and rooting for the Lakers; Carmelo Anthony was in kindergarten.
10. Knicks Break Streak
In 1990, the Knicks rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series and won Game 5 to break a 26-game losing streak over six years at Boston Garden.
Barnett Unsung Hero on Knicks Champions
Posted: February 27, 2011 Filed under: Basketball, NBA | Tags: Dick Barnett, Earl Monroe, Knicks legends, NBA Champions, New York Knicks, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed 2 Comments »
Before the Knicks had Clyde and the Pearl in the “Rolls Royce Backcourt,” they had Dick Barnett.
Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe may rank as the best guard tandem in NBA history, but Barnett and his “Fall Back, Baby” jump shot, below left, brought the Knicks back to respectability and pointed them towards a pair of the NBA championships.
The Gary, Indiana native, a three-time All-America player at Tennessee State, was the first draft pick of the Syracuse Nationals in 1959. He played two years with the Nats and three with the Lakers.
In between was a one-year stint with the Cleveland Pipers, who Barnett led to the ABL Championship in 1962. (The owner of the Cleveland team was former Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.)
Barnett came to New York in October of 1965 in a trade that sent forward Bob Boozer to the Lakers.
It was during his nine years in New York that Barnett made his mark. He joined a Knic
ks team that featured center Walt Bellamy, top draft pick Jim “Bad News” Barnes, and a second-round pick out of Grambling named Willis Reed.
Knicks on The Rise
The Knicks would finish last in the Eastern Conference for the seventh straight year in 1965-66, but they were getting better. And Barnett was a big part of the story. He averaged a career-high 23.1 points that year, and two seasons later made the NBA All-Star team.
The Knicks would win their first NBA Championship in 1970. Barnett, starting in the backcourt with Clyde Frazier, averaged 14.9 points per game in the regular season, 16.9 points in the playoffs.
In the clinching Game Seven against the Lakers, the game where Reed walked on the Madison Square Garden court to inspire his teammates and fans, Barnett scored 21 points as the Knicks won the NBA title.
Barnett remained a starter until the Knicks acquired the Pearl in 1972. He finished his career with another Knickerbocker championship in 1973. In all, Barnett played in five NBA Finals, three with the Knicks and two with the Lakers.
Barnett never averaged less than 12 points per game in his first dozen years, and finished his NBA career with a 15.8 scoring average and 15,358 total points. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame, along with his coach John McClendon, on the strength of their three successive NAIA national championships at Tennessee State.
After his career, Barnett received a PhD in education at Fordham, and retired from teaching sports management at St. John’s in 2007. He was recently feted at Knicks Legends night at Madison Square Garden.
Dick Barnett’s number #12 hangs from the Garden rafters.
