Knicks knockout longstanding bully with first championship since 1973

Cover photo credit: Gregory Shamus, Getty Images.

After the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals for the franchise’s 17th championship, team star Kevin Garnett remarked at his postgame press conference that he “knocked the bully’s a** out.” For 12 years, Garnett had poured his heart onto the floor and tried to win. Finally, he was a champion. 

For Garnett, the figurative 12-year-old bully (Garnett’s rookie year was 1995-96) was the aggressive, annoying type - always with a verbal jab, always poking you, flicking off your hat. His bully couldn’t really fight. Just acted like he could, or would. 

For over 50 years, since 1973 to be exact, the New York Knicks dealt with a different kind of bully. The one that was there on the schoolyard but kept appearing as the years went on, too. At the grocery store randomly. On the sidewalk. Wherever. The one that you dealt with for decades. The kind whose jabs, verbal and physical, left scars. The kind that took your best shot but still had all of the counter-punch combinations.

For the New York Knicks franchise, the bully showed up periodically over time, just to let you know that he was still there. In 1985, the franchise drafted Patrick Ewing number one overall out of Georgetown University, twelve years after their second championship. It was supposed to a new title era in New York. The Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics were gradually about to get older, even though the Pistons went back-to-back in 1989 and 1990. But then, Michael Jordan happened. In 1987, the Chicago Bulls drafted Scottie Pippen to team with Jordan, and in each postseason from 1991-93, the Bulls defeated the Knicks. Despite Ewing's greatness as the Knicks' pillar, the bully’s jabs kept coming. 

After Jordan retired in October of 1993, the Knicks in the 1994 playoffs defeated the Bulls in the second round. In the NBA Finals though, they lost to the Houston Rockets in seven games. The following postseason, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden, Ewing’s finger roll to tie bounced out and the buzzer sounded. The Pacers won the game 97-95 and took the series. The bully’s jab stung again.

Four years later, the Knicks in the lockout-shortened season of 1998-99 made the Finals, where they faced the San Antonio Spurs. Ewing, with a torn achilles, missed the series. Once again, the bully had appeared.

For the next 26 seasons, the bully was still around. It showed itself in the form of poor roster construction, poor front office decisions, questionable coaching hires, and more devastating losses. À la the grocery store, the sidewalk. The Pacers defeated the Knicks 4-2 in the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. In 2001, 2004, 2011, and 2012, the team endured first-round defeats. The 2012-13 Knicks won 54 games, second in the conference, but lost to the Pacers in the second round. Phil Jackson in 2014 was named team president. He was to use his genius acquired over his decades in hoops to turn the franchise around. Three years later, in 2017, he was out. Last season's Knicks squad lost 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Pacers. There the bully was once again.

This season though, the bully began to stagger. Began feeling the body blows. In the 27th year since their last championship appearance, the Knicks made the Finals again. They faced the San Antonio Spurs again, a 62-win team. The Knicks won 53 in the regular season. 

This time, the bully did not prevail. The bully jabbed, but the target was able to elude him. The grizzled bully, now bald with a grey beard, wrinkled skin and a protruding middle that at one time was a solid-steel six-pack, still had broad shoulders and big arms. But it was for show now - the speed, quickness, and power was no more. The bully could no longer muster the final blow. 

Instead, the target stood up. Toe to toe. Fearless. A stiff jab. A right hook. A body shot. The target threw everything at the bully. And the bully could not stay on its feet. 

In case you haven’t figured it out yet in this time-warping tale, the bully was the long years of suffering that the Knicks and their fan base endured. The final strike delivered to send the bully down for good was Jalen Brunson’s Gotham city comic-worthy 45 points (14-of-27 from the field, 4-of-7 from 3-point range, 13-of-15 from the free-throw line) in the Knicks’ 94-90 Game 5 win in San Antonio on Saturday night. It was a heroic effort befitting of a story where the bully’s target finally defeats him and becomes the King of New York City. In the five games in these NBA Finals, Brunson went for 30, 20, 32, 36, and 45. He was named the Finals MVP.

The Knicks’ persistence in pushing forward and their resistance to anything that the Spurs did - the fast starts, the big leads, Victor Wembanyama alley-oops or blocks - was the difference. Relentless effort. Rebounding. Not giving up. Playing together. Big shots. Brunson. KAT. Bridges. Robinson. Anunoby. Hart. These guys were a team. Cliche but true. In the end, led by their stoic commander No. 11, they took the bully out.

The Spurs are young. They will be back on this stage. The Knicks had the brightest star in Brunson. And the better team. 

Fifty-three years ago, Walt Frazier and Willis Reed and Co. defeated Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Co. in five games in the NBA Finals. Chamberlain, the most towering figure in league history, had a mythical presence about him. West was as determined as competitors came. It had been the last time that the figurative bully had been handled. 

Until Saturday night. You can’t help but be happy for the likes of Frazier and Ewing. For a guy like Jerry Lucas, 86 years old to Frazier’s 81, who was a key veteran on the 1972-73 team and was in a walker at the Knicks’ last alumni night. A guy like Bill Bradley, 82. Earl Monroe, 81, who has had some health issues. Somewhere, head coach Red Holzman and Reed, Dave DeBusschere, Dick Barnett and others from those title teams are smiling. Michael Ray Richardson, too. The ship has a full crew now, sailing the seas in clear skies and sunshine.

Fifty-two years is a long time. A long time for a bully to reign. A long time to feel fearful. 

But that time is no more. The bully is down on the mat.

The New York Knicks are NBA champions.

Rejoice, New York City.