Madison Square Garden might still be the World's Most Famous Arena. Whoopi Goldberg, JFK Jr., and John McEnroe may still make regular appearances at Knicks games. And the jerseys still read Ewing, Oakley, Starks, Jordan, and Pippen. Unfortunately, however, a Knicks-Bulls game is about as significant as a George Foreman-Larry Holmes fight.
After a 99-79 thrashing at the hands of "da Bulls" on Tuesday night, not even Spike Lee can claim with a straight face that the Knicks are an upper-echelon team.
The Bulls toyed with the Knicks the entire night. The only moment vaguely reminiscent of the past was when the Knicks closed a 15-point lead to 57-50 during the third quarter. Air Jordan and company answered with an explosive 14-0 run, turning the fourth quarter into Doug Christie time.
At one point, Jordan was free on a breakaway, and Ewing was the only thing between him and the ESPN highlight reels. In the past, Michael would have stuffed it down Patrick's throat in windmill style, much like Pippen did in one of those memorable playoff games that were as much intimidation as anything else. This year, Jordan must have felt pity for his fellow Dream Teamer and friend, and instead passed off to a charging Pippen who dunked as the crowd sighed in disappointment.
The Bulls are 35-3 and on a pace to set a new league record for wins. Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman form the best threesome in the league. Most importantly, the Bulls have never rested on their laurels. Even after taking three straight championships, Jerry Krause flew all over Europe to sign Toni Kukoc, and this year, Dennis the Menace has provided the inside toughness and rebounding that the team lacked last year.
The Knicks, meanwhile, are worse than stale bread. They bring the same team to the floor that was lucky to make it to the finals two years ago when Hue Hollins was blowing inadvertent whistles and Jordan was too busy swinging and missing at fastballs. Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld have been unable to pull the trigger on any significant deals, and they have not added one bona fide scorer to the roster in the past five years. In fact, Patrick Ewing has played his entire Hall of Fame career without another player who can contribute 20 points a night.
Pat Riley's genius should be even more evident now that he is gone. He took a team of muggers and thuggers that had more right to a WWF title bout versus Hulk Hogan and brought them to the brink of the ultimate award.
He worked them like dogs in three-hour practice sessions, taught them to play defense in Mack truck style, and molded them into the meanest, nastiest, most intimidating team in the league. Phil Jackson used to say that going to Madison Square Garden was actually physically tormenting for his players because of the pain the Knicks inflicted.
Raw talent was lacking, and Riley knew it. In L.A., the story was that his Lakers didn't play defense, and teams scored 110 points a night on them. Riley had Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy and Byron Scott, and those guys could run and shoot with the best of them.
Their game was up-tempo, and Pat Riley molded the Lakers' game to the players he was given, which just so happened to be the finest ensemble of the decade.
In New York, Riley studied his team, understood its limits, and preached defense, a half-court game, and more defense. The Knicks won. During Riley's first year they took the champion Bulls to seven grueling games in a memorable series, announcing to the National Basketball Association that they had arrived.
This week's game has assured the NBA that the Knicks have disappeared. In name, the team is still the one that Pat Riley molded, but they no longer play like the one he abandoned. Don Nelson has upped the tempo, diversified the offense, and handed out more off-days than Yale workers may have next week. In the process he has turned his superstar center into an outside, jump shooter, has been deceived into believing that Anthony Mason is Scottie Pippen reincarnated, and has created a team that has forgotten that defense and toughness were its two biggest assets.
The time has come to break up Pat Riley's Knicks, which is what they still are. Riley's gang without his preaching and practicing is not a quality team. Let Don Nelson create his own team. Let him acquire his own players who fit into his mode of coaching. Let him assemble a gang of Western Conference runners and shooters.
The free agent field this year is a bonanza: Shaq, Dikembe Mutombo, Reggie Miller, Latrell Sprewell, and Gary Payton just to name a few. If the Knicks hierarchy is waiting for the off-season to reengineer this team, they should review Tuesday's Chicago massacre. The Knicks have long needed fresh legs to inspire their play. With the current collection of no-talents, the sooner they make the necessary changes, the better.
Copyright 1995, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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