The 1997-98 season was one that should given the Knicks their first championship in 25 years. No player on the Knicks' roster had ever won a championship, but this year would different. That's what Sports Illustrated predicted. They were the only ones with enough guts to stand up to Michael Jordan instead of simply kissing his ass (which is where can stick all of his shitty little rings, BTW). But anyway, the Knicks season was ruined by Andrew Lang, Bucks' center and David Stern's gay lover. On December 20, Lang flagrantly fouled Patrick Ewing on an ally-oop attempt, which caused Ewing to dislocate his wrist. This season-ending injury pretty much ended the Knicks chances of winning the championship, let alone making the playoffs. But Ewing wasn't the only injury. Charlie Ward and Allan Houston were both recovering from surgery at the start of the season. Chris Childs had to wear a mask to protect his broken nose for the first month. Chris Dudley broke his nose later in the season. Larry Johnson had an ankle injury which bothered him the whole season and caused him to miss about a dozen games. Chris Childs fucked up his ankle and missed a few weeks. Buck Willams and Chris Dudley both missed the final two months of the regular season with leg injuries. But the Knicks weren't gonna give up. They compiled a .500 record in the absence of Ewing, the first overall pick in 1985, a two-time olympic gold metalist, a perrenial all-star, and one of the 50 greatest players of all time, as well as the other injured players. They finished the regular season at 43-39, and clinched the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference. This was not an easy task, especially when David Stern tried to deny them the 7th spot by robbing them of a win on Easter Sunday against the Miami Heat (of course). With the Knicks down by one, Allan Houston (who had emerged as one of the league's premier players in Ewing's absence) got an offensive rebound and made the game-winning shot. Although the ball was clearly out of his hand with .2 seconds remaining, the refs decided that they were gonna waive off the shot because they knew Pat Riley and David Stern would rape them if they didn't, as is NBA policy. So the Knicks lost the game and filed a protest, which was denied by David Stern (of course). Click here to read what the Sporting News had to say about this incident. But the Knicks were able to regain the 7th spot a few days later. Meanwhile, Patrick Ewing was determined to overcome the injury which was most-likely planned by David Stern in the first place. The doctors told him that he had no chance of returning for the playoffs, but Ewing worked hard and got his cast off ahead of schedule. He rehabilitated his wrist and planned to come back April 14 against Washington, but just before that date, he had a "minor setback." No one ever said what it was, but I'd be willing to bet that Pat Riley hit his wrist with a hammer while he was asleep. So he said he's come back in the second round of the playoffs, providing that the Knicks got that far. Their first round series was against the Heat, a team that the Knicks could beat easily unless the calls went against them (see last year's playoffs). And to no one's surprise, the calls did go against them. In the final 1.4 seconds of Game Four, a 5-point Knick win that evened the series at 2-2, Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, former Hornets teammates, got into a fight. It was started when Mourning started throwing punched at LJ (and landing them). LJ threw maybe two punches back in self-defense, but didn't land either of them. Meanwhile, Alonzo was just going off him. He was mad because LJ wouldn't give him any; LJ's not gay. Lucky for LJ, Mourning fights like a girl. That's when Rod Thorn (remember him?) decided to fuck the Knicks once again. He rightfully suspended Mourning for two games, but he did the same to LJ! Now, I'm not saying that LJ shouldn't have been suspended. But there's no fuckin' way he should have been suspended as long as Mourning!!! Mourning should have gotten 5-10 games, LJ shouldn't have gotten more than one. But Thorn wasn't done yet. Chris Mills also was suspened for Game 5, very randomly. Thorn claimed that Mills left the bench during an altercation. In reality, Chris Mills thought the game was over, as the refs hadn't made it clear. He took one step onto the court, when someone told him there was still 1.4 seconds left. He immediatley sat back down. This, and this alone, is why Chris Mills was suspended for Game 5. I'll bet Rod Thorn didn't even bother to see who had left the Heat bench. The NBA isn't very good at covering up conspiracies. But in Game Five, the Knicks were able to overcome the conspiracy with a 98-81 blowout victory! Allan Houston lit up Miami like they were his victory cigar! He scored 30 points. John Starks added 22. The nail-in-the-coffen came when the Knicks converted a rare 6-point play (a layup by Charles Oakley with a flagrent foul on Jamal Mashburn, a free throw by Oakley and a three-pointer by John Starks on the resulting possession). The Knicks were without Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, and Chris Mills, but it didn't stop them! Now they'll face Indiana in the next round. LJ will sit out the first game, and we'll have to wait and see whether or not Ewing is able to play. But the Knicks are on a hot sreak!
NEW YORK (98) AT MIAMI (81)
NEW YORK
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
HOUSTON F 40 11-23 8-9 1 3 4 1 4 1 4 30
OAKLEY F 48 8-13 2-3 0 13 13 2 3 0 2 18
CUMMINGS C 19 2-4 1-2 0 4 4 1 2 0 1 5
STARKS G 38 8-15 1-2 1 2 3 4 4 3 1 22
WARD G 30 3-4 0-0 0 4 4 14 5 5 1 7
B WILLIAMS 30 3-7 6-6 6 8 14 1 2 0 2 12
CHILDS 22 1-7 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 2
BOWIE 13 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 1 1 2
DUDLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
EWING DNP - DISLOCATED RIGHT WRIST
JOHNSON DNP - SUSPENDED BY LEAGUE
MILLS DNP - SUSPENDED BY LEAGUE
TOTALS 240 37-74 18-22 8 34 42 26 26 10 14 98
(.500) (.818) TEAM REBS: 7 TOTAL TO: 14(12 PTS)
MIAMI
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
MASHBURN F 41 5-18 3-4 1 4 5 5 6 1 3 14
BROWN F 47 8-11 2-7 4 6 10 0 5 2 1 18
CAUSWELL C 5 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0
LENARD G 34 2-6 2-3 0 4 4 1 5 1 3 7
HARDAWAY G 48 8-20 2-3 1 2 3 8 2 1 4 21
MURDOCK 30 1-7 3-4 0 2 2 4 1 2 2 6
CONLON 5 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 2
MILLS 6 1-2 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4
STRICKLAND 24 4-5 1-2 2 5 7 0 4 0 0 9
ASKINS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
MAJERLE DNP - STRAINED LEFT GROIN
MOURNING DNP - SUSPENDED BY LEAGUE
TOTALS 240 30-70 14-25 8 26 34 18 25 7 15 81
(.429) (.560) TEAM REBS: 9 TOTAL TO: 15(23 PTS)
NEW YORK 20 27 23 28 - 98
MIAMI 15 16 30 20 - 81
BLOCKED SHOTS: NEW YORK - WARD, B WILLIAMS. MIAMI - STRICKLAND.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: NEW YORK 6-15 (.400), HOUSTON 0-3, STARKS 5-9, WARD
1-2, CHILDS 0-1. MIAMI 7-22 (.318), MASHBURN 1-3, LENARD 1-4, HARDAWAY
3-10, MURDOCK 1-3, MILLS 1-2.
TECHNICALS: NEW YORK - ILLEGAL DEFENSE, MIAMI - HARDAWAY.
OFFICIALS: JIM CLARK, STEVE JAVIE, HUE HOLLINS.
A - 15,200. T - 2:20.
