Patrick Ewing
March 9, 2003
On Friday night before a packed Madison Square Garden crowd gathered to cheer on one of their heroes, Patrick Ewing had his number 33 retired into Knicks history.
It was a special 30 minute long ceremony for the crowd, for Ewing’s former teammates, for Ewing himself, and for all us diehard Knick fans who remember with much affection the great Knicks team of the ‘90s.
That team, lead by stalwart Ewing, down low, posting up like nobody ever will again (not even Shaq), came so close so many times to ultimate glory only to fall short in the end.
We’ll never forget those epic battles between the Knicks and the Bulls, always coming up short at the hand of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippin, and the rest Phil Jackson’s dominant Chicago team. Nobody could beat that Bulls team, no matter how hard they tried the Knicks just couldn’t unseat the great Jordan from his thrown as the king of the Eastern Conference.
When the Knicks finally did beat the Bulls in ’94 it was against a team reeling from the loss of Jordan, who in his first retirement memorably failed trying to play minor league baseball. But it was sweet nonetheless, tasting victory at the defeat of the Chicago Bulls. The paper headline the next morning read, “Knicks finally take Bulls by the horns” with a jubilant Ewing in the picture, his trademark smile, and arms spread out like a soaring eagle.
Even sweeter, and probably the crowning moment as a Knicks fan too young to know the days of Reed and Frazier, was the Eastern Conference finals that year against the Indiana Pacers. A classic rivalry was born, Reggie Miller became a trademark target for Knicks fans, shooting daggers into our hearts and having words with legendary Knick fan Spike Lee courtside. To be a Knick fan in 1994 was to hate Reggie Miller with a passion, you lived and died with every shot.
What a triumph it was to win that series, big Pat jumping onto the scorer’s table, classic wingspan and smile, and basking in the Garden cheers as he was going to his first NBA Championship.
Yes, it was a great time to be a Knicks fan, our hero, the man in the middle was only one series away from the ultimate prize, but sadly it didn’t come, and never would come for Ewing. Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets won a legendary game seven despite Ewing’s dominance on the boards.
The team would continue to play great basketball, and would go down as one of the great Knick teams of all time, but they never won that elusive title. In 1999, Ewing made a triumphant return to the Eastern Conference finals after a broken wrist only to go down with a bad Achilles. They beat the Pacers again to get to the finals but the Ewing-less Knicks got stomped by the Tim Duncan led Spurs 4-1 in the finals.
Ewing’s career may have the stamp of no NBA championships on it, but that by no means says he was a loser. He is the greatest winning player ever to don the Knicks uniform and holds virtually all of the team records.
He posted career totals of over 23,000 points (21.0 average), 10,000 plus rebounds (9.8 avg), an 11 time all-star, named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, rookie of the year in 85-86, first every number one lottery draft pick in ’85, a national championship with Georgetown in ’84, and what is arguably a career capper, two Olympic gold medals, one in ’87 and one with the dream team in ’92.
So the man never won an NBA championship, we won’t hold it against him, just like we’ll forget about those final, awful two years with Seattle and Orlando. His contemporaries like Jordan, Robinson and Olajuwon all have their rings, but there is some consolation to the fact that Reggie Miller has yet to win one either, losing respectfully to the Lakers in 2000.
As his number rose to the MSG rafters on Friday, there stood our man, at center court again. This time though he was wearing a 5,000-dollar suit and his starting teammates weren’t John Starks and Charles Oakley, they were his three children and his sweet, proud old father by his side. It was a magical moment.
As the greats of his days came to watch and pay due respects, Jordan, Mourning, Drexler, and Barkley, we heard Marv Albert call out his name one last time, and heard the Garden crowd chant “PA-TRICK EW-ING” for a good two minutes. It was like 1994 all over again.
There was former coach Jeff Van Gundy (VG as he was known in our household) to introduce the big guy to get his greatest honor as a Knick.
“I always will be a Knick,” he said at center court, “I always will be a New Yorker.” And the crowd loved it, anybody who adored the Knicks for what they were, not the sorry shell of that great team they are now, loved it.
So here’s to great number 33, as I wrap us this ode to a hero, with his poster still looking at me from the bedroom wall, and the replica blue and orange jersey still making its way into my wardrobe when I’m feeling nostalgic, we miss our center, and know deep down that the Knicks haven’t been and never will be the same without him.
by Adam Suraf