new york knicks history
new york knicks history
Just how good of a basketball coach is Larry Brown? You'd think you would be able to grab a couple of New York Knicks tickets, head over to Madison Square Garden and find out the answer, but you can't. The truth is the Knicks are the enigmas of the NBA. Partly because of youth, partly because of a lack of floor leadership, the Knickerbockers are stuck in the NBA rut: They're not good enough to make a serious run at an NBA title, but they're not bad enough to get a top lottery pick. The Knicks haven't had the No. 1 pick in the draft since they snagged Patrick Ewing back in the mid-80s.
But this year's draft class seems different. Arizona center Channing Frye and Florida power forward David Lee, along with free agent acquisition Jerome James, provide the Knicks with a frontcourt for the future. The ultra-talented but often-disgruntled Stephon Marbury and rising scorer Jamal Crawford make up the backcourt, but keep an eye out for little Nate Robinson. The 5-9 jitterbug from Washington could have been the steal of the draft and has longtime Knicks ticket holders conjuring up memories of the great Knick backcourts of past.
One of the NBA's oldest franchises, the New York Knicks' history is filled with dynamic guard tandems. In the 1990s, Allen Houston, one of the NBA's top jump-shooters, teamed with Charlie Ward, a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at Florida State, to punch the Knicks' ticket to the NBA Finals twice in the decade. Both times the Knicks would come up short, losing to the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.
But without question, the Knicks' 1970s backcourt of Earl "the Pearl" Washington and Walt "Clyde" Frazier is not only the franchise's top backcourt, but it also might be the best backcourt in the history of the NBA. Washington and Frazier fed off crowd and each other to produce a slick, stylish brand of basketball. When one was having an off night - which was not a frequent occurrence - the other would pick up his game. In his rookie season, Washington poured in a career-high 56 points against the Los Angeles Lakers. In a playoff victory over those same Lakers, Frazier scored 36, while also finding time to hand out 17 assists.
The Knicks' current backcourt, Marbury and Crawford, along with the rookie Robinson, have the potential to light up Madison Square Garden like "Clyde" and "the Pearl" did in the 1970s. New York Knicks ticket holders sure wouldn't mind. But it's going to take some of their Hall of Fame coach's best efforts. Named after the inhabitants of New York City, the Knickerbockers have reloaded, filling the roster with youth and talent. Is it enough to make a playoff run? The Eastern Conference is pretty tough. But Brown, who led the Detroit Pistons to the back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals, knows what it takes. Those inhabitants of the Big Apple want to know: Do the Knicks have what it takes? Find out with New York Knicks basketball tickets.
