The Knicks honor their 15-year man in the pivot as Patrick Ewing’s 33 is retired tonight at the Garden. Despite the diatribes by Jordan-jocking naysayers like David Halberstam, Ewing was truly one of the greats, along with Hakeem the best center of his generation. If Johnny Starks hadn’t stunk up Game 7 in ’94 or if David Stern hadn’t gotten suspension-happy in ’97 after PJ Brown (of the Heat) attacked Charlie Ward, we wouldn’t even be hearing all this no-title nonsense every time Pat’s name comes up. Ah well…I just wish Ewing could’ve finished his career in NY. However bad he looked in those last two seasons in Seattle and Orlando, he could’ve brought more to the Garden every night than Glen Rice and Luc Longley ever did…and we wouldn’t be saddled now with overpaid, underachieving players like Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley. At any rate, so long, big fella. It’s your night. Update: Thanks to some triple-double heroics by Spree, the Knicks won in double OT on Ewing’s night. Other than the somewhat tacky gift of a 2003 Humvee, a nice night all around.
Tag: Latrell Sprewell
Payton’s New Place.
So the NBA trade deadline passed with only one mega-trade: Gary Payton for Ray Allen. I know the Glove is in his waning years, but I still think this is a great trade for Milwaukee, despite the point guard glut. GP is a out-and-out baller, and he single-handedly makes the Bucks serious contenders in the East. As for Seattle, they’re clearly calling this year off. The Knicks made no moves again, but I’m glad we didn’t pull the trigger on the rumored Spree-for-Cassell trade.
Please don’t go.
George Willis of the NY Post makes the case against trading Latrell Sprewell. Amen.
Mormon Justice.
Scott Layden and the Knicks throw the book at Sprewell for failure to disclose his yacht party punch. Put simply, Layden is a moron. The worst thing you could do right now is separate Spree and the rest of the team. Plus, broken hand or no, Spree works hard. If you want to start throwing around exorbitant fines, why not charge holy-rollin’ model citizen Allan Houston a quarter-mil for constantly disappearing in the clutch?