There are no words to describe the feeling in Manhatten in the 60’s and early 70’s. Plus all the things going on - the music scene of ’68, the Joe Namath miracle Jets, the Miracle Mets, the Lunar landing, the Miracle Knicks, and the even Dolphins perfect season (my 2nd favorite team). A serious coming of age as a child. Boy did the world change.
Since we're coming up on 50 years of Knicks' futility in 2023, I love to return to this stroll down memory lane. The real highlight is the 1970s, when they won twice and made three finals in four years.
Watching those old clips of them pinging the ball around reminded me of how people actually play back home in New York. It's a hustling, bustling game born out of a hustling, bustling city.
Amazing documentary. Really told the full story of the 70s Knicks like I've never seen it elsewhere. Told way more of the '50s Knicks than I had ever seen. I knew they made it to the Finals 3 years in a row and never won, kept losing to Mikan's Lakers. I still feel like there's a tremendous story to be told about the '51 NBA Finals, losing the first 3 games to the Rochester Royals, coming back to win the next 3 and very nearly winning a game 7 and falling short in the final minute. I would love to see the full story of that someday, but it could be that there's just not enough footage or information from that era of the NBA. I also got to see a different perspective of the '80s Knicks. Too often people recall that the team was really bad until they drafted Ewing. I knew that couldn't be true because of that classic '84 series against Detroit and them nearly beating Boston in the next round. This doc explained that team too and showed what happened, how they went from being on the doorstep to being terrible so you really saw how they got in position to drafting Ewing. Also, this shows that drafting Mark Jackson was integral to the development of the early Ewing Knicks era. From 1989 I kind of know how the story goes but sometimes you need to go back some 30 years to see how things were framed back then. People were better at gathering old film footage where little to no broadcasts exist and telling the complete story from that era of the 50s, 60s and 70s than they are now. Guys who are dead now were still alive and available to tell their side of the story. Sometimes these seemingly outdated histories of teams and leagues are valuable because they tell with vivid detail parts of the story that the more recent historical documentaries gloss over or leave on the cutting room floor because there just isn't time to get into it or it doesn't matter to us now the way it used to. I learned a lot and really enjoyed how it was told.
My old man passed this vhs - along with other old nba/nfl vhs tapes to me and I absorbed all this stuff from the ages of 7 to 14. People still bring up the early 70's knicks teams, bernard king era, and the 90s knicks teams. This franchise since the Ewing era ended has been a disgrace and it's mainly because of the people on the top of the organization.
Yes, I'm prob around the same age as your dad. I think 2 winning seasons in the last 16 yrs. Jim Dolan barely cares about the Knicks. Worst owner in all of pro sports if u ask me. Bernard King era was my fav. A team that could have done so much more but injuries killed that team. Esp Bernard. He was and still is to me the greatest offensive weapon they ever had and was only here and healthy for 2 years. Shame....
The clip at 20:30 says it all about the great Knick teams of the late 60's/early 70's. Each of the 5 players touches the ball as it's whipped from one corner of the court to the other. The only dribble is Bill Bradley taking a single one to get his shot after faking out Wes Unseld. Beautiful!
great video! what a fantastic trip down memory lane. i remember watching the 1970 finals on our little black and white tv with crystal clear reception due to this new thing called cable tv. teleprompter cable. then watching bernard battle isiah and then larry bird in the 84 playoffs, i was at the garden for game 6 of the celtics series. freakin insane!!! the garden crowd chanting "mvp...mvp" every time bernard went to the line, and then in game 7 at boston, their crowd doing the same when bird went to the line. great, great battles. i hated when the knicks traded mark jackson, i'll never get over that. bernard's injury and subsequent release that kept him and patrick from developing chemistry together and dominating. those 90s teams with patrick and oak et al, beating everyone except the damn bulls. great great memories for us knicks fans. i hope they can change coaches (maybe mark jackson?) and front office and get a real contender together again.
I became a NY Knicks fan in 1953 at age 8. Every game was on local radio and Saturday night games were on Channel 9. PG Dick McGuire was an idol of mine. For a few years the Knicks’ preseason practices were held at Fairfield University. I attended a dozen of those practices. I saw Willis Reed and Walt Frazier in their rookie seasons in person during their preseason workouts. I knew that the Knicks were on their way to challenging the Boston Celtics. It was an exciting time to be Knicks fan! This is a great documentary !
Born in East Berlin, a Basketball Fan since my earliest years, played the game for 15 years. Watched my first NYK game on a small bw TV Screen because i waited for my favorite show, Spencer. I was stunned. Impressed and followed the team through all these dark and sad years. But I said it before, I will always say it. The greatest city in the World will got the best team in the World. They will rise again and I will see it. GO New York! 😀
I’ll be a Knicks fan to the day I die but I HATE being a Knicks fan. Forever losers I want a CHAMPIONSHIP! New York basketball deserves so much more than what the Knicks have given us!
They used to let kids go down behind the hoop at half time when the teams warmed up before second half. I was ten feet away from Willis Reed. I didn't know anyone could be so big. I'll never forget those moments
Game Seven of the 1970 Finals really should have been the "Clyde Frazier Game." Reed inspired them, but it was Clyde who went off that night in an epic performance. Clyde should have been the series MVP.
The end of this video is so heartbreaking.. The team that made it into the playoffs in the early 90's of Ewing, Jackson, Starks, and coached by Pat Riley either couldn't get past the Pacers or lost to the Trailblazers.. I forgot how far they got, But I remember Ewing missing a crucial finger roll that would have meant a serious win. In fact I think thats what made Riley resign as head coach
Truly spoken...Many of us would watch the games at the neighborhood Boy's Club before getting to 'do our thing' on the court. Our very own Ticky Burden ended up with the New York Knicks after the ABA folded. He modeled his game after Jerry West. Unfortunately New York didn't play him as much and he was one of the top scorers (Virginia Squires). However, that being said; yeah, New York had it happening in those years
Born in NYC 1945, watched on local WPIX channel 11 The center problem was loosers like Ray Felix and a terrible draft of Darryl Imhoff, injury to newly acquired Mel Hutchins, no mention of Willie Nauls
He meant to say 86-68, not 86-78. I don’t think people would start leaving with 6 minutes left if that were really the score LOL Been a Knick fan since 1991!
When the Knicks won Willis reed came back knee injury forth quarter to help out the other Knicks stepped up Frazier Russell Barnett and others did the job Clyde was unbelievable they didn't have back up center Bradley Phil Jackson debuscherr they all stepped up I think Earl Monroe was traded to them then but him and Clyde backcourt they both had fad aways I do believe Monroe came later because the bullets was the rivals then reed against Kareem man the Knicks was exciting that champ year and if I'm not mistaken Clyde was never injured in a game Phil Jackson was a great coach not to good.player off the bench a lot of people don't even know he was on the Knicks as a sub also Dave stallworth their bench kept them alive when reed was hurt and then they came back to win it all what team accomplished that lose your star center and win the whole thing thanks Knicks for those memories I never seen no one block Frazier's fadeaway what a bench what a team
@@fredrikandredahl-andersen2757 I don't think that's entirely true. The seeds planted in the '89 team played out with the Knicks having several title shots throughout the '90s through the 2000 season. They had great coaches from Pitino to Riley to Van Gundy, they had several supporting casts for Ewing. They did everything they could to get that era Knicks over the hump and it just didn't happen. That era had Dave Checketts as the owner even if Dolan technically got control of the team then, it was Checketts pulling the strings. I don't think he really got in the way of them trying to win. In the 2000 offseason, Ewing was traded to Seattle, which was really sad. But in his last 2 years in Seattle and Orlando, he didn't really play very well so maybe it was time. From then on, the Knicks were bad. During this time was when Dolan really took the reigns, ran the team into the ground like an authoritarian tends to do, and he has not let the Knicks really get off the mat ever since. Had Ewing's Knicks won a title or two, I think the optimism in that video would have been a bit more justified even if they were still shitty for the past 20 years. But I think those are 2 seperate but equally tragic narratives almost exclusive of one another.
Well, I sincerely hope your Lakers are gonna win another championship and hopefully more than that 👌. But I'm sorry to say this, but the Knicks needs to win a couple of championships in my lifetime, at least. I mean, we are in a big market and we are the most valuable NBA franchise with 4.6 billion dollars 💵 . It really is a shame that we haven't managed to win more championships, considering the big market New York is. James dolan is the problem in my opinion and especially his decisions. We might not have the traditions like your Lakers or the Boston Celtics for that matter, but I'm still a proud supporter of the New York knicks ☺
I'm a Knicks fan, but I have to say that the Knicks are nowhere near the likes of Celtics or the Lakers. We should honestly be one of the biggest franchises/teams in the NBA, considering the big market that is New York City. But I believe the problem with the Knicks is one man. James dolan. I mean, this guy makes bad decisions after bad decisions and still we as fans go to Knicks games. Even Spike Lee said he had enough of the Knicks after the infamous incident he had with Knicks security. This dude has spent millions of dollars on the Knicks for decades and has been treated poorly by the owner, James dolan. I'm not American, but even I have to say that James dolan deserves to be fired. Kind regards, Norwegian citizen ☺
@@josecarranza7555 willis reed/ ny knick couldn"t beat bill russell & boston celtics late 1960s; willis reed/ ny knick couldn :t beat bill russell & boston celtics ; early 1970s willlis reed & ny knicks were unbeatable except injuries & age( 1974)
New York Knicks have only 2 NBA titles. They should not be in the conversation of all time greatest NBA franchises. Not even close but some people do only because they’re in New York, that’s literally the only reason.
Theres no other fan base like ours... honestly think about this for 1 sec. What other franchise can put such a terrible product like the one the knicks have for the better part of the last 20 years... AND STILL PACK THE STADIUM IN EVERY SINGLE NIGHT?!? We love r knicks!
@@josecarranza7555 that in sports, a "great franchise" is only as good as its fans... look at the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Baseball Giants... they won plenty of championships, the Giants were New York's first sports Dynasty and the Dodgers went to like 6 World Series in about 10 or 15 years or so and finally they actually WON a championship in 1955 over the Big Bad Yankees and what happened? Just 3 years later both teams had to high tail it over to California because no one would go watch them... so Winning and Championships is Extremely important to a GREAT Franchise as u eluded to urself but it's not EVERYTHING... a GREAT franchise is only as good as its fans... people love saying that the only reason people go and see the Knicks is because they were the only NBA team in NY for the longest time... but that doesnt mean people have to pay their hard earned money to go watch the crap they put on the court over the last couple decades... if that were true the The Rams, Raiders, Chargers would never have to move either... the Mariners were about to Move to TB until they got their act together in 95... and even then... the nets came to Brooklyn and the Knicks were STILL horrible and we STILL pack in the Garden... it jus so happens that since Brooklyn came into the city they've been competitive more times than not... but I guarantee u if the nets would put as bad a product as the knicks do they'd have like 300 people going to Barclays... so my point is u say the Knicks r not a GREAT franchise because weve had more losing seasons than winning seasons by a LONG SHOT and weve only won 2 championships in 75 years of existence I am trying to tell you just because that is true it does not mean we r not a great franchise... hence the saying WINNING isnt everything u gotta do more than jus win to b a great franchise... as I said earlier there have been sports franchises that won CONSISTANTLY and had to move, it's well documented... now TODAY in 2021 we can all sit here and say "The Giants and Dodgers r 2 of the greatest franchises in the game" but we cant deny that they just couldnt cut it in NY even as they were WINNING they were forced to move....
