New York Knicks – Page 8 – From Way Downtown

Quality Transcends Time

Had he lived in another era, Buddy Jeannette would have been a household name.

Willis Reed and the Icing on the Cake, 1970

So through it all, one shining fact evolves. Basketball and Willis Reed are so entwined, the two are one.

The Knicks—Pro Basketball’s Next Dynasty

Red Holzman criticized Willis Reed unmercifully in the early days. The team captain was generally the target when Holzman screamed: “Don’t turn your head . . . get back . . . pick up your man.” The Knick coach knew Willis had the temperament to handle the abuse while the other players learned the biggest and the smallest [players] would get the same treatment.

The Dark Side of the Knicks, 1970

The collaborative magic that the world champion basketball team, the New York Knicks, showed over the course of last season suggested an uncommon togetherness among men. As in any business, though, the affinity that existed was more professional than personal.

The Knicks Bench: Best Seat In Town

Call them the Bench That Never Is, since they play far too much and far too well to be termed reserves. They are the All-Americas and the All-Nobodies who have become the catalysts behind the chemical detonation known as the New York Knicks.

Cazzie Russell: Can He Make It in the Pros?

The next Oscar Robertson, a John Havlicek, or just plain Cazzie Russell, the Knicks got themselves a player who is strictly theatre in a basketball suit.

Pearl Time

Time for a quick Earl Monroe story. This one comes from the magazine Pro Basketball Special (1971-72) and an article titled “Ordeal of the Playoffs,” by the late-great Phil Pepe. The article begins with a quote from Bill Russell that goes like this, “When the playoffs come and the pressure is the greatest, you’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what kind of a man you are, what are you really made of?” Pepe takes Russel’s quote and writes, “Things happen in the playoffs, strange and eerie things. It is a time when the unusual is the norm, the extraordinary is commonplace. And only the stoutest of heart come through under the pressure of the playoffs.” Pepe goes on to retell this unusual “loss of cool” during the 1970 NBA Eastern Division semifinals pitting the soon-to-be champion New York Knicks against Monroe’s Baltimore Bullets.

Damn Elevator

The hydraulic whirr stuttered, and then Jim Henneman, the Bullets’ publicity man, felt the elevator groan to a jarring. abrupt halt. Henneman jabbed the button for the lobby. Nothing. He punched again and took a deep, God-help-me breath. If only he had taken the stairs. The freight elevator was notorious for breaking down between floors of the Baltimore Civic Center.