New York Knicks icon Patrick Ewing has gone down as one of the greatest centers in NBA history, but for all his incredible play on the court, he never won a championship. Ewing reflected on his time with the Knicks during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast and pointed to one Michael Jordan as a big reason they never won it all.
“We was definitely physical,” Ewing said. “We weren’t trying to be the Detroit, weren’t trying to be the Bad Boys, but we had our own version of that. We had myself, you had [Charles Oakley], you had [Anthony Mason]. When [Xavier McDaniel] played with us, you had X. So, we were a physical ball club, and we weren’t going to take any trash from anybody. Detroit, Bulls, whoever.
“Unfortunately, we played in an era where they had that guy 23,” Ewing continued. “We had that guy 23. And then, when he took those two years off, then unfortunately, I couldn’t get past Hakeem [Olajuwon]. I got Hakeem in college, he got me in the NBA.”
Jordan was a thorn in Ewing’s side. The Knicks lost to him and the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996. That’s five eliminations in total.
The Knicks did give Jordan a run for his money at times, like when they took the Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1992. That’s just one of three instances when the great man played in a Game 7.
Then, in the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks took a 2-0 lead over the Bulls but then lost in six games. Jordan would then go on to win his third straight title by beating the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals that year. Months following that triumph, though, he stunned the basketball world by retiring.
That opened the door for Ewing and the Knicks, and they’d finally get to the NBA Finals in 1994. Standing between them and the title was Hakeem Olajuwon and his Houston Rockets.
Ewing had beaten Olajuwon in the 1984 national title game in college, and the latter would gain his revenge in the pros. The Rockets won in seven games to clinch the first championship in franchise history.
Ewing and the Knicks were then determined to get back to the Finals in 1995, but lost to the Indiana Pacers in seven games in the Conference Semifinals. The big man infamously missed a layup at the end of Game 7 that would have sent the contest to overtime.
Unfortunately for Ewing, Jordan had also come out of retirement in 1995. He’d then knock them out of the playoffs one last time in 1996. He was well and truly the boogeyman.
It wasn’t just in the NBA that Jordan had denied Ewing glory either. He had beaten him in the 1982 national title game as well. Ewing didn’t think at that time, though, that Jordan had the potential to go down as arguably the greatest player of all time.
“There were other guys that I thought might have been better than him at that time, but the thing that separated him from a lot of people is that belief,” Ewing said. “He had a belief in himself. He had a drive, and I think that, and also the athleticism. I think all that separated him from everybody else.”
Jordan and the Bulls won it all in 1996 after dispatching Ewing and his Knicks. They’d end up three-peating again, as they went all the way in 1997 and 1998 as well.
Jordan would retire for the second time in 1998, and the Knicks took advantage. They got to the 1999 NBA Finals, but lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs. Ewing actually didn’t play against the Spurs, as he was out due to a partial tear of his left Achilles tendon.
The Knicks then nearly made it back to the big stage in 2000, but lost to the Pacers in the Conference Finals. That’d be the last time we saw Ewing suit up for the team. He requested a trade and was sent to the Seattle SuperSonics. Ewing would then join the Orlando Magic in 2001 and retired in 2002.
