Patrick Ewing, Knicks. (Photo by MARK D. PHILLIPS/AFP via Getty Images)
Who was the better offensive player?
When it comes to the 60s and 70s in the NBA, people look at the rough-and-tumble reputation of the era and usually assume that its players are all big, clumsy, though guys. Better at throwing elbows than operating with the ball. While Willis Reed was certainly a tough guy, he’s actually much more skilled than the modern fan gives him credit for.
A lefty finisher at 6’9, Reed’s greatest weapon on the offensive side of the floor was his mid-range jumper. A high flick of a shot that would keep him even with the Kareems and Wilts and other 7+ foot monstrosities making things dangerous around the rim.
On-ball, Reed preferred to face-up in the post. He’d take some quick dribbles and a hop step to get himself into the paint, and it’s there that he starts using his own physical gifts. Once close enough to the basket where layups and hooks are available to him, Reed would get low, use his strength and barrel chest (and maybe an elbow or two) to clear out space for himself, before hooking in and finishing either through the contact or around it.
Reed’s offensive game combined brute force with deceptive finesse. It didn’t look like he was that skilled because of the way he would flick the ball up from 15-feet (no smoothness there) or would barrel and claw his way inside, but if you really look at his scoring game critically you’ll see that it’s actually pretty nuanced.
In the second round of the 1970 playoffs (the year the Knicks would go on to win their first title), Willis was matched up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for a grueling 5 games. By this point, Kareem was already the best player on the planet and gave the Knicks all they could handle by averaging a monstrous 34, 18, and 5, on 55% shooting in the series. Still, Willis was able to match his with his own 27, 14, and 3, (54%) and the rest is history.
The one knock is the raw numbers for the bulk of his career. In an era that saw Bob McAdoo have a 34.5 PPG season, Elvin Hayes has 28.4, Kareem put up 34.8, not to mention the Wilt Chamberlain numbers, and Willis Reed’s scoring and rebounding numbers start to look a little meek by comparison. Reed never averaged more than 22 points a game (in 1969-70), so if we’re going to knock him on anything it’d be his lack of scoring dominance at his peak.
Patrick Ewing…
doesn’t have those problems. From 1985 to 1997 Ewing was a 24 and 10, peaking in 1989-90 where he averaged 29 and 11 and made 1st team All-NBA. While both Ewing and Reed liked to strike a balance on both ends of the floor, Ewing’s offensive upside was far superior.
Ewing liked to operate from the low post with his back to the basket. The Knicks would feed him the ball, clear out, and then allow him to go to work. His bread and butter? The turnaround jumper. Not so much a fadeaway, more just turning quickly and shooting over his defender with that 7’3 wingspan.
Ewing’s turnaround jumper opened his post-game up around the basket because the defenders had to respect him from mid, but if we’re being honest Ewing was never had the trickiness the other great post scorers did. His scoring had more to do with his size, touch, and dominance rather than deception. He was famously bad at dealing with double teams. Ewing ranks 12th on the all-time list for turnovers at a career 3.0 a game (he cracked 4.0 twice in ’88 and ’90).
At the end of the day, Ewing wouldn’t outthink you. He had skill, but it was more about natural ability and pure talent than trickery and orchestration. Still, his dominance and raw numbers are more impressive than anything Reed did offensively.
Winner: Patrick Ewing
Knicks fans can’t help but be sentimental about the great Knicks teams of the past. They remind us what we’re shooting for, as well as the happy memories of championships and finals long fought for.</p>
<p>With those great teams comes the Hall of Famers who played for them. One of whom we hear every game by way of rhyming and diming commentary in Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazer, but there have been others who have operated further from the limelight.</p>
<p>Looking back on the great teams and players of the league feels especially nice during this strangest of strange seasons. Grounding ourselves in history lets us speak with certainty during a time where the league is anything but. It allows us to read books that have their endings written. The great players of old have retired. We can step back and look at the scale of their careers with a critical and well-informed eye. How can we know if Julius Randle will finish higher in the <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://dailyknicks.com/2015/10/20/new-york-knicks-25-greatest-players-of-all-time/">Knicks’ All-Time rankings</a> than Larry Johnson, or Dave DeBusschere, or Jerry Lucas? We can’t.</p>
<p>What we can do is debate and compare the stars of old. Those whose stories have been written within the context of the NBA. As the oldest team in the league, New York has had the honor to dress several Hall of Famers in the orange and blue, but perhaps none of them walked so tall as <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/reedwi01.html" ref="nofollow">Willis Reed</a> and <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/ewingpa01.html" ref="nofollow">Patrick Ewing</a>.</p>
<p>Unquestionably the two top centers in Knicks history, the question of who takes the top spot has been argued across and often by multiple generations. Ewing, the 11x All-Star, the king of New York basketball for 13 years, or Reed, the anchor and MVP of two title teams.</p>
<p>Let’s end this debate once and for all. Who was the better player? Who was the better Knick? And who will get me screamed at by his legion of adoring fans? We shall see…</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Era </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-118279 size-full" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_683,w_1017/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1145328577.jpeg" alt="Knicks" width="1017" height="683" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1145328577.jpeg 1017w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1145328577-768x516.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1017px) 100vw, 1017px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1017px;">Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing Knicks. (Photo credit should read BOB STRONG/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Knicks Centers: Who played in the stronger era?</h2>
<p>Willis Reed was drafted 8th overall in the 1964 NBA Draft. Winning himself rookie of the year later that Spring, Reed would walk into the league as an All-Star averaging 19.5 points and 14.7 rebounds a game.</p>
<p>When you look at the stats you notice right away you’re dealing with a 60s basketball career. Note the low FG% and high rebounding numbers due to increased shot attempts, the 4-year college career, the fact that nobody recorded blocks until 1973. Still, it’s not every day you see a rookie walk in the league and do what Reed did. He’s one of only 45 players in league history to make the All-Star team their first year in.</p>
<p>Dinosaur puns aside, there’s a reason the 60s in the NBA was known as the ‘era of giants’. The importance of the center position at that time combined with the physicality of the game, and the sheer talent that existed and you can see why the timing of Reed’s career is important to this argument.</p>
<p>Over the course of his career, Willis Reed overlapped with <strong>nine</strong> Hall of Fame Centres in their hay day. Namely; <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/russebi01.html" ref="nofollow">Bill Russell</a>, Wilt Chamberlain, Wes Unseld, Dave Cowens, Bob Lanier, Walt Bellamy (who was sometimes his teammate), Nate Thurmond, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bob McAdoo. In 28 playoff games against Russell, Wilt, Unseld (twice), and Kareem, Willis Reed averaged 25 points and 14 rebounds on 50% shooting.</p>
<p>My point? Reed wasn’t just a product of his era. He would go toe-to-toe with the best the game had to offer and he would come out an equal.</p>
<p><strong>Meanwhile…</strong></p>
<p>Patrick Ewing’s prime coincided with the most talented and competitive stretch of basketball the NBA has ever seen. Not just at the center position but the entire league as a whole. Drafted #1 overall out of Georgetown in 1985, Ewing was going up against legends of the game every night. Jordan in Chicago, Barkley in Philadelphia, Bird, McHale, and Parish, Isaiah Thomas and the Bad Boys, Sydney Moncrief of the Bucks, and Domonique Wilkins in Atlanta, and that was just the Eastern Conference.</p>
<p>The real caveat of it was the opposing centers Ewing had to battle over the course of his career. The guys who peaked at the same time Ewing did are as follows; Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, and David Robinson. On top of that, you add Shaquille O’Neal (who was still pretty darn good in Orlando), old Kareem, old Moses, Jack Sikma, Rik Smits, Rony Seikaly, Brad Daugherty, and Mark Eaton and we can comfortably say that there has never been a more intimidating stretch for the center position than 1985 to 1995. No wonder Ewing never won a title.</p>
<p><em><strong>Winner: Patrick Ewing</strong></em></p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Offense </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-108223 size-full" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1092,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2020%2F04%2F1192400592.jpeg" alt="Knicks" width="1600" height="1092" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2020/04/1192400592.jpeg 1600w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2020/04/1192400592-768x524.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Patrick Ewing, Knicks. (Photo by MARK D. PHILLIPS/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
</div>
<h3>Who was the better offensive player?</h3>
<p>When it comes to the 60s and 70s in the NBA, people look at the rough-and-tumble reputation of the era and usually assume that its players are all big, clumsy, though guys. Better at throwing elbows than operating with the ball. While Willis Reed was certainly a tough guy, he’s actually much more skilled than the modern fan gives him credit for.</p>
<p>A lefty finisher at 6’9, Reed’s greatest weapon on the offensive side of the floor was his mid-range jumper. A high flick of a shot that would keep him even with the Kareems and Wilts and other 7+ foot monstrosities making things dangerous around the rim.</p>
<p>On-ball, Reed preferred to face-up in the post. He’d take some quick dribbles and a hop step to get himself into the paint, and it’s there that he starts using his own physical gifts. Once close enough to the basket where layups and hooks are available to him, Reed would get low, use his strength and barrel chest (and maybe an elbow or two) to clear out space for himself, before hooking in and finishing either through the contact or around it.</p>
<p>Reed’s offensive game combined brute force with deceptive finesse. It didn’t look like he was that skilled because of the way he would flick the ball up from 15-feet (no smoothness there) or would barrel and claw his way inside, but if you really look at his scoring game critically you’ll see that it’s actually pretty nuanced.</p>
<p>In the second round of the 1970 playoffs (the year the Knicks would go on to win their first title), Willis was matched up with <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulka01.html" ref="nofollow">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</a> for a grueling 5 games. By this point, Kareem was already the best player on the planet and gave the Knicks all they could handle by averaging a monstrous 34, 18, and 5, on 55% shooting in the series. Still, Willis was able to match his with his own 27, 14, and 3, (54%) and the rest is history.</p>
<p>The one knock is the raw numbers for the bulk of his career. In an era that saw Bob McAdoo have a 34.5 PPG season, Elvin Hayes has 28.4, Kareem put up 34.8, not to mention the Wilt Chamberlain numbers, and Willis Reed’s scoring and rebounding numbers start to look a little meek by comparison. Reed never averaged more than 22 points a game (in 1969-70), so if we’re going to knock him on anything it’d be his lack of scoring dominance at his peak.</p>
<p><strong>Patrick Ewing…</strong></p>
<p>doesn’t have those problems. From 1985 to 1997 Ewing was a 24 and 10, peaking in 1989-90 where he averaged 29 and 11 and made 1st team All-NBA. While both Ewing and Reed liked to strike a balance on both ends of the floor, Ewing’s offensive upside was far superior.</p>
<p>Ewing liked to operate from the low post with his back to the basket. The Knicks would feed him the ball, clear out, and then allow him to go to work. His bread and butter? The turnaround jumper. Not so much a fadeaway, more just turning quickly and shooting over his defender with that 7’3 wingspan.</p>
<p>Ewing’s turnaround jumper opened his post-game up around the basket because the defenders had to respect him from mid, but if we’re being honest Ewing was never had the trickiness the other great post scorers did. His scoring had more to do with his size, touch, and dominance rather than deception. He was famously bad at dealing with double teams. Ewing ranks 12th on the all-time list for turnovers at a career 3.0 a game (he cracked 4.0 twice in ’88 and ’90).</p>
<p>At the end of the day, Ewing wouldn’t outthink you. He had skill, but it was more about natural ability and pure talent than trickery and orchestration. Still, his dominance and raw numbers are more impressive than anything Reed did offensively.</p>
<p><em><strong>Winner: Patrick Ewing</strong></em></p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Defensively </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-118282 size-full" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2135,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1126445742.jpeg" alt="" width="3200" height="2135" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1126445742.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1126445742-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 17, 1973: Willis Reed, center for the New York Knicks, guards Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Center, of the Milwaukee Bucks, during an NBA basketball game in Madison Square Garden. During the game, Willis Reed scored 22 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 24 points. The New York Knicks defeated the Milwaukee Bucks by the score of 100 to 93. (Photo by Ross Lewis/Getty Images)</p>
</div>
<h3>Who was the better defensive player?</h3>
<p>For those who remember a young Patrick Ewing, all arms and legs and barrel-chested like a giant spider out there playing for Georgetown, there was talk about the next Bill Russell coming up in the 1985 NBA Draft. Of course, Ewing never reached those heights, but the fact that people would even make that comparison is a testament to his devastating defensive talents. He was long and strong, comfortably 7-feet tall, and quick on his feet. A quick leaper too.</p>
<p>That was Georgetown Ewing, but things changed when injury trouble started. It was almost immediate, halfway through his rookie season was when he was first sidelined with knee trouble, and while he would still go on to make 3 all-defensive teams over the course of his career, the Bill Russell Russell comparisons were no longer appropriate.</p>
<p>He was still a great, of course. Multiple seasons averaging 3+ blocks a game, the all-defensive teams, being able to match freaks like Shaq and David Robinson physically, the injuries did not sap Ewings ability to be one of the best defenders in the league. However, they did take away the Giannis-esque, Wilt-esque, physicality he once had. He couldn’t glide as he did before.</p>
<p>As an NBA player, Patrick Ewing was one of the best defensive centers in the league, and if not for a pair of bad knees he could have been one the greatest of all time, but he wasn’t. It’s not his fault, but that’s the difference. He was great, but he should have been legendary.</p>
<p><strong>Willis Reed has a very different defensive identity…</strong></p>
<p>His sole All-Defensive Team selection in 1970 does not do justice to the presence that Willis was on the floor for the Knicks. Embodying the spirit of his city during the late 60s and early 70s, Willis was an enforcer’s enforcer. The anchor of a team that often featured a swath of legendary defensive players (Clyde Frazer, Dave Debusschere, etc).</p>
<p>When facing Wes Unseld (the reigning league MVP) in the first round of the 1970 playoffs, Willis held him to just 10 PPG in the series, as well as clamping Big Wes down to only 2-points in game 7. A month later Willis would battle Wilt Chamberlain in the finals. Wilt was averaging 27.3 a game on his first run with the Lakers. Reed held him to 23 a game in that series and matched him with 23 of his own.</p>
<p>Could Willis Reed do all the things Ewing could on the defensive end? No. But he was more important because the way he impacted the game wasn’t reliant on his athleticism. He would pull rebounds down against taller and bouncier guys because he knew how to get big, stick his butt out, and use the tools that he had to win the possession. The same can’t always be said for Ewing</p>
<p>This section is close, the stats are tricky to compare because of the different eras, we don’t have advanced analytics or anything, but we do have word of mouth. People talk about Willis the same way they talk about Rodman, Oakley, Draymond, Horace Grant, Ben Wallace, and every other enforcer whose impact on the game went beyond the box score. Ewing’s defensive dominance can be summed up in a box score. The tangibly great, intangibly flawed.</p>
<p><em><strong>Winner: Willis Reed</strong></em></p>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-118292 size-full" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1317,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1191297910.jpeg" alt="Knicks" width="1600" height="1317" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1191297910.jpeg 1600w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1191297910-768x632.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Patrick Ewing, Knicks. (Photo by JOHN RUTHROFF/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>Knicks: Who is the more decorated player?</h2>
<p><strong>Patrick Ewing:</strong></p><div class="widget fs_ads"> <div class="fs_ad_widget-ad" style="margin:0 auto; width: 300px;"> <div class="fs-ll-ad" data-ad-type="minutemedia_slideshow_inline_300x250__desktop__tablet" data-vendor="minutemedia">
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<ul>
<li>15 seasons (11 quality)</li>
<li>1985-86 Rookie of the Year</li>
<li>11x All-Star</li>
<li>7x All-NBA (1x first team)</li>
<li>3x All-Defense</li>
<li>72-67 in the playoffs</li>
<li>Deepest playoff run: 1994 NBA Finals (lost in 7)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Willis Reed:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>10 seasons (7 quality)</li>
<li>1964-65 Rookie of the Year</li>
<li>7x All-Star</li>
<li>5x All-NBA (1x first team)</li>
<li>1x All-Defense</li>
<li>45-33 in the playoffs</li>
<li>1969-70 All-Star MVP</li>
<li>1969-70 League MVP</li>
<li>2x Finals MVP</li>
</ul>
<p>Ewing gets the nod for his longevity. You could argue that guys just didn’t play for as long back in Willis Reed’s day, lesser medical attention shortened careers as well as thinner contracts giving players less incentive to stay in the game, but at the end of the day, it’s still 10 seasons to Ewing’s 15.</p>
<p>Besides that, Reed takes this one. The league MVP and 2x Finals MVPs would do it by themselves, but take a look at the All-Star and All-NBA nods. Yes, Ewing has more in total, but when you take into account the percentage of each of their careers they made those teams they match up like this.</p>
<p><strong>Ewing:</strong> 11/15 (73%) All-Star, 7/15 (46%) All-NBA</p>
<p><strong>Reed:</strong> 7/10 (70%) All-Star, 5/10 (50%) All-NBA</p>
<p>They’re pretty much even. Also note that during Reed’s career there were only two All-NBA teams, not three, which makes them even more exclusive.</p>
<p><em><strong>Winner: Willis Reed</strong></em></p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Defining Moment </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—></p><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_118290" class="wp-caption alignnone">
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-118290" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_469,w_711/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F497885838-850x560.jpeg" alt="Knicks" width="711" height="469"><p class="wp-caption-text">Willis Reed Wilt Chamberlain, Knicks. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)</p>
</div>
<p>Here’s the thing about Patrick Ewing; despite having presided over the longest winning stretch in Knicks history, he doesn’t really have one defining moment.</p>
<p>He’s had many memorable ones for sure. Winning the NCAA title at Georgetown, his dunk on Alonzo Mourning, his 51 points against the Boston Celtics, starting at center for the dream team, his game-winning putback in game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals. That last one’s probably it. Ewing finished that game with 24 points, 22 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 blocks to beat the Pacers and finally break out of the East.</p>
<p>Still, there isn’t really one moment we have etched in our minds when we think of Patrick Ewing. It’s more the body of work and maybe that’s a good thing, but it will make it more difficult to keep his legend in the minds of Knicks fans as we get further removed from his time on the court.</p>
<p><em><strong>Willis Reed has two defining moments, and they both are representative of the same thing…</strong></em></p>
<p>The first is his legendary fight, in which Willis Reed answers the age-old question <em>“how many 4th graders could you realistically take before you are inevitably overpowered?”</em> except in Willis’s case the 4th graders are grown men who all play for the Los Angeles Lakers.</p>
<p>It started as just a push and a shove going for a rebound, but before you know it Willis Reed had squared up with one, two, no three Lakers. The teams rush in to help, but rather than be intimidated by the other 15 or so grown men filing in to oppose him, Reed instead figures he’d be better off fighting every single one of them.</p>
<p>I urge you to watch the footage of this fight. Reed is throwing bodies off him like he’s the incredible hulk. Teammates and opposing players alike are half trying to get ahold of him and half just watching in awe as he wades through the Lakers like a ball-pit.</p>
<p>It’s maybe the biggest fight the NBA ever had that they can now look back and smile on Even the prim and proper league executives can’t help but be impressed by the sheer gall of Reed signing off on a 15 on 1 bench brawl. Strong stuff Willis.</p>
<p>In game 6, Reed had torn the muscle on the underside of his thigh. His rectus femoris. The reigning league MVP, the team captain, the anchor of the team, the man tasked with guarding Wilt Chamberlain. The decision on whether or not Reed would be available to play in game 7 was left right until the very last moment. A decision that seemed to hold New York’s championship hopes in the balance.</p>
<p>The teams take the court for warmups, all shooting around in their wool jackets. No Willis. Where was he?</p>
<blockquote class="left ampstart-left">“I didn’t want to have to look at myself in the mirror 20 years later and say I wished I had tried to play” – Willis Reed
<p></p></blockquote>
<p>Somewhere in that locker room, Willis must’ve realized that he held the fate of his team in his hands. In pain, hobbled, and facing elimination, he thought to give everything he had and more to this cause simply because he could. Because he was the captain, the leader, and because his people needed him.</p>
<p>Halfway through shootaround and we start to hear a murmur in Madison Square Garden. Then, limping through the tunnel propped up by painkillers, adrenaline, and sheer force of will, was Willis.</p>
<p>The crowd loses its mind, the announcers pee themselves, Willis starts shooting around with the rest of the guys. He drags that bum leg around for 28 minutes that night. Not limps, not hobbles, <strong>drags. </strong>It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough for New York to win the game and the title.</p>
<p><em><strong>These moments illustrate the kind of man Reed was on the floor…</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s so frustrating when a player’s intangibles are such a vital part of his game. How can we prove to future generations these unquantifiable aspects of basketball when they can’t be accounted for with numbers or video? Things like effort, grit, heart, courage, and hunger?</p>
<p>These moments show us how Reed thought about his place within the game of basketball. That he was willing to fight not one man to save his pride, but a whole team to save his guys. That when his city really needed him, taking out his leg wasn’t enough to keep him out.</p>
<p>That’s grit. That’s Willis Reed.</p>
<p><em><strong>Winner: Willis Reed</strong></em></p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> The Winner... </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-108857 size-full" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2169,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2020%2F05%2F1213527418.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks" width="3200" height="2169" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2020/05/1213527418.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2020/05/1213527418-768x521.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Willis Reed, New York Knicks (Photo By Ross Lewis/Getty Images)</p>
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<p>Before all the 90s fans jump down my throat let me just say this; Patrick Ewing was an incredible basketball player. He was the captain of the defining Knicks team of the modern era, he was the starting center on the best team to ever walk the earth (’92 Dream Team), he presided over the longest winning stretch in Knicks history. He’s a Hall of Fame and a legend. Ok? Ok.</p>
<p>He was also never good enough to be the best player on a title team. Blame it on his teammates, blame it on the strength of the 90s, but Patrick Ewing was routinely defeated by the other greats of his era.</p>
<p>In the 1994 Finals against the Houston Rockets, Ewing averaged 18.9 PPG shooting 36% from the field compared to Hakeem’s 26.9 shooting 50%.</p>
<p>All those legendary clips of Reggie Miller hitting clutch threes? Who do you think he was beating in all those games?</p>
<p>You can’t blame Ewing for losing to Michael Jordan, but… well, he did.</p>
<p>There’s also the <strong>Ewing Theory</strong>. I’m not going to get into it too much, but it’s the idea that the 90s Knicks played better when Ewing was injured. While it’s exaggerated, there is some truth that Patrick Ewing’s play style forced the Knicks to play his brand of basketball. Slow the game down as he jogged up the court, wait for him to park himself in the low post, feed it in, spread out, rinse repeat.</p>
<p>A few players who have held their team’s stylistically hostage: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain. If the individual player is good enough sometimes you can reach the finals playing that way, but nobody has ever, <strong>ever, </strong>won the championship like that.</p>
<p>There was a glass ceiling on what Ewing could do with the Knicks. The same can’t be said, Willis Reed.</p>
<p>Did he have superior teammates? Yes. But he was also the captain of them all. The spiritual leader of championship teams that featured multiple Hall of Famers. Clyde Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Jerry Lucas, Earl Monroe, Phil Jackson, Bill Bradley, Walt Bellamy, Dick Barnett, all answered to Willis.</p>
<p>Despite Ewing’s talents and incredible career, he’s still sort of defined by what he couldn’t do. What he wasn’t able to accomplish. Maybe that’s not fair, but Willis Reed was the constant overachiever. The man who stood taller than even his 6’9, 240 pounds would suggest.</p>
<p>With or without the rings Willis Reed was a champion, the same can’t be said for Ewing.</p>
<p><em><strong>Final Verdict: Willis Reed</strong></em></p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="Re-living the Knicks last playoff appearance" data-url="https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/15/re-living-new-york-knicks-playoffs-2013/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/16/knicks-patrick-ewing-willis-reed/3/"https://dailyknicks.com/2021/05/15/re-living-new-york-knicks-playoffs-2013/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Re-living the Knicks last playoff appearance </a> </div>
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