One by one Saturday night, they made their way to the eight chairs aligned on the left side of the Knicks’ mid-court logo at Madison Square Garden. Some walked on their own. Bill Bradley pushed Dick Barnett’s wheelchair. Earl Monroe used a cane.
They didn’t cut and pivot like the current Knicks. They didn’t have the same brisk strolls as the other former stars in attendance, bridging from the 1972-73 championship team to the present squad. But the six members of the Knicks’ “Golden Anniversary” team — along with the sons of the late Dave DeBusschere and Dean Meminger — had their memories of reaching the NBA’s pinnacle, a peak no team in the franchise’s history has arrived at since.
The 1972-73 team was honored for the 50th anniversary of their title during halftime of the Knicks’ 128-106 win over the Pelicans, with Barnett, Bradley, Monroe, Jerry Lucas, Henry Bibby and Walt Frazier in attendance. Phil Jackson was invited, per the Knicks, but didn’t attend. Some light boos filtered from the crowd at the mention of Jackson, the former team president, who was fired in 2017.
“We had a veteran team,” Frazier said during the ceremony. “We understood the nuances of having ‘New York’ on our chest. We knew the high expectation, but we relished those expectations because we knew we lived in the greatest city in the world.”
Willis Reed spoke to the crowd via a prerecorded video. Other former Knicks greeted the 1972-73 team on the court. Patrick Ewing thanked the championship team, in a video, for laying a foundation for when he arrived as a draft pick in 1985.
When current Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau thought back to his childhood days watching that championship team, he first recalled what the group meant to the city. He thought about how his father, Tom Thibodeau Sr., was a fan.
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“It’s funny, guys come back and that’s the beauty of the championship team,” Thibodeau said pregame. “You’re tied together forever, but what it’s meant to all the different generations of people.”
That year’s team went 57-25 during the regular season, finishing 11 games behind Boston in the Atlantic Division, but then defeated the Baltimore Bullets, the Celtics and the Lakers in the playoffs.
Thibodeau recalled how Bradley moved without the ball, how Frazier backed defenders down and shot over his shoulder, how Reed made his hook shots and short jumpers, how Barnett featured the leg kick.
Before the game, Jalen Brunson stood atop the Knicks logo at the center of the MSG court, a microphone in hand. With his current Knicks teammates stationed by their bench, the guard talked about how the 1972-73 team is one that the current group — trying to snap the 50-year title drought — has tried to embody because of those players’ hard work, selflessness and sacrifice.
“We’ll try to continue to celebrate these legends and honor them and make them proud,” Brunson told the crowd.
