Bernard King was the greatest scorer I have ever seen in a Knick uniform. Only problem was he got hurt at the height of his powers. He was twitchy and explosive in a way JB is not. He would get the ball down in the block and turn and score so quickly right in the face of the defender it simply could not be stopped. JB is a lot like Clyde. Never ever gets sped up and always got to his spot. Takes his time. Controls every single movement.
Besides the back to back 50 point games and the 60 he dropped on the Nets on Christmas Bernard was the main character in two of the greatest playoff series the Knicks have ever played. 1984. He averaged 40 in the first round best of five against the Pistons won by the Knicks in OT of game five after Isiah Thomas scored 16 points in the final 1:34 of regulation. Then the Celtic series. Parish, McHale, Bird. Cornbread Maxwell. Knicks started Truck Robinson, Trent Tucker and Rory Sparrow. On paper a gross mismatch. I attended the three games at the Garden and it was electric. King scored 40 in two of the MSG games and they took a team with three hall of famers that would go on to win the title to seven games. Go check out the famous Maxwell quote about stopping the “bitch.” It may have been the most incredible one man performance for 12 games in NBA history. Even greater than Michael. If ever a player was impossible to stop it was him.
I am here to cosign Peter's comment 1000%. I never got to see the King of New York play in person, but I watched the Isaiah playoff duel as it was happening, I saw the back to back 50 pieces (that he did without hoisting threes, mind you). His baseline turnaround jumper was about as close to automatic as it got, and I didn't see anybody who could stop it.
His problems, as with Patrick Ewing a few years later, were both health (as noted, though, he came back from what were considered career-ending injuries in the day, and came back every bit the same steely-eyed killer that he was before same) and the absence of a teammate who could carry the load with him (imagine if both had been healthy enough to play #meaningfulminutes together).
Brunson is way more fun to watch with his scoring than Patrick ever was. Not quite as jaw-dropping as Bernard, but it's close. But it's also way more fun, watching the people that he can dump the ball off to, if the defenses collapse, and it's exhilarating watching Tyler Kolek start to pick up JB footwork tricks.
Well described! Didn’t he do it with his two middle fingers taped together because one of them was broken? Was that that year?
That was indicative of his toughness. In the pre-arthroscopic world, he came back from a devastating knee injury in his post knicks career. His will to compete was as strong as his shotmaking .
I was there during that year. In fact once sat in woody Allen’s seat & talked to Huber throughout the game ( what a character & coach ) that was the m.l.Carr game where Carr broke King’s hand. Bernard my favorite Knick right behind Clyde. Jb great but will never replace them 1st Knick game 1965 @ old garden
Kolek. +16 in 22 minutes. That is all. (Actually, that is not all. A buddy asked me what happens to his minutes when Deuce returns. I responded like Scarlett O'Hara: "I'll worry about that tomorrow."
People keep worrying about what bench minutes will get sacrificed if Deuce and Shamet come back the way they were playing pre injury. Doesn't this just mean Jalen Brunson and OG and Mikal WON'T need to play 37+ minutes a night? Would it be crazy to see the minutes come from the starters, and let the bench develop enough reps and enough chemistry that Brown has options?
I was really impressed with KAT tonight. It was one of those nights (and I have to assume the calf thing that's been bothering him since training camp is going to be an all year problem).
I don't know what happened but KAT now has his hands up on almost every play. He's not getting blown by and he's giving legit contests. Last season I kept saying it's impossible that he hadn't been told to just get his hands up. There had to be something else happening. Fear of fouls was my guess.
But is it actually possible that the staff last season simply didn't go to him and say "Yo KAT, have you considered putting your hands up? Because with your hands up you're 11 feet tall. And that does a bunch of heavy lifting on it's own."
It's, like, stark. He's contesting almost everything and to my eye the defensive fouls have been much less stupid. Most of his fouls are over the top rebounding fouls and his usual collection of frustration induced offensive fouls .
I don't know man. KAT as an average defender changes things for this team.
You hit the nail on the head, the Knicks are the better team. They took care of business at home. All good. When the NBA was in its Jurassic Era, there was a diminutive guard ( point guards weren’t invented yet ) who scored almost at will against the giants. His name was Nate Tiny Archibald. I learned the game from a cousin ( albeit 25 years older ) who would sing his praises. He marveled at his shooting prowess and his uncanny way to get his shot regardless of the size of the defender. That was in the no 3 point shot and hand checking ( mugging) was legal, era. Cousin Bobby would have been in love with Jalen.
To you, your wife and family, and to your KFS family, a Merry Christmas and nothing but health and contentment in the coming year. Cousin Bobby was right, ain’t nothin like basketball.
Mr. Melamed, thank you for your Holiday Wish and I want the same for you and yours. And thank you for reminding us of that 6' 1" guard who played for Dewitt Clinton H.S. and The Gauchos in The Bronx and who was also the NBA's leading scorer and assists player when he played for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings way back when. A gifted scorer for his size. Helped that he had the speed as well.
You know, this takes me back to the days that I played against Joe Hammond before he became known as "The Destroyer" and he played for the Wagner Housing Projects and I played for the East River Houses. Great basketball battles in the NYC Housing Authority
Played one year in the Housing Authority Youth League. I was five foot nothing. I didn’t take long for me to realize it was time to take school seriously. I do recall pump faking my defender and rising above, only to see his abdomen. I took the better part of valor and took the travel.
JM — I had the privilege of growing up watching Bernard King when I was in high school, and I remember his game vividly because I tried to be him when I hooped with my buddies.
Like JB, he was absolutely unstoppable. What really set Bernard apart was his quick release. I remember in the playoffs the Celtics throwing everyone at him — McHale, Parrish, Cornbread Maxwell — and it didn’t matter. His shot was so fast no one could ever get a hand on it. He’d back McHale down in the post and score at will, had a deadly outside shot, and could run the break effortlessly.
One move is burned into my memory: coming down the floor on the break, he’d show the ball to his right, snap it back left, and finish — always on the left side. It actually reminds me of how Josh Hart finishes on the right side of the rim similarly in transition.
Two things always stand out about prime Bernard.
First, that all-business scowl, especially in the playoffs. He looked like a man on a mission.
Second, the confidence he gave you as a fan. Even playing through two broken fingers against maybe the greatest Celtics team ever, you genuinely believed you could win because you had that guy.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a roster anywhere near as deep as Boston’s. As great as he was — and as much as he could go basket-for-basket with Bird — we just never had enough to beat them in Boston. The fact that we came as close as we did speaks volumes about Bernard King and what he meant to the Knicks.
I started my run of season tickets in ‘84-‘85, which I shared with 3 other guys. Medical Bill Cartwright was the center, and he was certainly decent, but the sight of Bernard filling the left lane on a fast break is indelibly etched in my mind. I love the way you described it. And his scowl! When he put that game face on, man, you just knew he was going to put a hurt on the other team. His ability not just to run the floor, but to get his short turn-around jumpers in constantly made him such an amazing weapon.
I remember when he and Ernie Grunfeld played at Tennessee as the Bernie and Ernie Show in the mid ‘70’s they used to combine for 40 a night. They were reunited when King was traded to the Knicks in ‘82. After Bernard was going off for his 55 point games, Ernie commented “That was just like in Tennessee with the two of us scoring 60.” And Ernie added his 5 points!
Jon -another great article as you are the JB for Knick nation. In response to seeing Bernard King play in his prime I will leave you with only one quote what I told my adult sons yesterday as we were watching the game. Jalen Brunson is the closest thing to Bernard King that I’ve ever seen in my life and he dominates the way the King did. The crazy part of it is that everybody in the building knew what Bernard was going to do and everybody knows what JB is going to do and they still get to their spots and do it. That’s the mark of true greatness.
You know, Jon, it’s starting to feel like we are a team that beats the teams we are supposed to beat and gives everyone else a run for their money. Hasn’t felt that certain since the 23-24 season. Unrelenting attack and disruptive defense. Refusing to lose. We are now a Contender.
Back in the winners circle. Haven’t lost back to back games since early in the year. Hard to put into words how f’in lucky we are to have Jalen Brunson in our lives but you always find a way to do it. Outside of that thought it was another great team win. Even KAT, who got a little shafted by the refs that took him out of the offensive flow, stepped up on D.
When OG gets going - there’s almost nothing like it on both sides.
Just huge Bridges 1H for this team when they needed it. And how about Mitch !!! 10 straight FTs now. And a nice bounce back from the young man Kolek.
P.s. we have to go to Minny now and then back to NYC for Christmas? NBA scheduling needs to be seriously discussed
Jon, it is easy to see Bernard King at his best as MSG regularly airs his classic playoff game against the Thomas Pistons. It was not an outlier. He was just as good dragging the Bird champion Celtics to seven games in that playoffs. All with a supporting cast worse than Ewing’s. That was 84-85 and Bernard was even better, averaging close to 35 a game the following year before blowing out his knee.
King did not have a good three pointer and did not use it often. Maybe he would have developed it if it was a thing. Bernard had size that made it tougher to cover him than Brunson and was also much more athletic. But Brunson has such skill.
I am going to say it is too close to call and I love both.
Melo has to be on any list of a Knick scorers, but not all time competitors. So does Bob McAdoo.
If I was going to round out the top ten of what I saw in no particular order, Ewing is on the list and so is the unfortunately short life healthy Amare. Clyde and Earl are on it too. They don’t have Guary per game scoring averages because of how balanced the team was but you have only to look at Pearl on the Bullets to know it was inside him. As to Clyde, he was that team’s Captain Clutch and seemed to score when he said wanted to.
He was a gazelle. It wasn’t just speed. I can only describe it as total grace. When they signed him, we all knew his knees couldn’t last, but damn we were starving for real basketball, and for awhile he brought it.
You haven’t. I have. Bernard was averaging 32.9 points after 55 games and hitting 53 percent of his shots before he blew out his knee. That was after 26.3 and over 57 percent and finishing second to Larry Bird and ahead of Magic, Kareem, Isaiah and Doctor J for MVP
For entertainment , look at the four hall of fame roster of the world championship that year Celtics and compare it to the Knicks roster that took them to 7 games.
I was in high school during Bernard’s Knicks run, and it was way too brief, but he was incredible. He was the definition of a scoring machine, in that teams knew exactly what he wanted to do and couldn’t stop him. The combination of strength and a quick release on his turnaround jumpers was indefensible. Brunson is a more versatile and creative scorer. It’s tough for me to rank the two. But I’m happy I’ve gotten to see both play for my team.
I was 13 year old in my first year of total Knick fandom when Earl averaged over 28 a game despite the Mnocks sweeping them and the following year when the Knicks beat the Bullets on their way to the championship and Earl hung another 28 points a game on them in that 7 game series. The next year it was 24.4 per game and they beat the Knicks in 7 (which my 15 year old self is still recovering from). Anyway, I saw what Earl could do when he wanted to score.
Ken. Just a short story about my witnessing Earl Monroe do his magic. I am a KN6 fan first and foremost but also a basketball fan. Earl was still a Baltimore Bullet. I don't remember the year, must have been the early 70's when myself and my brother-in law were traveling back from vacation with family (VA to NYC) and we stopped in Philly to see their equivalent to the Holcomb Ruckers Games to see Monroe play. Well he did not show up until the second half. He spun his Magic on the way to scoring 20+ points and gathering up the MVP as well. Yes, when he was on the Bullets he was"Black Jesus" as they said. It was a testament to his mindset how he changed his game to fit in with the Knicks team.
As I 've commented before, the seeming effortlessness of racking up points puts me in mind of Cazzie Russell. Bernard King did his with a kind of rugged, ruthless excellence. They are truly exemplars of basketball excellence and fluidity.
Brunson’s the first player we’ve had during my rooting lifetime* who is completely untouchable to me. I want to win with him specifically. I’d reject trades involving him I might rationally believe make us better. It’s just such a joy to watch him go to work at his size, and unlike basically every other high profile player we’ve had in my lifetime all he does off the court is make us proud to be Knicks fans.
Even if/when we’re going up against the small number of players better than him, I’ll always feel like we have a chance as long as we’ve got Brunson. Also, how the hell does he seemingly get better every year?
Jalen Brunson! Enough said, as we're blessed as Knicks fans to have him on this roster!
How do you spell enigma? KAT! Merriam-Webster defines enigma as "hard to understand or explain" & "to speak in riddles". Setting aside his constant whining & STUPID fouls, we're still not sure who will show up, night in & night out. And, for him to supposedly be the second option in games, makes the thought of winning our first championship since 1973 very insecure! I know it's probably still a pipe dream to think about a Giannis trade, but my frustrations with KAT seem to grow every game! Such a talented player who still hasn't found himself after 11 seasons in the NBA!
At a time where we seem to be changing the names of iconic structures for ego's sake, why don't we just rename the DPOG as the OG DPOG? Certainly he is the DPOG most games, even if he's only won it 5 times this season. And, having his name on this award is certainly more deserving than others we have recently seen!
Home Court advantage? Heat shoot 26-35 FTs, while the Knicks shoot 18-21. On any given game, the refs can decide who wins or loses! And Adam Silver, please wake up & adjust NBA schedules if you want to continue making your NBA CUP Tournament important. Playing back to back games after a grueling tournament final is beyond asinine! Especially when the final game statistics don't count! WTF is up with that?
This upcoming schedule will challenge the mettle of this Knicks team, with only a day off between games up until January 11th (And B2B games January 2/3). On to Minnesota! #LGK
I totally disagree! I'm so sick of seeing excuses being made for the highest paid Knick on the roster. Jon & others keep wishing & hoping & singling out one good part of an otherwise TERRIBLE game! He's an extremely flawed star (I wouldn't use superstar when describing him!) who is going to extend, not end the championship frustration!
Yeah, he’s flawed. Yeah, he’s overpaid. Yeah, his gaudy stats elevate his reputation artificially. If you judge him as the Knicks’ second best player, he falls short. That’s why i stopped doing that. OG is the knicks’ second most important player when you factor in both sides of the ball.
Kat is mercurial- a wild card. He can have great games and bad games. Overall I think he’s a positive but a team can’t rely upon him to have a great impact every single night.
I get your POV, but there's a HUGE difference between the roster position of KAT vs Starks. First, we live in a very restrictive NBA Cap & if your #1 salaried guy is just a wild card, you're in a heap of trouble! Second, he has become the starting center under Brown & many of us have been lamenting since he was acquired, that he is not a center! He needs to play 35-37 minutes for the Knicks to win (most nights!)!After Mitch, there's a precipitous drop to Hukporti & Jemison. With Starks, if he was struggling (except when Pat the Rat cost us the championship by keeping him in!), it was easier to replace him with another competent guard! So saying he's a "wild card" is again making an excuse for a guy who, in the world according to Leon, was supposed to be the missing piece. The 21st century version of Dave DeBusschere! He's not even close!
What you're saying is true, and yes, a max salary slot should not be used on a player that's not great on both ends of the floor (or transcendent on one end, like JB).
That said, Kat wouldn't be the first guy on a max deal that contributes to a team without theoretically earning his max contract. I don't know if Leon thought Kat was a DeBusscheresque missing piece or not, but was Julius Randle the missing piece? Was Donte? Maybe together they were better than Kat, and maybe the trade was a mistake. But is there any point to re-litigating this now?
From a practical standpoint, we can either keep Kat and try to win the championship with him, or try to trade him, but in today's apron situation, where we have to bring back equal salary, the question is, can we do better than Kat? Yes there's a big dropoff to Hukporti, Jemison, and unfortunately, Yabusele. That's a problem. Does trading Kat help that problem? Maybe, if it's a genius trade and you happen to get back a BETTER big without giving up another key player. But why would the other team make that deal?
Does Kat need to play 35-37 minutes to win most nights? I don't think so. Not if Mitch is available. That's the point I'm making - he's not as essential. On many nights he can be an unstoppable weapon. On other nights he may disappear into a fog of ref-arguments.
I think we need to replace Yabusele with one more big option that provides more - a guy that can eat minutes and do positive stuff on the floor if Kat is not being as effective. Sure, if we could trade Kat for Giannis, we might not need that as badly, but I don't think that trade is out there, so I think at this point we have no choice but to make the best of what we've got. And I think that Brown is doing a better job of that overall than Thibs was.
I believe! Also, OG is the DeBusschere of this timeline!
Let's be real when we look at the KAT trade. Leon wasn't going to sign Randle to an extension. We've later learned that Randle was stressing out playing in NY, using marijuana to calm him down. So, moving him was imperative. T-Wolves wanted to shed KAT's contract, realizing he wasn't the piece they needed to win the West going forward. So, enter Leon who was willing to take on KAT's contract for Randle & DDV. Viola! You have a trade that changes the entire face of the franchise. There was one word that followed KAT throughout his T-Wolves career. And that word was-SOFT! Now, after having a close up view, night in, night out, of his play, I can see that it's true!. But. not as much physically as mentally. He lets everything bother him. He whines incessantly about every frickin' call, which is probably why he doesn't get a lot of them! He is a stupid foul machine, continually making them game in, game out! He zones out sometimes on the court, disappearing! How a 7-0 player can disappear is a mystery, but he does it!
Now if you don't believe he is an essential part of this offense, because we have Mitch. you are deluding yourself big time! If you're willing to go all in on Mitch, knowing his health history, be prepared for another off season of regret! If Leon doesn't make a trade for another big & Mitch goes down, we're either going to rely on Hukporti/Jemison or go with the 3 guard lineup. And, we've already seen that doesn't work well against teams with size!
Sadly, we can't win without KAT playing a major role this season. And, most probably, we won't win because KAT is playing a major role this season!
I Don't feel quite as strongly, but I agree in essence. I found myself daydreaming about how great it would be to have a guy like Kel'el Ware, who stretches the floor, rebounds, has great touch, and just quietly and seamlessly fits into the team.
Also: two things about this game (neither of which I have good evidence for): 1) I got the feeling that JB realized we were getting THIS KAT pretty early on and was like "alright then, I see I gotta score big..." and 2) I think I saw either JB or Josh pretty irritated and telling KAT to shut up and get his head in the game as he relentlessly argued that the jump ball with Powell should've been his. Whoever it was looked pissed. I can't believe I forgot which.
I feel like the only team that MIGHT see yabusele as an asset are the spurs considering what friendship and kinship there might be between him and wemby. Perhaps a Yabu for Bismack and Lindy waters or shit if somehow a pick gets them off Champagnie??
I have been a Knick fan for over 50 years. My favorite players of all-time were:
1. Bernard King - Great player, could make any shot and could carry an entire team on his back. He nearly single-handedly defeated the Boston Celtics in a seven game semi-final matchup in 1984. He could take over a game in a way that JB doesn't, but that might be because JB has a better supporting cast and he does not need to. Unfortunately, he blew out his knee the following year in a late season game in Kansas City in what was a brutal Knicks season. He can score from anywhere and was virtually un-defendable. Sadly, we only got three years of Prime Bernard King, but they were spectacular seasons.
2. Walt Frazier - I was only 8 years old when they won the championship in 1973 and 10 when they traded him to Cleveland. Not a lot of Basketball was televised back in those days but we all still knew Clyde was the coolest guy on the court.
3. Patrick Ewing - I think every Knick fan takes him for granted (myself including) because he made it look so effortless. Every year in the 90s the assumption going in was 55-60 wins and at least a conference finals appearance, so he had some high expectations placed on him every season. The fact that they never won a championship with him is probably why he is unfairly under-rated. But if the Knicks had the talent JB has around him now, they easily would have gone for 2 Championships (1993 when Charles Smith couldn't hit a lay up 1994 when we lost in 7 to the Rockets would have definitely benefitted from a deeper rotation).
This is now Brunson's 4th year with the Knicks and it's time to rank him among the franchises greatest players of the last 50 year. He has played more games (236) in a Knick uniform than Bernard King (206) so it is no longer to soon to have that conversation. I would have no prblem putting him at the top of this list.
Bernard King was the greatest scorer I have ever seen in a Knick uniform. Only problem was he got hurt at the height of his powers. He was twitchy and explosive in a way JB is not. He would get the ball down in the block and turn and score so quickly right in the face of the defender it simply could not be stopped. JB is a lot like Clyde. Never ever gets sped up and always got to his spot. Takes his time. Controls every single movement.
Besides the back to back 50 point games and the 60 he dropped on the Nets on Christmas Bernard was the main character in two of the greatest playoff series the Knicks have ever played. 1984. He averaged 40 in the first round best of five against the Pistons won by the Knicks in OT of game five after Isiah Thomas scored 16 points in the final 1:34 of regulation. Then the Celtic series. Parish, McHale, Bird. Cornbread Maxwell. Knicks started Truck Robinson, Trent Tucker and Rory Sparrow. On paper a gross mismatch. I attended the three games at the Garden and it was electric. King scored 40 in two of the MSG games and they took a team with three hall of famers that would go on to win the title to seven games. Go check out the famous Maxwell quote about stopping the “bitch.” It may have been the most incredible one man performance for 12 games in NBA history. Even greater than Michael. If ever a player was impossible to stop it was him.
I am here to cosign Peter's comment 1000%. I never got to see the King of New York play in person, but I watched the Isaiah playoff duel as it was happening, I saw the back to back 50 pieces (that he did without hoisting threes, mind you). His baseline turnaround jumper was about as close to automatic as it got, and I didn't see anybody who could stop it.
His problems, as with Patrick Ewing a few years later, were both health (as noted, though, he came back from what were considered career-ending injuries in the day, and came back every bit the same steely-eyed killer that he was before same) and the absence of a teammate who could carry the load with him (imagine if both had been healthy enough to play #meaningfulminutes together).
Brunson is way more fun to watch with his scoring than Patrick ever was. Not quite as jaw-dropping as Bernard, but it's close. But it's also way more fun, watching the people that he can dump the ball off to, if the defenses collapse, and it's exhilarating watching Tyler Kolek start to pick up JB footwork tricks.
I've read somewhere that Patrick said he would have had a ring if Bernard King did not get injured.
Well described! Didn’t he do it with his two middle fingers taped together because one of them was broken? Was that that year?
That was indicative of his toughness. In the pre-arthroscopic world, he came back from a devastating knee injury in his post knicks career. His will to compete was as strong as his shotmaking .
I was there during that year. In fact once sat in woody Allen’s seat & talked to Huber throughout the game ( what a character & coach ) that was the m.l.Carr game where Carr broke King’s hand. Bernard my favorite Knick right behind Clyde. Jb great but will never replace them 1st Knick game 1965 @ old garden
Kolek. +16 in 22 minutes. That is all. (Actually, that is not all. A buddy asked me what happens to his minutes when Deuce returns. I responded like Scarlett O'Hara: "I'll worry about that tomorrow."
People keep worrying about what bench minutes will get sacrificed if Deuce and Shamet come back the way they were playing pre injury. Doesn't this just mean Jalen Brunson and OG and Mikal WON'T need to play 37+ minutes a night? Would it be crazy to see the minutes come from the starters, and let the bench develop enough reps and enough chemistry that Brown has options?
Great reference.
I was really impressed with KAT tonight. It was one of those nights (and I have to assume the calf thing that's been bothering him since training camp is going to be an all year problem).
I don't know what happened but KAT now has his hands up on almost every play. He's not getting blown by and he's giving legit contests. Last season I kept saying it's impossible that he hadn't been told to just get his hands up. There had to be something else happening. Fear of fouls was my guess.
But is it actually possible that the staff last season simply didn't go to him and say "Yo KAT, have you considered putting your hands up? Because with your hands up you're 11 feet tall. And that does a bunch of heavy lifting on it's own."
It's, like, stark. He's contesting almost everything and to my eye the defensive fouls have been much less stupid. Most of his fouls are over the top rebounding fouls and his usual collection of frustration induced offensive fouls .
I don't know man. KAT as an average defender changes things for this team.
He’s entitled to an off night almost felt like he had an illness.
You hit the nail on the head, the Knicks are the better team. They took care of business at home. All good. When the NBA was in its Jurassic Era, there was a diminutive guard ( point guards weren’t invented yet ) who scored almost at will against the giants. His name was Nate Tiny Archibald. I learned the game from a cousin ( albeit 25 years older ) who would sing his praises. He marveled at his shooting prowess and his uncanny way to get his shot regardless of the size of the defender. That was in the no 3 point shot and hand checking ( mugging) was legal, era. Cousin Bobby would have been in love with Jalen.
To you, your wife and family, and to your KFS family, a Merry Christmas and nothing but health and contentment in the coming year. Cousin Bobby was right, ain’t nothin like basketball.
Mr. Melamed, thank you for your Holiday Wish and I want the same for you and yours. And thank you for reminding us of that 6' 1" guard who played for Dewitt Clinton H.S. and The Gauchos in The Bronx and who was also the NBA's leading scorer and assists player when he played for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings way back when. A gifted scorer for his size. Helped that he had the speed as well.
You know, this takes me back to the days that I played against Joe Hammond before he became known as "The Destroyer" and he played for the Wagner Housing Projects and I played for the East River Houses. Great basketball battles in the NYC Housing Authority
tournaments 1966-1968. Please keep well and safe.
Played one year in the Housing Authority Youth League. I was five foot nothing. I didn’t take long for me to realize it was time to take school seriously. I do recall pump faking my defender and rising above, only to see his abdomen. I took the better part of valor and took the travel.
JM — I had the privilege of growing up watching Bernard King when I was in high school, and I remember his game vividly because I tried to be him when I hooped with my buddies.
Like JB, he was absolutely unstoppable. What really set Bernard apart was his quick release. I remember in the playoffs the Celtics throwing everyone at him — McHale, Parrish, Cornbread Maxwell — and it didn’t matter. His shot was so fast no one could ever get a hand on it. He’d back McHale down in the post and score at will, had a deadly outside shot, and could run the break effortlessly.
One move is burned into my memory: coming down the floor on the break, he’d show the ball to his right, snap it back left, and finish — always on the left side. It actually reminds me of how Josh Hart finishes on the right side of the rim similarly in transition.
Two things always stand out about prime Bernard.
First, that all-business scowl, especially in the playoffs. He looked like a man on a mission.
Second, the confidence he gave you as a fan. Even playing through two broken fingers against maybe the greatest Celtics team ever, you genuinely believed you could win because you had that guy.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a roster anywhere near as deep as Boston’s. As great as he was — and as much as he could go basket-for-basket with Bird — we just never had enough to beat them in Boston. The fact that we came as close as we did speaks volumes about Bernard King and what he meant to the Knicks.
I started my run of season tickets in ‘84-‘85, which I shared with 3 other guys. Medical Bill Cartwright was the center, and he was certainly decent, but the sight of Bernard filling the left lane on a fast break is indelibly etched in my mind. I love the way you described it. And his scowl! When he put that game face on, man, you just knew he was going to put a hurt on the other team. His ability not just to run the floor, but to get his short turn-around jumpers in constantly made him such an amazing weapon.
I remember when he and Ernie Grunfeld played at Tennessee as the Bernie and Ernie Show in the mid ‘70’s they used to combine for 40 a night. They were reunited when King was traded to the Knicks in ‘82. After Bernard was going off for his 55 point games, Ernie commented “That was just like in Tennessee with the two of us scoring 60.” And Ernie added his 5 points!
Well put. That playoff run by the Knicks is really underrated. It’s amazing that Bernard could carry that team to seven games with that Celtics team.
Jon -another great article as you are the JB for Knick nation. In response to seeing Bernard King play in his prime I will leave you with only one quote what I told my adult sons yesterday as we were watching the game. Jalen Brunson is the closest thing to Bernard King that I’ve ever seen in my life and he dominates the way the King did. The crazy part of it is that everybody in the building knew what Bernard was going to do and everybody knows what JB is going to do and they still get to their spots and do it. That’s the mark of true greatness.
You know, Jon, it’s starting to feel like we are a team that beats the teams we are supposed to beat and gives everyone else a run for their money. Hasn’t felt that certain since the 23-24 season. Unrelenting attack and disruptive defense. Refusing to lose. We are now a Contender.
Back in the winners circle. Haven’t lost back to back games since early in the year. Hard to put into words how f’in lucky we are to have Jalen Brunson in our lives but you always find a way to do it. Outside of that thought it was another great team win. Even KAT, who got a little shafted by the refs that took him out of the offensive flow, stepped up on D.
When OG gets going - there’s almost nothing like it on both sides.
Just huge Bridges 1H for this team when they needed it. And how about Mitch !!! 10 straight FTs now. And a nice bounce back from the young man Kolek.
P.s. we have to go to Minny now and then back to NYC for Christmas? NBA scheduling needs to be seriously discussed
Jon, it is easy to see Bernard King at his best as MSG regularly airs his classic playoff game against the Thomas Pistons. It was not an outlier. He was just as good dragging the Bird champion Celtics to seven games in that playoffs. All with a supporting cast worse than Ewing’s. That was 84-85 and Bernard was even better, averaging close to 35 a game the following year before blowing out his knee.
King did not have a good three pointer and did not use it often. Maybe he would have developed it if it was a thing. Bernard had size that made it tougher to cover him than Brunson and was also much more athletic. But Brunson has such skill.
I am going to say it is too close to call and I love both.
Melo has to be on any list of a Knick scorers, but not all time competitors. So does Bob McAdoo.
If I was going to round out the top ten of what I saw in no particular order, Ewing is on the list and so is the unfortunately short life healthy Amare. Clyde and Earl are on it too. They don’t have Guary per game scoring averages because of how balanced the team was but you have only to look at Pearl on the Bullets to know it was inside him. As to Clyde, he was that team’s Captain Clutch and seemed to score when he said wanted to.
We've still never seen anything quite like Stat's run of 30+ games in his first season in NY
He was a gazelle. It wasn’t just speed. I can only describe it as total grace. When they signed him, we all knew his knees couldn’t last, but damn we were starving for real basketball, and for awhile he brought it.
I’m referring to Stat.
You haven’t. I have. Bernard was averaging 32.9 points after 55 games and hitting 53 percent of his shots before he blew out his knee. That was after 26.3 and over 57 percent and finishing second to Larry Bird and ahead of Magic, Kareem, Isaiah and Doctor J for MVP
For entertainment , look at the four hall of fame roster of the world championship that year Celtics and compare it to the Knicks roster that took them to 7 games.
I was in high school during Bernard’s Knicks run, and it was way too brief, but he was incredible. He was the definition of a scoring machine, in that teams knew exactly what he wanted to do and couldn’t stop him. The combination of strength and a quick release on his turnaround jumpers was indefensible. Brunson is a more versatile and creative scorer. It’s tough for me to rank the two. But I’m happy I’ve gotten to see both play for my team.
I was 13 year old in my first year of total Knick fandom when Earl averaged over 28 a game despite the Mnocks sweeping them and the following year when the Knicks beat the Bullets on their way to the championship and Earl hung another 28 points a game on them in that 7 game series. The next year it was 24.4 per game and they beat the Knicks in 7 (which my 15 year old self is still recovering from). Anyway, I saw what Earl could do when he wanted to score.
Ken. Just a short story about my witnessing Earl Monroe do his magic. I am a KN6 fan first and foremost but also a basketball fan. Earl was still a Baltimore Bullet. I don't remember the year, must have been the early 70's when myself and my brother-in law were traveling back from vacation with family (VA to NYC) and we stopped in Philly to see their equivalent to the Holcomb Ruckers Games to see Monroe play. Well he did not show up until the second half. He spun his Magic on the way to scoring 20+ points and gathering up the MVP as well. Yes, when he was on the Bullets he was"Black Jesus" as they said. It was a testament to his mindset how he changed his game to fit in with the Knicks team.
Clyde and Brunson - zen control of time.Happy holidays to you and the family.
Same to you.
As I 've commented before, the seeming effortlessness of racking up points puts me in mind of Cazzie Russell. Bernard King did his with a kind of rugged, ruthless excellence. They are truly exemplars of basketball excellence and fluidity.
Brunson’s the first player we’ve had during my rooting lifetime* who is completely untouchable to me. I want to win with him specifically. I’d reject trades involving him I might rationally believe make us better. It’s just such a joy to watch him go to work at his size, and unlike basically every other high profile player we’ve had in my lifetime all he does off the court is make us proud to be Knicks fans.
Even if/when we’re going up against the small number of players better than him, I’ll always feel like we have a chance as long as we’ve got Brunson. Also, how the hell does he seemingly get better every year?
*I was born in 1995
Oh Captain My Captain
Jalen Brunson! Enough said, as we're blessed as Knicks fans to have him on this roster!
How do you spell enigma? KAT! Merriam-Webster defines enigma as "hard to understand or explain" & "to speak in riddles". Setting aside his constant whining & STUPID fouls, we're still not sure who will show up, night in & night out. And, for him to supposedly be the second option in games, makes the thought of winning our first championship since 1973 very insecure! I know it's probably still a pipe dream to think about a Giannis trade, but my frustrations with KAT seem to grow every game! Such a talented player who still hasn't found himself after 11 seasons in the NBA!
At a time where we seem to be changing the names of iconic structures for ego's sake, why don't we just rename the DPOG as the OG DPOG? Certainly he is the DPOG most games, even if he's only won it 5 times this season. And, having his name on this award is certainly more deserving than others we have recently seen!
Home Court advantage? Heat shoot 26-35 FTs, while the Knicks shoot 18-21. On any given game, the refs can decide who wins or loses! And Adam Silver, please wake up & adjust NBA schedules if you want to continue making your NBA CUP Tournament important. Playing back to back games after a grueling tournament final is beyond asinine! Especially when the final game statistics don't count! WTF is up with that?
This upcoming schedule will challenge the mettle of this Knicks team, with only a day off between games up until January 11th (And B2B games January 2/3). On to Minnesota! #LGK
I'm cutting him more slack. I agree w Macri that the fouls are less stupid.I think Dr. Jekyl is winning over Mr. Hyde
I totally disagree! I'm so sick of seeing excuses being made for the highest paid Knick on the roster. Jon & others keep wishing & hoping & singling out one good part of an otherwise TERRIBLE game! He's an extremely flawed star (I wouldn't use superstar when describing him!) who is going to extend, not end the championship frustration!
Yeah, he’s flawed. Yeah, he’s overpaid. Yeah, his gaudy stats elevate his reputation artificially. If you judge him as the Knicks’ second best player, he falls short. That’s why i stopped doing that. OG is the knicks’ second most important player when you factor in both sides of the ball.
Kat is mercurial- a wild card. He can have great games and bad games. Overall I think he’s a positive but a team can’t rely upon him to have a great impact every single night.
Starks was like that.
I get your POV, but there's a HUGE difference between the roster position of KAT vs Starks. First, we live in a very restrictive NBA Cap & if your #1 salaried guy is just a wild card, you're in a heap of trouble! Second, he has become the starting center under Brown & many of us have been lamenting since he was acquired, that he is not a center! He needs to play 35-37 minutes for the Knicks to win (most nights!)!After Mitch, there's a precipitous drop to Hukporti & Jemison. With Starks, if he was struggling (except when Pat the Rat cost us the championship by keeping him in!), it was easier to replace him with another competent guard! So saying he's a "wild card" is again making an excuse for a guy who, in the world according to Leon, was supposed to be the missing piece. The 21st century version of Dave DeBusschere! He's not even close!
What you're saying is true, and yes, a max salary slot should not be used on a player that's not great on both ends of the floor (or transcendent on one end, like JB).
That said, Kat wouldn't be the first guy on a max deal that contributes to a team without theoretically earning his max contract. I don't know if Leon thought Kat was a DeBusscheresque missing piece or not, but was Julius Randle the missing piece? Was Donte? Maybe together they were better than Kat, and maybe the trade was a mistake. But is there any point to re-litigating this now?
From a practical standpoint, we can either keep Kat and try to win the championship with him, or try to trade him, but in today's apron situation, where we have to bring back equal salary, the question is, can we do better than Kat? Yes there's a big dropoff to Hukporti, Jemison, and unfortunately, Yabusele. That's a problem. Does trading Kat help that problem? Maybe, if it's a genius trade and you happen to get back a BETTER big without giving up another key player. But why would the other team make that deal?
Does Kat need to play 35-37 minutes to win most nights? I don't think so. Not if Mitch is available. That's the point I'm making - he's not as essential. On many nights he can be an unstoppable weapon. On other nights he may disappear into a fog of ref-arguments.
I think we need to replace Yabusele with one more big option that provides more - a guy that can eat minutes and do positive stuff on the floor if Kat is not being as effective. Sure, if we could trade Kat for Giannis, we might not need that as badly, but I don't think that trade is out there, so I think at this point we have no choice but to make the best of what we've got. And I think that Brown is doing a better job of that overall than Thibs was.
I believe! Also, OG is the DeBusschere of this timeline!
Let's be real when we look at the KAT trade. Leon wasn't going to sign Randle to an extension. We've later learned that Randle was stressing out playing in NY, using marijuana to calm him down. So, moving him was imperative. T-Wolves wanted to shed KAT's contract, realizing he wasn't the piece they needed to win the West going forward. So, enter Leon who was willing to take on KAT's contract for Randle & DDV. Viola! You have a trade that changes the entire face of the franchise. There was one word that followed KAT throughout his T-Wolves career. And that word was-SOFT! Now, after having a close up view, night in, night out, of his play, I can see that it's true!. But. not as much physically as mentally. He lets everything bother him. He whines incessantly about every frickin' call, which is probably why he doesn't get a lot of them! He is a stupid foul machine, continually making them game in, game out! He zones out sometimes on the court, disappearing! How a 7-0 player can disappear is a mystery, but he does it!
Now if you don't believe he is an essential part of this offense, because we have Mitch. you are deluding yourself big time! If you're willing to go all in on Mitch, knowing his health history, be prepared for another off season of regret! If Leon doesn't make a trade for another big & Mitch goes down, we're either going to rely on Hukporti/Jemison or go with the 3 guard lineup. And, we've already seen that doesn't work well against teams with size!
Sadly, we can't win without KAT playing a major role this season. And, most probably, we won't win because KAT is playing a major role this season!
I Don't feel quite as strongly, but I agree in essence. I found myself daydreaming about how great it would be to have a guy like Kel'el Ware, who stretches the floor, rebounds, has great touch, and just quietly and seamlessly fits into the team.
Also: two things about this game (neither of which I have good evidence for): 1) I got the feeling that JB realized we were getting THIS KAT pretty early on and was like "alright then, I see I gotta score big..." and 2) I think I saw either JB or Josh pretty irritated and telling KAT to shut up and get his head in the game as he relentlessly argued that the jump ball with Powell should've been his. Whoever it was looked pissed. I can't believe I forgot which.
See my above post to PSf! It backs up everything you said!
I feel like the only team that MIGHT see yabusele as an asset are the spurs considering what friendship and kinship there might be between him and wemby. Perhaps a Yabu for Bismack and Lindy waters or shit if somehow a pick gets them off Champagnie??
Another super-fluid Knick would have been Bob McAdoo. 'Nuf said.
I have been a Knick fan for over 50 years. My favorite players of all-time were:
1. Bernard King - Great player, could make any shot and could carry an entire team on his back. He nearly single-handedly defeated the Boston Celtics in a seven game semi-final matchup in 1984. He could take over a game in a way that JB doesn't, but that might be because JB has a better supporting cast and he does not need to. Unfortunately, he blew out his knee the following year in a late season game in Kansas City in what was a brutal Knicks season. He can score from anywhere and was virtually un-defendable. Sadly, we only got three years of Prime Bernard King, but they were spectacular seasons.
2. Walt Frazier - I was only 8 years old when they won the championship in 1973 and 10 when they traded him to Cleveland. Not a lot of Basketball was televised back in those days but we all still knew Clyde was the coolest guy on the court.
3. Patrick Ewing - I think every Knick fan takes him for granted (myself including) because he made it look so effortless. Every year in the 90s the assumption going in was 55-60 wins and at least a conference finals appearance, so he had some high expectations placed on him every season. The fact that they never won a championship with him is probably why he is unfairly under-rated. But if the Knicks had the talent JB has around him now, they easily would have gone for 2 Championships (1993 when Charles Smith couldn't hit a lay up 1994 when we lost in 7 to the Rockets would have definitely benefitted from a deeper rotation).
This is now Brunson's 4th year with the Knicks and it's time to rank him among the franchises greatest players of the last 50 year. He has played more games (236) in a Knick uniform than Bernard King (206) so it is no longer to soon to have that conversation. I would have no prblem putting him at the top of this list.