1993–94 New York Knicks season
Season of National Basketball Association team the New York Knicks / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1993–94 NBA season was the 48th season for the Knicks in the National Basketball Association in New York City.[1] This marked the last season in which the Knicks (and all other MSG properties) were owned by Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western), which was sold near the end of the season to Viacom, which in turn sold them to ITT Corporation and Cablevision. A couple of years later, ITT would sell their share to Cablevision. The Knicks' current[update] owner, The Madison Square Garden Company, is a spin-off of Cablevision.[2][3][4]
1993–94 New York Knicks season | |||
---|---|---|---|
Conference champions | |||
Division champions | |||
Head coach | Pat Riley | ||
General manager | Ernie Grunfeld | ||
Owners | Paramount Communications, Inc. (through March 10, 1994) Viacom (starting on March 11, 1994) | ||
Arena | Madison Square Garden | ||
Results | |||
Record | 57–25 (.695) | ||
Place | Division: 1st (Atlantic) Conference: 2nd (Eastern) | ||
Playoff finish | NBA Finals (lost to Rockets 3–4) | ||
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||
Local media | |||
Television | MSG Network | ||
Radio | WFAN | ||
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During the off-season, the Knicks signed free agent Anthony Bonner.[5][6] The team got off to a fast start winning their first seven games. However, they would lose Doc Rivers for the remainder of the season to a knee injury after just 19 games,[7][8][9] while Charles D. Smith and second-year guard Hubert Davis also missed parts of the season with injuries. At midseason, the Knicks traded Tony Campbell to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Derek Harper to fill in the void left by Rivers.[10][11][12] Despite the injuries, the Knicks had another successful season holding a 34–14 record at the All-Star break,[13] and then posting a 15-game winning streak late in the season, including a 14–0 record in March,[14] finishing first place in the Atlantic Division with a 57–25 record.[15] The Knicks earned the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Patrick Ewing had a stellar season averaging 24.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, and finished in fifth place in Most Valuable Player voting,[16][17] but was not selected to an All-NBA Team at season's end. In addition, John Starks averaged 19.0 points, 5.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game, but only played 59 games due to a knee injury, which forced him to miss the rest of the regular season,[18][19][20] while Charles Oakley provided the team with 11.8 points and rebounds per game each, contributed 1.3 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. Davis contributed 11.0 points per game, while Smith provided with 10.4 points per game, and sixth man Anthony Mason averaged 7.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game off the bench.[21] Ewing, Starks and Oakley were all selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game.[22][23][24][25][26]
In the Eastern Conference First Round of the playoffs, the Knicks defeated the New Jersey Nets in four games.[27][28][29][30] In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, they faced the Chicago Bulls for the fourth straight year. Michael Jordan had retired prior to the season to pursue a baseball career, and the team was now led by Scottie Pippen.[31][32][33][34][35] The Knicks would defeat the Bulls in a full seven game series to advance to the Eastern Conference finals,[36][37][38][39] where they trailed 3–2 to Reggie Miller and the 5th-seeded Indiana Pacers,[40][41][42] but managed to defeat them in another full seven game series.[43][44][45][46] The Knicks advanced to the 1994 NBA Finals, and took a 3–2 series lead over regular season MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets,[47][48][49] but lost the next two games, thus losing the series in seven games.[50][51][52][53][54][55]
In the 1994 playoffs, the Knicks set the record for most games allowing under 95[56] and under 100 points[57] in one playoff run. Opponents were held to under 95 and 100 points in 23 and 24 games, respectively. Following the season, Rolando Blackman was released to free agency.[58]