Ewing joins Knicks parade, recalling rough start and near-misses

New York took to the streets June 18 to celebrate the Knicks’ first NBA title since 1973. Patrick Ewing, the franchise’s all-time leader in multiple major categories and a 63-year-old Hall of Famer, walked the Canyon of Heroes with the team and looked back on

New Yorkers poured into the streets on June 18 as the Knicks rolled up the Canyon of Heroes, and Patrick Ewing was there with them—steady, unmistakable, and finally not just a symbol of what might have been.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Ewing said as the franchise celebrated the title run that delivered the team its first NBA championship since 1973 and its third overall.

Ewing, 63, spent the day looking backward and forward at the same time. He reflected on his Knicks life the day before the parade—when the franchise’s championship moment could no longer be measured against the losses that defined much of his 15 years in New York. It was edited from a longer interview.

In the parade crowd and the city’s memory, Ewing remains the Knicks’ decisive figure. He is the franchise leader in points (23,665), rebounds (10,759), blocks (2,758), steals (1,061), games (1,039), and field goals (9,260). He is an 11-time all-star. a Basketball Hall of Famer. and one of the NBA’s top players to never win a championship.

His closest chances came in 1994 and 1999. In 1994, the Knicks reached the NBA Finals but lost to the Rockets in seven games. In 1999, New York again made the Finals, falling to the San Antonio Spurs in five games, and Ewing missed those Finals with an injury.

Ewing described the scale of the run the way New York fans remember the era—the Knicks as the main event of New York sports—from the late 1980s into the mid- to late 1990s. He led a title contender for more than a decade until his tenure ended in 2000.

He also remembered what those early seasons felt like, and why the label “No. 1 overall pick” never translated into instant relief.

In the first year of the draft lottery in 1985—an early version of the system still used today to discourage “tanking”—the Knicks were awarded the first overall pick. Ewing, a 7-foot center out of Georgetown, was the obvious choice.

But the start wasn’t a fairy tale. The Knicks had lost Bernard King, then the NBA’s leading scorer with 32.9 points per game, in March 1985 to a devastating knee injury. King missed the entire 1985-86 season, and he and Ewing would never play together in New York.

Ewing’s own body also betrayed him early. He got injured in his first two seasons, and New York won a combined six out of 36 games in his absence while finishing in last place twice.

He later formed a core with players who had already survived playoff battles with the Knicks in the early to mid-1980s—forward Louis Orr, who would later coach with Ewing at Georgetown, and guard Trent Tucker. That group mattered as the franchise began to rise again under head coach Rick Pitino.

Ewing said those first years were “tough” and still remembered the chain of setbacks that landed him in New York. “It was tough because we weren’t very good,” he said. “We had lost Bernard. That’s the only reason why they were able to draft me.” He described it as starting with injuries after injuries: “We had Hubie Brown as the coach; he was there for my first year and some of my second. Bob Hill took over, then I got hurt again. Then they brought in Rick Pitino and when Rick came, that’s when we started to trend upwards.”.

Even when asked about pressure as the No. 1 pick—what he owed as a leader and a role model—Ewing didn’t frame it as spotlight anxiety. “When I think about basketball, I don’t think about pressure,” he said. “To me. pressure is my mom and dad picking up from Jamaica. moving to America (when he was 12). a place that we knew nothing about.” He added: “Basketball is a sport. There’s some type of pressure, but I think it’s a different type of pressure.”.

Under Pitino, New York began to change. Pitino installed a fast-paced style with lots of pressing and 3-pointers. Ewing played 82 games and the team improved by 14 wins in 1987-88, sneaking into the playoffs as a No. 8 seed. The following season. the Knicks surged by another 14 wins to finish 52-30 and win the Atlantic Division in 1988-89. losing to the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

That was when the Garden started to rock again after years of empty seats.

Ewing said playing in New York was never a question. “No, I mean, I’m playing in the mecca,” he said. He pointed to family and familiar ties—family in New York and Georgetown friends who were also in the city.

He also returned to the feeling of the game’s best stretches when asked about his best memories. He cited “getting to the Finals against Houston. ” the fact that the teammates he played with are still friends today. and playing “with. and against. some of the greatest players to have played this game.”.

But the Knicks’ rise wasn’t a straight line. Pitino left after two seasons to take the head men’s basketball coaching job at the University of Kentucky. Stu Jackson. a Pitino assistant. shepherded the Knicks for a little over a season. while John MacLeod succeeded him; both “flamed out in the early rounds of the playoffs. ” Ewing recalled through the timeline of results.

The true turnaround of the Ewing era came in the 1991-92 season. New team president Dave Checketts lured Pat Riley to be the head coach. Riley, who had coached the “Showtime” Lakers to three NBA titles in the 1980s, installed a defense-first philosophy in New York that overpowered many opponents.

Ewing and his teammates—Charles Oakley. John Starks. Anthony Mason. and others—pushed the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992-93 and the NBA Finals in 1994. After Ewing had the game-winning dunk and the Knicks held on defense to beat Indiana in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. he climbed above the press table at the Garden to celebrate with the crowd.

That scene, Ewing said, came back to him during this season’s championship parade.

When he talked about a moment when the Garden sounded loudest, he linked past and present with the same sentence. “Hey, look, I’m blessed, man,” he said. “I heard the Garden at its peak when I played. but I also heard it at its peak in Game 4 (this season) when OG tipped that ball in.” He said the moment left him “fortunate enough to be around as a player and then come full circle to be around as a fan/front office/consultant/whatever else you want to call me.”.

In 1994, he still didn’t soften what happened. “We had a great year, we just fell short,” he said. “That was our first time in my career getting to the finals, going through a hard fought series against Indiana and making it to go against Hakeem (Olajuwon). We just didn’t get the job done.”

The losses accumulated, and Ewing connected some of them to suspensions, too. In the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals. Reggie Miller and Indiana got revenge on the Knicks by winning Game 7 at the Garden when Ewing’s potential game-tying finger roll missed at the buzzer. Riley resigned after the season, and the Knicks lost to the Pacers again in the 1998 Eastern Conference semifinals.

Under Jeff Van Gundy, New York disposed of Indiana in the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the San Antonio Spurs.

But the most painful break came the year before—during the altercation at the end of Game 5 of the 1998 Eastern Conference semifinals. New York was in control with a 3-2 series lead. and then Ewing and the team’s other three leading scorers—Allan Houston. John Starks. and Larry Johnson—were all suspended a game for leaving the bench area. The suspensions ran across the last two games of the series, both of which the Knicks lost to Miami. Ewing said the suspensions were decisive: “Was Reggie Miller or Michael Jordan the bigger nemesis for your team?” he was asked. He answered: “Michael Jordan.”.

When asked whether the suspensions played a factor in that series. Ewing said “Oh definitely.” He emphasized that his role in the incident was minimal: “I mean. I really didn’t do anything to be suspended. I stepped on the floor. I didn’t even step all the way on the floor. I stepped on to see what was going on and went back and then I got suspended. So we weren’t a full team. Miami was able to beat us and then ended up losing to the Bulls.”.

His regrets weren’t abstract. “Not winning a championship and leaving,” he said.

In 2000, the ending arrived through a trade. The Knicks traded Ewing to the Seattle SuperSonics in September 2000 as part of a four-team deal. He retired after a season with the SuperSonics and a season with the Orlando Magic before turning to coaching—first as an assistant in the NBA. then as head coach at Georgetown from 2017-23.

Even later, his Knicks legacy returned to the stadium in a different form. He won a Big East championship with the Hoyas in 2021 in the Garden with his Knicks No. 33 hanging from the rafters, though there were no spectators present amid COVID restrictions.

Ewing said the trade to Seattle came after 15 years in one place. “After 15 years of playing in one place and hearing all the naysayers saying. ‘They’re better off without him. ’ it was just time for me to leave. ” he said. He also admitted he didn’t block out the noise as much as he wished he had: “But sometimes you gotta block out in noise I wish I blocked out the noise a little bit more and just stuck it out.”.

Now. with the Knicks winning this year. he said the championship has brought him “more peace and closure.” “We definitely wish when we got there. we could have been able to win it. ” he said. “But it just wasn’t in the cards for us. But I think that me being back and me being a part of it. and management and ownership making me feel like I’m part of it. yes. it’s fulfilling. It’s like a dream come true.”.

As the celebration continues on the streets of his city. Ewing’s message for the next generation landed on the same themes as the rest of his story—effort. belief. and not letting other voices decide what you can become. “Believe in yourself,” he said. “There’s gonna be people who doubt you. It could be a coach, could be a family member. Whatever is your dream to achieve. make sure you put forth the energy and the effort to try to get it done. Don’t let others define you.”.

By the end of the parade route, it didn’t erase the losses that came before. It didn’t change that 1994 and 1999 were years that ended just short. But for Ewing—and for a franchise that kept trying—this time the story finally finished the way New York always wanted it to.

Patrick Ewing Knicks parade Knicks championship NBA Finals 1994 NBA Finals 1999 Canyon of Heroes Rick Pitino Pat Riley Dave Checketts Allan Houston John Starks Larry Johnson Bernard King Seattle SuperSonics Orlando Magic Georgetown Hoyas Big East championship 2021