THE FORUM - INGLEWOOD, CA - May 11, 1973
The Sports Time Traveler™ has been following every game of the 1973 NBA Finals. Each game has been decided by 5 points or less. It’s been the closest finals since 1956. But entering game 5 “last night,” the Knicks held the series lead 3 games to 1.
KNICKS LEAD SERIES - 3 GAMES TO 1
Although the Lakers had their backs to the wall, they had the benefit of 2 of the last 3 games at home if they could push the series to the limit.
The Knicks got out to a quick start in game 5 and took a 23 - 16 lead at the quarter, but the Lakers came back and took a 41 - 39 advantage at halftime.
LAKERS 41 KNICKS 39 - Halftime
In the 3rd quarter, the Knicks dug in with their trademark defense.
Leonard Koppett wrote in the New York Times, “Team defense; that’s the Knick’s religion. Calm professionalism; that’s the Knick’s style.”
The Knicks forced 12 Lakers turnovers in 12 minutes and that fueled a 32 - 18 quarter and put the Knicks up by 12 going into the final period.
KNICKS 71 LAKERS 59 - End of 3rd Quarter
Oddly, Dave DeBusschere, the Knicks hero of game 4, with 33 points, including the 3 point play that put the game out of reach, did not score in the 1st 3 quarters of game 5, missing all 8 shots he took.
When DeBusschere finally got a field goal on a driving layup with 9 minutes to go, he sprained his ankle badly and had to be carried off the court.
With DeBusschere out, the Lakers mounted a comeback and pulled to within 4 points at 84 - 80. But as has been the case with the Knicks, several players stepped up at this critical time late in the game.
Bill Bradley scored on a pass from Willis Reed. Then Earl “the Pearl” Monroe made a 3 point play (the old fashioned way). And finally the captain, Reed, hit a jumper and the Knicks pushed the lead back to 11 points with under 2 minutes to go.
KNICKS 93 LAKERS 82 - 1:52 left to play in the game
Reed’s jumper iced it. The Knicks won it 102 - 93, the largest margin of victory of any game in the series.
For the 4th consecutive game, the Knicks did not waver down the stretch.
Walt Frazier, who played all but 10 minutes across the entire 5 games, told the New York Daily News, “It was our poise and expertise, and the ability to not crack under pressure,” that won the series for the Knicks.
WORLD CHAMPIONS
The New York Knickerbockers were the World Champions for the 2nd time in 4 seasons. And they had beaten the Lakers in doing it, the team with the best record in the NBA over the past 2 seasons.
The Team is the MVP
Willis Reed was voted the MVP of the series. But Sport Magazine noted that they selected Reed for “leadership as captain of a total team effort.”
Reed himself was quick to agree with Sport Magazine’s assertion. He told Jeff Prugh of the Los Angeles Times, “We’ve got 5 guys who should be the most valuable player.”
On offense, this was exemplified by the fact that everyone in the Knicks starting 5 averaged between 15.6 to 18.6 points per game in the Finals. They all contributed nearly equally.
Mal Florence of the Los Angeles Times noted, “The Knicks started 5 accurate shooters, and if one was cold, another would pick up the slack.”
On defense they were a cohesive unit that shut down their opponents. In the playoffs, they held the Bullets and Celtics 10 points below their season average and in the Finals they kept the Lakers 19 points below their season average in the last 4 games of the series. And for the entire series the Lakers committed 104 turnovers to just 74 for the Knicks.
“Their defense stormed our running game,” lamented Lakers coach Bill Sharman in the Los Angeles Times.
Leonard Koppett of the New York Times credited the Knicks coach and general manager Red Holzman (he holds both jobs) with molding the championship team, “Red Holzman… has succeeded brilliantly in both jobs by imposing his philosophy of team unity on the players to the point it has become part of them.”
Dave DeBusschere agreed with Koppett, saying about Holzman, “He may well be one of the best coaches in the game if not the best.”
Bill Bradley told the New York Times, “It’s immensely satisfying to play this way and win. It’s the actualization of the right ideas about the game.”
To the Lakers credit, despite losing the Finals 4 games to 1, it was actually a very close series. The total score of the 5 games was 503 - 484, just 19 points separating the 2 teams.
And a crucial handicap for the Lakers was that 34 year old Jerry West was hobbled with hamstring injuries beginning in game 2 that lasted the rest of the series. Lakers coach Bill Sharman said that in game 5 West, “asked to come out of the game twice. And that’s not Jerry West.”
The Lakers also shot an atrocious 110 for 170 from the free throw line in the series, just 65%. The leading contributor to that poor showing was Wilt Chamberlain, who was just 14 for 38 from the line.
Chamberlain, at age 36, remarkably played every minute of every game in the series, but Jeff Prugh of the Los Angeles Times noted that Chamberlain, “scarcely resembled the great intimidator of a year ago,” when the Lakers won the title over the Knicks.
But Bill Sharman was quick to point out after game 5, “I don’t want to take anything away from the Knicks. They’re awfully smart… and they have so many good shooters that you can’t set your defense for any one of them.”
Larry Fox of the New York Daily News summed it up at the beginning of his article on game 5, “The Knicks are champions… and they did it their way, with another magnificent team effort on both ends of the floor, their trademark.”
Postscript From The Sports Time Traveler™
It’s now been 50 years since the The New York Knicks iconic 1973 championship. The championship that was a total team effort. The championship that was won the right way with selfless offensive play and relentless “dee-fense.”
They haven’t won a championship since.
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