We’re in the home stretch, folks.
September brings a bunch of things. School for many young people (it was personally August for me up in State College), the start of all forms of football, the stretch run of the MLB season, and the end of a hot summer.
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For us here at P&T, all it means is that a new basketball season is right around the corner. Before you know it, training camp will commence in a matter of days, and the Knicks will take the floor for the first time as defending champs in the preseason on October 5.
It’s been an offseason of celebration, but also one of reflection. A reflection on the long journey to get here.
53 years is an extremely long time. As we count down the final weeks to the season opener on October 20, we begin a five-part series chronicling some of the dumbest games, moments, and decisions of the past 53 years that slowly made us all think this day would never come… until it did.
Part I will focus on the downfall of the 1970s dynasty that served as the organization’s standard-bearer, while poor front office decisions and injuries derailed any chance at a soft landing through the late 1980s. We’ll then gradually go through the 1990s in Part II, the dreadful 2000s in Part III, the turbulent 2010s in Part IV, and cap it off with the Leon Rose era in Part V.
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With that, let’s begin.
The Downfall of the Golden Era Knicks (1974-80)
Every single championship-caliber operation has to disassemble. It’s a fact of life. Championship windows do not last forever, and teams will have to eventually say goodbye to players who shaped an entire generation.
Time and time again, teams are presented with the reality of either retaining these aging pieces into their sunsets and risking a prolonged stint at the bottom or making the difficult decisions to trade them as they exit their primes at the risk of angering everyone. This is going to happen to the very Knicks we love so much; it’s inevitable.
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The reverberations of the highly successful early 1970s Knicks began not too long after that second championship.
Willis Reed, the captain and two-time Finals MVP, played just 19…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dumb-moments-title-much-sweeter-154500224.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-18 15:45:00
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