1997–98 New York Knicks season

The 1997–98 New York Knicks season was the 52nd season for the Knicks in the National Basketball Association.^[1] The city of New York City, New York hosted the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden this season, which featured the 1998 NBA All-Star Game.^[2][3] During the off-season, the Knicks acquired Chris Mills from the Boston Celtics,^[4][5][6] and acquired Chris Dudley from the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team trade.^[7][8] At mid-season, the team traded Herb Williams to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for former All-Star forward Terry Cummings;^[9][10][11] however, Williams never played for the 76ers, and was re-signed by the Knicks for the remainder of the season.^[12][13][14]

In the regular season, and with the addition of Mills and Dudley,^[15] the Knicks won 9 of their first 13 games, and later on held a 25–21 record at the All-Star break.^[16][17] The team lost eight of their final eleven games of the season, and finished with a 43–39 record,^[16] which placed them in a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division with the New Jersey Nets, and earned them the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference;^[18] it was their lowest winning percentage since the 1990–91 season.^[1] The Knicks qualified for the NBA playoffs for the eleventh consecutive year,^[1] and also had the fourth-best team defensive rating in the NBA.^[19]

This season saw All-Star center Patrick Ewing break his right wrist during a road game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center on December 20, 1997.^[20][21] Late in the second quarter, Ewing was trying to catch an alley-oop pass from teammate Charlie Ward, where he was fouled by Bucks center Andrew Lang, and landed on his tailbone.^[20][22][23] The injury kept Ewing out for the remainder of the regular season, as he averaged 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in 26 games.^[15]

Without their star center for most of the season, Allan Houston finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 18.4 points per game, while Larry Johnson averaged 15.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, and sixth man John Starks provided scoring off the bench, averaging 12.9 points per game and leading the Knicks with 130 three-point field goals.^[15] In addition, Charles Oakley provided the team with 9.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game,^[15] and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team,^[18] while Mills contributed 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game off the bench, and Cummings averaged 7.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 30 games after the trade.^[15] Meanwhile, the team also used Ward as its starting point guard, with Chris Childs coming off the bench;^[24][15] Ward contributed 7.8 points, 5.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and Childs provided the Knicks with 6.3 points and 3.9 assists per game.^[15] On the defensive side, Buck Williams averaged 4.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 41 games, and Dudley contributed 3.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game in 51 games.^[15]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Houston participated in the inaugural NBA 2Ball Competition, along with Rebecca Lobo of the WNBA's New York Liberty,^[25][26] while Ward participated in the NBA Three-Point Shootout.^[25][27] The 2Ball Competition replaced the NBA Slam Dunk Contest this season.^[28][29] Due to his wrist injury, Ewing was not selected for the NBA All-Star Game; Ewing received 441,347 votes from the fans in balloting as the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-Star team, but lost the spot to All-Star center Dikembe Mutombo of the Atlanta Hawks, who received 476,432 votes.^[30][31] Starks finished in fourth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting,^[32] while head coach Jeff Van Gundy finished tied in ninth place in Coach of the Year voting.^[32]

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1998 NBA playoffs, and for the second consecutive year, the Knicks faced off against the 2nd–seeded, and Atlantic Division champion Miami Heat, who were led by All-Star guard Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning and Jamal Mashburn.^[33][34] The Heat had eliminated the Knicks in the 1997 NBA playoffs, in a full seven-game second-round series that featured a brawl during Game 5;^[35][33] the altercation led to the suspension of six players, including five from the Knicks.^[36] With Ewing out for the 1998 series due to his wrist injury, the Heat took a 2–1 series lead over the Knicks, defeating them in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, 91–85.^[37][38][39]

In Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, another brawl occurred in the closing seconds, in which the Knicks won, 90–85 to even the series at two games each;^[40] Johnson and Mourning, both former teammates on the Charlotte Hornets, exchanged punches, and Van Gundy clung to one of Mourning's legs at one point in an attempt to separate the two.^[41][42][43] Three players were suspended for Game 5: Johnson and Mourning were both suspended for two games, and Mills, who left the bench during the fight, was suspended for one game.^[44][45][46] Despite the loss of Johnson and Mills, the Knicks won Game 5 over the Heat on the road, 98–81 at the Miami Arena to win the series in five hard-fought games, and advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.^[47][48][49]

In the Semi-finals, the Knicks faced off against the 3rd–seeded Indiana Pacers, who were led by All-Star guard Reggie Miller, All-Star center Rik Smits, and Chris Mullin.^[18][50] Ewing returned to play in Game 2, in which the Knicks lost to the Pacers on the road, 85–77 at the Market Square Arena, as the Pacers took a 2–0 series lead.^[51][52][53] The Knicks won Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, 83–76, but then lost Game 4 to the Pacers at home in overtime, 118–107.^[54][55] The Knicks lost Game 5 to the Pacers at the Market Square Arena, 99–88, thus losing the series in five games.^[56][57][58]

The Knicks finished fifth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 810,283 at Madison Square Garden during the regular season.^[18][15] Following the season, Oakley was traded to the Toronto Raptors after ten seasons with the Knicks,^[59][60][61] while Starks, Mills and Cummings were all traded to the Golden State Warriors,^[62][63][64] who Starks had previously played for during the 1988–89 season.^[65] Meanwhile, Buck Williams retired after seventeen seasons in the NBA.^[66][67][68]

For the season, the Knicks changed their home uniforms, adding blue side panels to their jerseys and shorts,^[69] while their alternate uniforms they wore on the road frequently for the previous two seasons became their primary road jerseys.^[70] Both uniforms would remain in use until 2012, although they were slightly redesigned in 2001, where the side panels were removed from the bottom of their shorts.^[71][72]