The last Nets championship came on May 13, 1976, 37 years ago, when the New York Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets 112-106 at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York. I know because I was there.

I watched as Dr. J and the New York Nets took home the championship, and the confetti fell from the rafters. It was the last championship I attended in person until the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007, but it was my first, and I was at least there, though maybe not old enough to truly appreciate what I had seen.

In the early 70′s, Doctor J was everything that Lebron James and Michael Jordan was COMBINED. He dominated games where his long thin frame flew like Superman above everyone else. But his strength was underrated. He could also muscle his way in to the basket as well. Certainly not as big or as strong as Lebron, but his agility would make up for it. And his clutch was better. He was MJ-like in leadership and in clutch. He played defense as well as either of those two as well.

Dr. J was a Long Island New York native, so it was natural for him to play at Nassau Coliseum. In those days, the Coliseum wasn’t as decrepit as it is now. It was a decent place to play and watch games.

In game six of the Championship series vs. the Nuggets, they held a 22-point lead over the Nets in the third quarter. But behind the Doctor, the Nets came back with a furious zone press, forcing one turnover after another. “Super” John Williamson and “Jumbo” Jim Eakins, made clutch shots. Williamson got 24 of his 28 points in the second half, and the Doc scored 31 points and had five steals.

Not only can I say I was at the Championship game, but I was also at the last A.B.A. game ever played. In the 1976-77 season the next year, the Nets moved to the NBA, but Dr. J was traded to the 76ers, and I suffered through many years of futility, rooting for the likes of Bubbles Hawkins and Mike Gminski, instead of Doc.

I jealously watched on TV when Doc won the Championship in Philly with Moses Malone, but at least I had the memory of seeing him in person, in his prime, and let me tell you, he was magnificent.

The Nets won their last Championship, and for another 37 years, the closest the Nets came was getting to the NBA finals twice, but bowing out both times to stronger opponents. I didn’t see those games in person. It just wasn’t the same.

Those days are a distant memory. My brother and I haven’t always got along, but we shared that special moment of watching a Championship together, and I can still remember us cheering together as they won. It was a beautiful moment for a little kid to be awed by, and it led me to a lifelong love of basketball. Now I look back on those days as special. So naturally, I’m looking forward to seeing theDr. J special tonight on NBA-TV.

For me, the Doctor will always be the best, because he was my hero as a kid. Someone who came from a neighborhood not far away. Someone who influenced me to take up basketball in grade school and high school, always dreaming of playing like Doctor J, but more like a slow, white Doc Goodie.

Well, I had fun anyway.

So who else is a candidate? Steven A. Smith suggests that Larry Brown (who coached the Nets in the 80′s), Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, and current associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers, Brian Shaw would get called. Jerry Sloan’s name has been mentioned, with his former sparring partner Deron Williams saying,“I’d love to play for Coach Sloan again” .

While some of those names might lead to success, (especially that of Doc Rivers), there is one name that has been for the most part, unspoken. And that would be former Knick legend, Patrick Ewing.

Patrick said he would love to coach the Nets as far back as 2009, when the team was still in New Jersey, and what better way to bother the rival Knicks than by taking one of their own, and all-time great and turning him against them?

Feb 13, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Former New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing looks on during the first half against the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Ooooh, it’s a juicy scenario, and one that will grab headlines. Something that Nets owner, Mikhail Prokorov loves to do.

Prokorov loves to tweak the Knicks. We know this. We knew this ever since Prokhorov bought the team with his statement, “We will turn Knicks fans into Nets fans”. We knew this when the billboardappeared over Madison Square Garden in 2010.

Prokhorov wants his Nets to overshadow the long-time number one home team Knicks. And he will do anything to do it. He’s spent millions to sign a truckload of new players and build his team into a winner. He succeeded, to a point. They were winners in the regular season, but sputtered in the playoffs.

The danger with this scenario is that Patrick has no head coaching experience. And this hire could easily turn against them if the team flounders, but I think the Nets will at least give Ewing an interview. That alone will send shock waves through Madison Square Garden, and at least give the Nets back page mentions for at least a day.

For the record, I love the idea. Patrick has wanted to coach for many years, and yet no one has given him a shot. Now to have a shot with the Knicks’ closest rivals would be attention-grabbing and newsworthy. Short of nabbing Phil Jackson, can you come up with a more intriguing scenario?

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Hey Patrick Ewing fans, whether Patrick becomes the Nets coach or not, we’ve still got your Ewing Basketball T Shirts on sale here.

Credit the Knicks with winning the division title, yes. Credit them with winning over 50 games, yes, but don’t credit them with being anything more than they are. An also-ran.

Apr 14, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) reacts during the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden. Knicks won 90-80. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The team isn’t going to the championship with Carmelo Anthony scoring 40 points a game. We saw that with Bernard King. Not that Bernard was not a Hall of Famer. He was, but his team was not. This Knick team is better than Bernard’s 1982-1987 teams. The best they did was win 47 games and lose in the Eastern Conference Semifinals versus the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics in 1983 and 1984. Bernard never got to play with Patrick Ewing. Together, they could have made history, but as it was, it was Bernard right, King left, all day and all night.

And though I see this Knick team possibly reaching the Eastern Conference finals, that’s certainly the limit. Sure, the Knicks can win a first round playoff against the Celtics (or so it seems with the Celtics currently the 7th seed), and maybe squeak by in a seven games vs. Indiana, Brooklyn or Chicago, but against the Miami Heat, you need more than one player shooting the ball. Remember what the Heat did to the Knicks in last year’s playoffs? Carmelo got his, but no one else backed him up. Could this year be different?

This year, it’s been Carmelo right, Anthony left, all day and all night. But we’ve seen that before with Bernard. Fine for high personal stats, but not a championship formula. To win a championship you need a team to play defense, pass the ball around, hit the open man and take advantage of matchups.

And when J.R. Smith comes into the  game to take some of the scoring pressure off of Anthony, it’s the same exact story.

Look at the Los Angeles Lakers. Mike D’Antoni’s hiring has resulted in a less than satisfactory outcome except when Kobe scores less, and passes the ball more.

In the Knicks big win against the Oklahoma City Thunder a week ago, Anthony amassed zero assists. That’s right; he did not get even one, single assist. Is that a championship formula?

Until Anthony learns to follow in Michael Jordan’s footsteps, and get others more involved in the offense, the Knicks will disappoint. What Michael did that was magical was get everyone involved, so that when he was double teamed at the end of the game, he could pass and watch his teammate score. When Anthony does that you can talk Championship, but until then, it will be Bernard King‘s Knicks all over again.

T SHIRT CONTEST!

We’re giving away a free t shirt featuring one of the greatest Knicks of all time, Patrick Ewing!

Printed on 100% cotton tees, this popular t shirt design is currently sold on the TARNATION! Sports t shirts website for $20 but you can get it free, in your size, up to XXXL by entering our contest below.

You an enter the drawing as many times as you wish below. Winner will be announced on Jan 25th. Good luck!

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But all Laker fans must hope that any mention of the word “turkey” ends at Thanksgiving.

It might be a good thing for Steve Nash and fun-lovers in LA, because there will be plenty of fun offense to be had to go with your turkey, cranberry sauce and giblets.

Jan 28, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike D

But on the other hand, you can call him Mike Not Phil Jackson D’Antoni, or you could just call him MikeAntoni because there could be no D in Los Angeles.

There’s been much talk today about how the job was Phil Jackson’s if he wanted it, but behind the scenes he reportedly asked for too much including an ownership stake in the team. It seems that Lakers Owner Jerry Buss wouldn’t go for that and instead hired D’Antoni. Jackson is reportedly “shocked”. But there’s more to it that we don’t know. Buss and Jackson may have something going on behind that scenes that isn’t pretty and that we don’t know about. It seems that Jackson’s name was out there and the Lakers had to satisfy the crowd’s lust for Jackson, so they considered it, but D’Antoni was their man all along.

Steve Nash must be happy. he and D’Antoni were a match made in basketball heaven in Phoenix and they will be fun to watch on offense. But defense is another matter. Unless D’Antoni gets a defensive-minded Woodson-like assistant, the team will be one-sided, run n’ gun fun. That’s not bad, but what happened to “defense wins championships”?

Meanwhile, in other news, it looks like the Lakers and Nuggets may have gotten the best of the 3-way deal that sent Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia. Bynum has yet to play a game for the 76ers due to knee issues. Now the team is saying he may be their Xmas gift, playing his first game (maybe) Xmas week, because he won’t begin doing any work till 12/10. The team gave up Andre Igoudala for him but don’t seem to be getting anything back. By the way, Bynum will be a free agent at the end of the season. I wrote about the trade here. I have a feeling this season will be a washout for him and the 76ers will rue the day they let Iggy go for him. Now that’s what I call a turkey deal!

There’s talk about the Knicks going after Tracy McGrady again. That would truly be fantastic since it worked so well last time. When McGrady was a Knick in 2010, he averaged 9.3 points per game. Who wouldn’t want that kind of production? Sign him for $50 million I say!

This is a pretty ridiculous story that needs to go away. look, T-Mac is a move Isiah Thomas would make. Last season with the Hawks, he averaged 5.2 points per game. The Knicks need more production than what McGrady has left.

More interesting is Kenyon Martin, who the Knicks are also pursuing. While Kenyon is also ancient in NBA years, (he averaged just 5.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG last season for the Clippers), he brings an poor man’s Oakley-like toughness to the team. (A poor, poor man’s Oakley that is, but nonetheless, more Oakley-like than McGrady, and the Knicks need some toughness.) Money has been, and is the issue with Martin though, as he does not want to sign for the minimum, which is what the Knicks can afford. (more…)

Jan. 16, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Former New York Knicks player Patrick Ewing on the sidelines during the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

The former New York Knick great, Patrick Ewing turned 50 on Sunday. We followed his career since day one, and are waiting for him to get an opportunity to coach an NBA team, because we think the passion he brings is reason enough to get him a reasonable offer.

Arguably, he was one of the greatest Knick players ever, and team leader for over a decade. But the kind of leadership Patrick offered can sometimes be underrated.

Tommy Dee of theknicksblog.com wrote that Ewing was not appreciated until after he retired, and blames the media, saying,

“Patrick’s relationship with the media was cantankerous and before the age of social media and a wide range of information gathering, fans relied on the papers to tell the story. Patrick was moody and rarely outgoing. He was sensitive and didn’t open up about himself. That’s just who he was and yet somehow that made him a bad person despite it never making him a bad teammate. The guy was a warrior.”

The word “Warrior” is apt for Patrick. In fact, looking at the NBA encyclopedia, it’s the first word in his listing–

“Warrior. That is the one-word description often applied to Patrick Ewing. He was indefatigable and relentless in pursuit of an NBA championship despite being denied on an annual basis. Bold predictions did not always materialize and some took them as empty promises, while others as a will to succeed.”

An NCAA champion with the Georgetown Hoyas, Patrick came so close to becoming an NBA champion as well. In 1994, he led the Knicks to the seventh game of the the NBA Finals, eventually falling to the Houston Rockets and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Patrick career averages of 21 points and 9.8 rebounds per game are impressive, but even more, he was voted an All-Star 11 times, was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1986, and voted All-NBA First Team once and six times to the Second Team All-NBA squad.

Patrick was featured as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and was a player on two gold medal-winning Olympic basketball teams, in 1984 and 1992.

But more than all the numbers, he led the Knicks back into prominence in the 1980′s and 90′s. Prominence not seen since he retired. Since then, the Knicks have been pretenders, not contenders, with the man in the middle that dominated, Patrick Ewing.

It’s a bit sad that many great players are not fully appreciated until after they retire. No disrespect to Tyson Chandler, who is a very good player in his own right, but what would Knick fans give now to have Patrick Ewing anchoring the middle of this team?

Happy 50th birthday, Patrick!

Check out our Patrick Ewing basketball t shirts. A tribute to a legend.

Story written by Doc Goodie. Doc contributes to Buckets Over Broadway and can also be found at TARNATION Sports