Just like yesterday, you the reader get to determine the winner. In our opening round game, you decided that the No. 1 seeded 1973 team, led by Walt Frazier and Willis Reed defeated the 1951 squad.

Today it’s another East Region battle between the No. 2 1995 team and the No. 7 1978 squad.

Let’s get into the matchup.

1995 New York Knicks: 55-27 regular season; lost in Eastern Conference semis

1978 New York Knicks: 43-39 regular season; lost in Eastern Conference semis

The ’95 team, one of my favorites, finished second in the Atlantic Division and went on to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, before losing to Reggie Miller’s Indiana Pacers in the conference semi-finals.

The ’78 squad also finished second in the Atlantic and defeated the Cavs in the first round, but they ran into Dr. J and the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round and were swept, ending their season.

Here’s a look at how the teams stack up against one another.

1995 Knicks

Coach: Pat Riley

Starters

C- Patrick Ewing (23.9 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 2.0 BPG)

F- Charles Oakley (10.1 PPG, 8.9 RPG)

F- Charles Smith (12.7 PPG)

G- John Starks (15.3 PPG, 5.1 APG)

G- Derek Harper (11.5 PPG, 5.7 APG)

Bench- Hubert Davis, Doc Rivers, Anthony Mason (Sixth Man of the Year), Charlie Ward, Doug Christie, Monty Williams, Herb Williams

1978 New York Knicks

Coach- Willis Reed

C- Lonnie Shelton (14.9 PPG, 7.1 RPG)

F- Spencer Haywood (13.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG)

F- Bob McAdoo (26.5 PPG, 12.8 RPG)

G- Earl Monroe (17.8 PPG, 4.8 APG)

G- Butch Beard ( 9.4 PPG, 4.3 APG)

Bench: Phil Jackson, Ray Williams, Jim McMillan, Jim Clemons, Toby Knight

My Take: The ’95 team would have their hands full with the ’78 starting five. McAdoo had a fantastic season and even though Monroe was closer to the end of his career, he was still a force to be dealt with. Yet I don’t know if the ’78 squad could deal with the physical play that Riley’s Knicks would bring. Between the physical play and the outstanding depth of the ’95 squad, I have to give them a slight edge, but this will be a close game.

At the end of the day, the key to the ’95 team winning or losing could be how well Starks shoots the ball. If he’s hot the ’95 team wins, but we all know that he could shoot the Knicks out of a game as easily as he could win won for them.

Your Vote: Your vote is the one that counts though, so make sure you vote for the winner in the poll on the right hand side of this page. Voting is open until tomorrow afternoon and the winner will advance to the Sweet 16.

Up Next: Tomorrow’s matchup will be another first round game in the East Region between No. 3 1998 Knicks vs. No. 6 1983 Knicks.

Follow Matt Shetler on Twitter for news, reaction and analysis from around the NBA.

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“I’m quite sure he would relish being in the Big Apple,” said Monroe, who coached the New York City team vs. L.A. in yesterday’s inaugural People’s Games at Union Square. “He can handle this pressure. Obviously he’s one of the premier point guards in the league. To add that with what you already have, you got the real nucleus to having something special happen closer than in four years.”

This talk is old and, well, useless until the CBA is configured some point in the months ahead. It’s tough to comment on the possibility of the Knicks signing a player like Chris Paul or Dwight Howard in the summer of 2012 until things sort themselves out. Until then we’ll let this lie.

The Knicks were down seven at the end of the quarter. “It’s an ugly game,” Monroe said. “If I had to draw this one up, it’d look like this,” and he pantomimed a mess of scribbles.

Trautwig asked the analysts to raise their hand if they thought the Knicks could come back and tie the game. They all looked at each other. King cautiously lifted his. Monroe and Tripucka raised their eyebrows. King shrugged his shoulders.

Yet somehow the Knicks began to claw their way back. Anthony continued his run of unearthly baskets, driving to the hoop as elusively as Monroe and raining jump shots with a touch as deadly as King’s. The Knicks closed to within two, and Trautwig complemented King on his unlikely prescience. “I was being optimistic,” King said. After the Knicks remarkably took the lead with eight minutes left, everyone in the room jumped out of their seats. King raised both his arms in the air. Monroe beamed. “I don’t mind being wrong,” he said.

Yesterday, Mr. Monroe spoke with me about the NBA, New York’s banner raising odds, and The People’s Games, a new sports concept that offers athletes the opportunity to represent their cities in competition against other regions in a battle to prove who has the best athletes in various sports.

The first two cities featured in the event will be New York and Los Angeles. Two 20 player basketball teams from each coast will then take things to the court to decide which city has the better talent. Tryouts for the New York team will be headed by Monroe on March 13, and in regards to player requirements more information can be found at their website. Los Angeles will be coached by former UCLA star Lucius Allen.

A little more information:

The People’s Games will be conducted in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation & Parks and in coordination with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.  A portion of the proceeds from The People’s Games will be donated to the local recreation and parks departments in participating cities.  In the future, The People’s Games intends to announce additional competitive platforms and participating cities.

Armyan Bernstein, award-winning producer and Chairman of Beacon Pictures, is the Founder and Chairman of The People’s Games.  Terry Jastrow, seven-time Emmy Award winner, who has produced and directed six Olympic Games, is the Commissioner and Executive Producer of The People’s Games.

“We believe there are great athletes out there who, for one reason or another, never got a chance to have their moment in the spotlight,” says Bernstein.  “This is the opportunity for them to play for their families, communities and cities.  They are playing for the love of the game rather than personal glory and will come from every walk of life.  All that matters is that they got game!”

Onto the The Pearl’s wise words:

On Why He’s Involved In The People’s Games:

This thing is completely funded and conceptuatlized by [Bernstein and Jastrow].  This is something that they wanted to keep as pure as possible and make sure they weren’t going to be influenced by sponsors. It’s being done this way so we can go back to the time when we played for the love of the game and the thrill of victory. It’s all about bragging rights. [New York] is just more hardcore and that’s going to be our biggest advantage. I think we’ve got a lot of talent in New York. I think that we play a different type of brand of basketball than they do on the west coast; we’re a little more physical and it’s a little more demanding on our guys and I think we’ll come out victorious. The great things about the People’s Games is it gives people from all walks of life the forum to compete.

On What The Knicks Need:

Well the most glaring thing I feel they need is a defensive presence underneath. And a lot more rebounding.  If they were to get that with the role players who are starting to establish themselves, they’ll be in good position to start contending.  You can’t go somewhere and get out rebounded every night and rely on your offense. You’ve also got to be able to stop people.

On Whether Any Current Player Reminds Him Of A Young Pearl:

(Laughing) Not one iota. When I look out and I see guys, I see all the stuff that I used to do just done in a different way. My game is kind of unique. Nobody was playing that way so the things that I did were never seen before. So now those things are done everyday, but they’re just not done everyday with style and grace.

On His Championship Knick Team Matching Up With The Squads Of Today:

The Knick team that won the championship could be very competitive with any team today mainly because we played defense, we had great outside shooters. We were very competitive in that way and I think the most intangible part of it all was we were a thinking group.  Everybody was a veteran and they understood the game.  With all the young guys who have come into the league, that’s the most glaring thing that’s missing; players who come into the league and don’t know how to play.

On The Current “Super Team” Trend:

I think for whichever city that those guys are playing in, I think that’s a good thing. Everything comes in phases. Pretty soon everything will spread itself out.  At one time everyone wanted to come to New York, then ESPN came and guys realized it wasn’t important to go to New York in order for people to know who you are. I don’t think it’s something that will continue because if you have five teams with all the players then you aren’t going to have a league.

On The Knicks Championship Chances This Year:

The Knicks have no chance at winning a championship right now.  Like I said, you need an inside presence, rebounding of the ball, and good interior defense. That’s what’s going to propel the team.

On Who The League’s Best Player And Team Are:

Prior to the All-Star game, I would say Kobe Bryant because he’s won all the championships and what not, but when you look out, LeBron James is probably the biggest force in the game as we speak.  As far as the team, right now I’d still have to go with…I don’t know how Boston will react to losing Kendrick. But Boston and Miami.

Imagine if these guys all were young at the same time and played together. Wait, but since Willis Reed and Patrick Ewing both played center, you can only pick one of 'em. Ay, there's the rub. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Right now ESPN.com has a great little thing where for each team in the league you can vote on who their greatest player was for each position.  For the Knicks, do you go Patrick Ewing or Willis Reed at center?  You gotta go Walt Frazier at point, and sorry, Bill Bradley, but Bernard King was unstoppable at small forward.  Shooting guard I’m inclined to go with Earl The Pearl, but I’ve never seen Richie Guerin play, so maybe he has a case?  And if the team is playing with today’s three point line and we’re thinking who’d mesh best together, maybe instead the two should be Allan Houston to stretch out the other team’s defense and keep ‘em honest.  At power forward, for some reason they list David Lee, even though he pretty much just played center.  I’m not picking him, of course, just pointing out that it’s odd that he’s in this category.  Probably you should go with Dave DeDebusschere, although I grew up worshiping at the altar of Charles Oakley, and particularly if you chose Ewing over Reed, then you need an enforcer.

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After scouring the internet, I was amazed at the dearth of material on Dick McGuire.  Here was one of the greats, and the only footage I could find of him playing bball was on MSG’s memorial for him.  In an age where every moment is recorded of people who are famous simply for being famous (like Paris Hilton or Jon&Kate), it’s sad that the exploits of a true pioneer will likely fade away into nothingness eventually.  How many websites do we need devoted to David Hasselhoff?  It’s up to us to keep our history alive.  How many great films, great books, great songs have been lost?  Someone recently said to me that the reason most books from before 1900 haven’t stood the test of time is because they weren’t that great.  I have a hard time believing that.  Yes, they may not have been Shakespeare, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have books that if they came out today would be considered one of the top 50 books of the year.  It’s also not just about whether things from the past are as “good” as things in the present, it’s about understanding how things have evolved.

For instance, one silent film which was considered a shocker at the time it came out was the original “The Great Train Robbery.”  If you watch it today, well, probably the recent “Taking Of Pelham One Two Three” is more suspenseful to our modern sensibilities.  However, the key to appreciating “The Great Train Robbery” is understanding why it was a shocker.  It wasn’t about the plot.  It was about a shot that they showed at the very beginning, and then the exact same shot shown at the very end.  It’s completely unremarkable to you and me.  It’s just a guy looking at us (ie.the camera) and shooting his gun.  The thing is that up until that point, they’d never had a person look right at the camera before, so when he shot that gun, the audience was literally instinctively afraid that he was shooting at them.  They ducked to the side.  In a sense, it was to them what the first 3-D films were to our times.  That’s incredible.

Similarly, while doing a bit of research on McGuire, naturally a lot of things came up about his contemporary dribbling maestro, Bob Cousy.  There’s an anecdote on him that reminds me of Michael Jordan’s famous improvised shot against the Lakers.  The one where he went up in the air for a right-handed lay-in, then seeing Sam Perkins preparing to block it, mid-air MJ switched the ball to his left hand and flipped it in.  Here’s the description of Cousy in a 1949 college game from an old Sports Illustrated article:

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