The Rafters

Dossier · 1990s

Patrick Ewing

The most complete Knick, in the decade New York could not get out of its own way.

1985-2002 · Knicks, SuperSonics, Magic

Career line
21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks
All-Star selections
11
Career high
51 points, March 24, 1990
Titles
0
Finals
1994, lost in 7
Knicks franchise records
points, rebounds, blocks

The numbers

Ewing averaged 21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for his career. He holds the Knicks franchise records in points, rebounds and blocks, and no active player is close.

He made 11 All-Star teams and was first-team All-NBA once, which tells you what it was like to be a center in the same decade as Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal.

On March 24, 1990 he scored 51 against Boston. In 1989-90 he averaged 28.6 points and 10.9 rebounds and finished 4th in MVP voting.

He reached 1 Finals, in 1994, and lost it in 7 games. In that Game 7 the Knicks scored 84 points and John Starks shot 2 of 18.

The context

The 1985 draft lottery brought him to New York, and the city treated him as a solution to a problem the roster kept re-creating. Pat Riley arrived in 1991 and built a defense around him that made the Garden the hardest building in the league.


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The Rafters, 2026. Written by the desk, checked against the box score.

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