Ranking The Best New York Knicks Teams Of All-Time
3. 1993-94: Jordan’s Playing Baseball
- Regular season record: 57-25
- Head coach: Pat Riley
- Scoring leader: Patrick Ewing (24.5 PPG)
- Rebounding leader: Charles Oakley (11.8 RPG)
- Assists leader: John Starks (5.9 APG)
- ORtg+: 99.4, DRtg+: 92.4
Michael Jordan retired, for one season, to play baseball and the Knicks took advantage, winning the East and going to the finals for the first time since 1972-73.
For the second straight season the Knicks had the league’s best defense. Ewing and Oakley were arguably the two best defensive players in the NBA that season. Both were in the top ten in defensive win shares, DBPM, and DRtg.
https://youtu.be/EROa6Cxc3MU
Oakley had the best season of his career. He was chosen to participate in the All-Star Game for the first and only time, and he was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.
Their gritty style of play may not fly in today’s NBA, but back then it was good enough to push Hakeem Olajuwon‘s Houston Rockets to seven games in the finals.
I'm ESNY's Executive Editor for EliteSportsNY.com.
I cover the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.
Email: chip.murphy@elitesportsny.com
Chip Murphy covers the NBA for Elite Sports NY. You can find him on Twitter @ChipperMurphy.
