Walt Frazier says surging Knicks remind him of his championship-winning teams
· Yahoo Sports
Few people have seen as much Knicks basketball as Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
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From his 10 years playing for them to his nearly four decades working at MSG Networks, Frazier remains the utmost Knicks authority.
So when Frazier likens the present-day Knicks to his championship-winning teams of the 1970s, it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“They remind me of my team,” Frazier said Tuesday on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
“My team personified ‘team.’ You couldn’t mention Frazier without [Bill] Bradley, without [Dave] DeBusschere, without [Willis] Reed, without [Dick] Barnett. And I see similarities to this team. They’re starting to do that.”
Clyde’s comparison came a day after the Knicks opened the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 137-98 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks shot 63.1% from the field — a franchise record for a playoff game — and assisted on 34 of their 53 made baskets.
It was the Knicks’ third win in a row by at least 29 points — a surge that included a 51-point demolition of the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of their first-round series. Before then, no team had ever won three consecutive playoff games by 25 points or more.
“I’m mesmerized by the way the team is playing. Actually, I’m living vicariously,” said Frazier, a Hall of Famer as a player and as a broadcaster.
“Their camaraderie. Their teamwork. They like each other. It’s manifested on the court. Thirty-[four] assists, the way they’re dishing and swishing now. The tenacious defense.”
Frazier, the primary color commentator on MSG, helped lead the Knicks to championships in 1970 and 1973. Those remain the only titles in franchise history, a drought this year’s Knicks hope to finally end.
Last year — with the same starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges — the Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
Then in January, owner James Dolan told WFAN in a rare interview, “We want to get to the Finals, and we should win the Finals.”
It’s a mission shared by head coach Mike Brown, who replaced Tom Thibodeau in the offseason.
“People have talked about an [NBA Finals] mandate — like, I’m coaching to win. It doesn’t matter what others say,” Brown said Tuesday, on the eve of Wednesday night’s Game 2 against the Sixers at the Garden.
“I’m disappointed if we’re not in the Finals and having a chance to win it.”
Consider Clyde among the believers.
“Hopefully,” Frazier said as he held up his two rings, “we’ll see another championship.”
FUN WITH FALLONFrazier wasn’t the only Knick to share a memorable moment with Fallon this week.
As the Knicks pulled away in the third quarter of Game 1, Hart bent down during a stoppage in play and, without saying a word, subtly untied the shoe of Fallon, who was seated courtside.
“It’s the best move ever,” Fallon said on Tuesday’s show. “He leaned down. I thought he was fixing stuff on his [own shoe]. He went down and untied my shoe and walked off. It made me laugh. From now on, I’m just gonna wear cowboy boots to the Knick game.”