The Steve Francis Effect: Five NBA All-Stars who fell off

Well to be fair, Ewing was out for the Finals (and LJ did make that big 4-point play against Indiana that year).

Plus it was the Lockout season, so I never personally paid much attention to the playoff seeding that year. To me it was obvious that, over a full season, that Knicks team was, at worst, a 5-seed in the East.

I also felt that had Ewing played the outcome would have been different. But now I'm not so certain. Take last year's Rockets as an example. If Mutombo doesn't go down, there's a chance Yao wouldn't have broken his foot against the Lakers.

However the style of play that we saw with Brooks running the show wouldn't have been as evident, and thus the Lakers could have still won (and perhaps it doesn't go 7 games).

So while I'd like to believe that if Ewing was playing, which would have (on paper) negated the Robinson/Duncan effect to an extent, the Knicks would have prevailed, it's hard to say that the style that rode them to the Finals (Houston/Sprewell) would have been evident and as successful.

 

Spree was the best ***** talker I ever had the pleasure of hearing in real life. That motha was entertaining