[DimeMag] John Starks - What Really Happened In The 1994 NBA Finals

John Starks is actually the very definition of a "clutch" player. That is, he seems to be non-existent for the most part but seems to pick his game when you notice it the most. Whereas superstars simply play well all game. His overall performance in the finals was okay but hardly mind-boggling. His shooting percentage is defendable though, as he was pitted against Vernon Maxwell wheres Harper drew Kenny Smith. Plus Starks was the Knicks "bailout shooter" since that team was damn ugly built purely for defense.

But make no mistake. Ewing was by far the best player on that team and would've deserved the MVP easily for his contributions on both sides of the court had the Knicks won. Good thing for the Rockets he's a choker.

 

If game 7 never happens as the article was discussing:

42 FG% 41 3P% 19.3ppg 6.5apg.

I think he would have been deserving of the MVP since game 1 would have essentially been dismissed because of his play in 2-6, but Ewing would have won it, even though Starks and Harper were more valuable.

 

I remember arguing this back at teh time when the idiots at the NY Post etc labeled Starks an epic choker; he was superhuman in the previous game and very nearly stole a title for the Knicks singlehandedly - as would be expected, he fell back to earth. This isn't a choke so much as a reversion to the mean.

 

Starks' streakiness was his defining feature as a player. Game 7 wasn't an aberration in his career, he went hot and cold all the time. Maxwell was the same way. That he went cold in Game 7 and lost the championship game was just Starks returning to the mean. There's no reason why we should discount his bad Game 7 any more than we should discount his strong 4th quarters in the previous games. Just like Maxwell was liable to quit on you when you trade for a better shooting guard or Jordan was liable to quit on you to go play baseball, the chance that Starks will go ice-cold but keep shooting anyway is a factor in his worth as a basketball player.

 

I like how the article assumes that Stark's shot was definitely going in

 

I thought it was going in too. He was on fire plus he had a lot of MadMax to his game.

 

From what I remembered, he had a good series, NOT outstanding one. Starks could really light a team up, yet could go cold stretches of a series, he faded at times against the Bulls and Pacers. Much to streaky to be a consistent all-star player, while he only managed to score 20 points in back to back playoff games once (and that was in the 94 Finals). Personally, I thought he was overrated at the time.

He wasn't nearly as good as the guys he eventually got replaced by Allan Houston and later Latrell Sprewell. Both players were truly on par or in the same league with Miller at the time. Around the time Larry Johnson came in and about two seasons later Marcus Camby. Over on ESPN, I heard a fan who is actually an older fan say that Starks was better than both Sprewell and Houston. I was shaking my head a couple of hours that day.

The earlier Knicks teams (91-95) were lacking players like that, players who could be another go-to scorer outside of Ewing or players who were pretty versatile. The Knicks briefly had Charles Smith, but he couldn't be that kind of scorer.

If the Knicks had Sprewell earlier in his career, and traded (somehow or way) for LJ (replacing Mason). I think they might've beaten a MJ-lead team.

The Riley-Knick teams' shortcomings were being too defensive heavy, and not having enough great offensive players. Not saying the Van Gundy teams weren't, BUT they had more options on offense, outside Patrick Ewing. They could go to Sprewell, Houston, or LJ. Both offenses could be dreadful to watch, though.

 

Starks was on fire. I don't have much doubt the ball was going in. Hakeem's block saved the series. A true heart-stopping moment.

 

I couldn't find this vid for the other thread, but this was the highest moment in NBA history for me. When Max's shot went in, we knew the Rockets were going to win the championship. Mario's "Kiss of Death" was totally awesome, but it does not match this snapshot in Rockets history IMO.

 

Repost using Firefox. For some reason I can't embed videos using Chrome.

Is there a video of this with Gene Peterson's call?

 

I still contend to this day that no other center in the history of the game could make that play.

Hakeem came out to cover the pick and roll, went one way and then had to change direction to go the other way and stretch to get that block on the perimeter.

 

I've always thought that at Hakeem's peak, and by peak I mean his 2nd peak just before and during the championship era, he was perhaps the biggest gamechanger in NBA's history. His ability to dominate BOTH ends of the court is something I can't think of any other player doing in NBA's entire history.

In terms of his entire career, I find Hakeem's peak to be way too short lived compared to the very best in NBA history. But if we only compare peak-level play, I'd take Hakeem's peak over possibly anyone else.

 

I'm in that picture.

 

I love that play. Hakeem was unreal.

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CzUv5_YFhPI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

This: Unfortunately by a bad twist of fate for the Knicks, Hakeem Olajuwon, the League and Finals MVP, the greatest player on the planet (and in those years even when MJ played!) got a finger (a finger!) on John’s three-point attempt, and the ball sailed out of bounds and the game ended with the Knicks losing 86-84.

 

That shot was definitely going in, i remember screaming NOOO!!@!!!! and then my heart stopping and then dream blocking it, i had to reboot after that game lol

 

I disagree.

He was terrorizing the league from the mid-80's.

E.g. the Twin Towers, recall that ex-Rockets player saying on the record, "We want the big guys to play volleyball with your shots,"recall the commentary saying, "...he had a better chance of scoring even when double or tripled team...."

The one thing he cannot control is the supporting cast. The 86 team was loaded but stuff happened.

Insert Hakeem and take out Jordan from the early 90's Chicago teams, how many rings Hakeem would have collected?

I like your term, "game changer," because he does it all, both ends, consistently and unmatched ferocity.

 

Such great memories.

Not like I really care about what could have beens, but IF the Knicks had magically won that series, the MVP would have been Ewing with consideration to Oakley, no Starks or Harper mention. That series was DOMINATED by defense. Who cares about streaky scorers? It was a dirty, brutal, physical series and it was all about the big men battling down low. Any talk of Starks/Harper is ignoring the obvious: defense, defense, defense.

 

I remember after the game, people honking horns all around the neighborhood.

That shot, then Kenny and the whole team celebrating around him. That image is embedded in our brains, you can go total recall and that memory would never disappear. It's in our hearts, it makes us Clutch City.

 

Old School Mondays next week will have Dream's 49pt 25 rebound game against the sonics.