spree8 wrote:[
I think you missed my point. Yes it was game 6, and it was an elimination game. Had Olajuwon not blocked that shot from Starks for the game winning 3, the Rockets would’ve lost and the Knicks would’ve won the championship that game…
Yes, they would have. But he didn't.
if Starks made the shot of course. The Knicks came that close to winning a title with Starks as #2… so the point is, the team could win a title with him as a #2
I mean, it's technically possible. It's still a stupid idea, and I feel bad for Ewing that Starks was his running mate. You're talking about a guy who wasn't even league-average efficiency and didn't have reliable 3pt range (which, despite era, is relevant given his volume) chucking away as his main offensive support. And Ewing was 31 that year, not exactly a sports spring chicken. Then it was Charles Oakley, who should be rolled up in a carpet and tossed off a bridge rather than given more shooting volume, Derek Harper (who was old and garbage at scoring), Charles Smith and a young Anthony Mason. Ewing was not working with a lot, and the Houston roleplayers were generally much better in 94 and 95.
But like, how'd that work out for the Knicks? Maybe if Jordan hadn't been around, they would have had another chance with that group, but that didn't unfold. And the one time it did in Jordan's absence, Starks got blocked at the end of Game 6 and authored an epic failure in Game 7, which really undercuts support for the idea that chances were good that they could remain competitive with him doing that. Remember, he produced profoundly bad shooting in 3 of those games. He's a big part of why they didn't start the series 2-0 because he opened the series with a stinker, and then he did it again in game 3. There's a very real chance they could have diced up the Rockets in 4 or 5 games if he'd been an actually reliable offensive weapon.
But he wasn't.