Retro POY '69-70 (Voting Complete)

[Doctor MJ]

In this thread we'll discuss and vote on the top 5 best player seasons of '69-70.

Trying something new now. Schedule will be Mon-Fri, and Thu-Mon. Typically this will be morning to morning.

Some things to start us off:

NBA
Season Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _1970.html
Playoff Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... _1970.html
Award Voting http://www.basketball-reference.com/awa ... _1970.html
Final Box Score http://webuns.chez-alice.fr/finals/1970.htm

ABA
Season Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... _1970.html
Playoff Summary http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... _1970.html

Topics
Knicks one of the greatest teams ever
Knicks-Lakers finals legendary
Enter Alcindor

[JordansBulls]

1. Willis Reed - MVP and Finals MVP, 3rd in Win Shares and 3rd in Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, 4th in Playoff Win Shares and 4th in Playoffs Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense

2. Jerry West - Led the League in Win Shares and was 2nd in Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, 1st in PER on the season, 2nd in Playoff PER and 1st in playoff Win Shares. 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense

3. Walt Frazier - Was 2nd in Win Shares on the season and led in WS PEr 48 Minutes on the season, Was 5th in PER on the season, 2nd in Playoff Win Shares, 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense

4. Kareem/Lew Alcindor - 4th in Win Shares on the season and 4th in Win Shares PER 48 Minutes on the season, 2nd in PER, 3rd in playoff Win Shares and 1st in WS PER 48 Minutes in the playoffs. 2nd Team All NBA and 2nd Team Defense

5. Earl Monroe/Connie Hawkins - Took the Knicks the full 7 games in the 1st series they played and Connie took the Lakers 7 in the 1st series they played.

[Optimism Prime]

1. Willis Reed - MVP and Finals MVP, 3rd in Win Shares and 3rd in Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, 4th in Playoff Win Shares and 4th in Playoffs Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense

2. Jerry West - Led the League in Win Shares and was 2nd in Win Shares PER 48 Minutes, 1st in PER on the season, 2nd in Playoff PER and 1st in playoff Win Shares. 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense

3. Walt Frazier - Was 2nd in Win Shares on the season and led in WS PEr 48 Minutes on the season, Was 5th in PER on the season, 2nd in Playoff Win Shares, 1st Team All NBA and 1st Team Defense

4. Kareem/Lew Alcindor - 4th in Win Shares on the season and 4th in Win Shares PER 48 Minutes on the season, 2nd in PER, 3rd in playoff Win Shares and 1st in WS PER 48 Minutes in the playoffs. 2nd Team All NBA and 2nd Team Defense

5. Earl Monroe/Connie Hawkins - Took the Knicks the full 7 games in the 1st series they played and Connie took the Lakers 7 in the 1st series they played.

You'll vote for both Kareem and Lew Alcindor, but you won't vote for Roger Murdock? Shame on you.

[ronnymac2]

Damn. Wilt was a monster in the playoffs. He missed 70 games in the REG SEA though. I don't know. 70 games is a bit much, even for me. I don't think he can make a list. haha

We are almost in the Russell era now. One more year.

Elgin Baylor can start getting consideration. He didn't have the best playoffs this year, and he mised almost 30 games in the REG SEA (many people find this important), but he put up 24/10/5 on very good efficiency for himself.

West, Frazier, Reed, Cunningham, Hondo , Oscar, and Jabbar are the candidates I see. Connie Hawkins may be a sleeper, too. That dude was mega-talented.

Thurmond put up monster numbers, but doesn't have many tiebreakers and missed half the season. Unseld, Hayes, and Bing are in play, but didn't do anything noteworthy.

ABA- LOOK AT WHAT RICK BARRY DID!!!! Dropped 40 per game in his playoff series. I know it's ABA, but you know what he actually did in the NBA before and after that, too.

Spencer Haywood was a monster this year, too. I want more info. about him.

[Dr Positivity]

Really surprised they didn't give Jerry West MVP this year as a career recognition vote like Kobe in 08, but maybe they didn't think that way back then. Still though, you give it to Reed on a clear ensemble team over a due West putting up 31/7/5?

Still think Kareem might be the league's best player, and in this case rookie nerves doesn't bother me as much with his college domination. Kareem and West are my top 2 in some order

[Doctor MJ]

Really surprised they didn't give Jerry West MVP this year as a career recognition vote like Kobe in 08, but maybe they didn't think that way back then. Still though, you give it to Reed on a clear ensemble team over a due West putting up 31/7/5?

Still think Kareem might be the league's best player, and in this case rookie nerves doesn't bother me as much with his college domination. Kareem and West are my top 2 in some order

Well, that Knick team was really, really good. People were blown away by how they played, and thought they might be the best team ever. Granted they only won 60 games, but that was because they coasted down the stretch.

[Doctor MJ]

Damn. Wilt was a monster in the playoffs. He missed 70 games in the REG SEA though. I don't know. 70 games is a bit much, even for me. I don't think he can make a list. haha

Well, if Wilt had totally dominated everybody on the way to winning the championship, I'd consider him. However, Wilt's inability to consistently dominate the Knicks even when Reed was injured or absent, makes it hard for me to look at him as a god playing way beyond the other players in the league.

[semi-sentient]

Regular Season

Code: Select all

Player          GP  MIN   PTS   TS%   REB   AST   PER   WS
============================================================
Kareem          82  43.1  28.8  .552  14.5  4.1   22.5  13.8
West            74  42.0  31.2  .572   4.6  7.5   24.6  15.2
Reed            81  38.1  21.7  .552  13.9  2.0   20.3  14.6
Frazier         77  39.5  20.9  .575   6.0  8.2   21.1  15.0
Cunningham      81  39.4  26.1  .524  13.6  4.3   21.0  10.3
Hayes           82  44.7  27.5  .492  16.9  2.0   18.3   8.5
Robertson       69  41.5  25.3  .577   6.1  8.1   21.5  11.4

Post Season

Code: Select all

Player          GP  MIN   PTS   TS%   REB   AST   PER   WS
============================================================
Kareem          10  43.5  35.2  .608  16.8  4.1   29.4  2.6
West            18  46.1  31.2  .550   3.7  8.4   21.1  3.2
Reed            18  40.7  23.7  .507  13.8  2.8   20.1  2.6
Frazier         19  43.9  16.0  .531   7.8  8.2   16.5  2.8
Cunningham       5  41.0  29.2  .526  10.4  4.0   20.9  0.4
Hayes           -------------------------------------------
Robertson       -------------------------------------------

Awards Recognition / Misc

Code: Select all

Player          MVP     All-NBA   All-Defense    Team Record
============================================================
Kareem          3rd     2nd       2nd            56-26
West            2nd     1st       1st            46-36
Reed            1st     1st       1st            60-22
Frazier         4th     1st       1st            60-22
Cunningham      5th     1st       ---            42-40
Hayes           ---     ---       ---            40-42
Robertson       ---     2nd       ---            36-46

This year is tougher than I thought as I figured West was a lock at #1. West and Kareem will likely be my top 2 choices, but I'm currently leaning towards Kareem. West had the better regular season, but he did miss 8 games. That's a small thing to look at, but when the next best guy plays a full season and has comparable production I think it narrows the gap slightly. Kareem straight up dominated in the playoffs, and despite not having as much team success, he's got to be a legit candidate this year for the top spot. Dude led the playoffs in PPG, FG%, PER, TS%, eFG%, and was 3rd in WS, 1st in WS/48, 2nd in OWS, and 4th in rebounding. As a rookie. He played the same amount of minutes but scored almost 7 PPG more on way better efficiency, and had an additional 2.3 rebounds. That's what you call elevating your game. His teammates were largely disappointing in comparison, particularly Flynn Robinson who straight up sucked.

Of course it's still very much open to debate (for me) until I can read a bit more about Kareem and West, but he's strong candidate due to having a good amount of team success to go along with dominant numbers. That, and West had A LOT more help.

Wilt is out of the running for missing most of the season. I initially looked at his numbers and was like WOW, he's going to be up there, but then I saw he only played 12 games and was like, meh. He still put up fantastic numbers in the PS, but it's not enough to get him in the top 5.

Reed and Frazier are looking to battle it out for the #3 and #4 spots. So far I'm looking at Reed ahead of Frazier overall, but I may change my opinion depending on how I weigh the Finals. He definitely stepped it up a notch and by putting in 17.6 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 10.4 APG to led the Knicks to a championship while Reed was battling an injury in the final 3 games. I'm giving Reed's Finals MVP next to no consideration because like most others I feel it was completely undeserved.

The #5 spot is kind of hazy at the moment and I'll be looking forward to hearing about other candidates. As of now, I'm looking at Cunningham, Hayes, and Robertson. Hayes and Robertson both missed the post-season and didn't enjoy much team success, so it's going to be difficult to make a case for them, so I'm leaning towards Cunningham at the moment.

So...

Final Rankings:

1) Jerry West
2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3) Willis Reed
4) Walt Frazier
5) Billy Cunningham

HM: Robertson, Hayes

[ItsMillerTime]

Early rankings

1. West
2. Frazier
3. Kareem
4. Reed
5. Cunningham

HM: Havlichek, Hawkins, Wilt, Roberston

[fatal9]

Reed vs. Kareem matchup in the ECF:

Game 1:
Kareem - 35/15/5 (14/24 FG)
Reed - 24/12/4 (10/19 FG)

Game 2:
Kareem - 38/23/11 (16/25 FG)
Reed - 36/19/2 (14/23 FG)

Game 3:
Kareem - 33/31/5 (14/28 FG)
Reed - 21/10/2 (10/20 FG)

Game 4:
Kareem - 38/9/1 (14/26 FG)
Reed - 26/10/3 (13/29 FG)

Game 5:
Kareem - 27/11/2 (11/22 FG), played only 32 mints as it was a blowout after the first quarter (he had 16 pts in that quarter too)
Reed - 32/10/4 (14/22 FG)


Kareem's game logs vs. Sixers:

Game 1: 36 pts, 20 rebs
Game 2: 33 pts, 10 rebs
Game 3: 33 pts, 17 rebs (13/16 FG)
Game 4: 33 pts, 7 rebs
Game 5: 46 pts, 25 rebounds (18/36 FG) 18 in fourth quarter.

Series average: 36.2 ppg, 15.8 rpg, 3.4 apg 58.3 FG%

Does anyone have the Laker records without West? Without Hairston?

Lakers were 7-5 with Wilt, 39-31 w/o him. Lakers were 18-10 without Baylor (Wilt missed almost all these games as well). Don't know record without West though.

[Dr Positivity]

Really surprised they didn't give Jerry West MVP this year as a career recognition vote like Kobe in 08, but maybe they didn't think that way back then. Still though, you give it to Reed on a clear ensemble team over a due West putting up 31/7/5?

Still think Kareem might be the league's best player, and in this case rookie nerves doesn't bother me as much with his college domination. Kareem and West are my top 2 in some order

Well, that Knick team was really, really good. People were blown away by how they played, and thought they might be the best team ever. Granted they only won 60 games, but that was because they coasted down the stretch.

I didn't realize they started 23-1. Is that the best start to a season ever? Their 18 game winning streak was also set the record at the time (just looked it up). Reed's MVP makes a bit more sense then, clearly the spotlight was on the Knicks this year after starting the season in unprecedented fashion

[penbeast0]

One thing about Spencer Haywood who had a purely incredible season in the ABA (though the ABA was appreciably weaker than it was even in 1971 when it first really become somewhat competitive with the NBA) . . .

He received more All-NBA awards in the NBA over the next few years than any other PF except Elvin Hayes -- he was a legit supertalent and should be considered this year. (That and, as the first undergraduate signing, he has historic value for those that consider such things -- I don't but someone might.)

[fatal9]

Frazier also put one of the greatest game 7 performances in history - and it came in the finals. 36 pts, 7 rebs, 19 assists and 5 steals. It's tough to pick between him and Reed. Frazier was definitely the finals MVP but Reed was better up to the point of his injury.

[penbeast0]

The ABA has 3 candidates this year. Spencer Haywood was the league choice leading the league in both ppg (30.0) and rpg (19.5), as well as finishing first in Defensive Win Shares and leading Denver to the league's second best record. Mel Daniels is the traditional best player on the best team and still probably the best rebounder in the league (21.3 reb rate though Haywood had more per game by playing more minutes). Rick Barry also scored well and raised his game in the playoffs but this was also the year that he deliberately alienated the Virginia fans to force a trade after the team announced a move so screw him too. In any case, Haywood was clearly the best player in the ABA this year (and a regular on the All-NBA team for the next new years despite moving to a bad Seattle franchise).

New York had the big win streak and the championship although they slid a bit in the second half. Reed and Frazier are both excellent candidates; Frazier's statistics, playoffs, and defensive rep are all better, Reed ranked ahead of him on intangibles ("the Captain"). I would give it to Frazier first despite my tendency to favor big men.

The Lakers won 46 games despite losing Wilt for almost the whole RS and Elgin Baylor for another 24 games on top of that. With them, they went to the finals. Jerry West (31/5/8) has to be a serious MVP candidate.

Lew Alcindor/Kareem (29/14/4) led Milwaukee to the second best record in the league as the most highly touted rookie of all time (yes, more than Wilt, Walton, or LeBron). The biggest question mark is his ranking behind Willis Reed on both the All-NBA team and MVP voting in the regular season compounded by Reed's team winning the title with a 4-1 near sweep of Milwaukee.

The other top teams in the league are Baltimore and Atlanta. Baltimore was led by Wes Unseld despite his being last among all the starters in scoring at "only" 16.7ppg. Atlanta had the dynamic duo of Lou Hudson (25/5/4) and Joe Caldwell (21/5/4/2nd team All-Def).

Other players with big seasons include Billy Cunningham in Philly, Elvin Hayes in San Diego, and Oscar Robertson in Cinncinnati.

1. Jerry West -- great numbers, singlehandedly kept team afloat through the RS then still great numbers in playoff run losing 3-4 in finals despite sharing ball with Wilt and Elgin.
2. Alcindor/Kareem -- the normal prejudice against rookies shouldn't apply to someone who turned a mediocre to bad team into the 2nd best in the league.
3. Frazier -- NY's greatest season
4. Reed -- going against contemporary observors
5. Cunningham -- among the other candidates, he is the only one who posted top stats for a .500+ team

HM -- Spencer Haywood, great numbers but a me first attitude; Wes Unseld, great attitude and team play but not great numbers and surrounded by talent; Lou Hudson, more great numbers and team play.

[Mean_Streets]

Okay. I've always had Reed as my #1 player for 1970, but after looking deeper I started to have second thoughts. Reed shouldn't have been MVP in 1970 or Finals MVP & Kareem & West were clearly better players. As of right now...

1. Jerry West - Amazing season for West. 31/5/8 & continued his dominance in the postseason. All-NBA First Team. All-NBA Defensive First Team. Led the Lakers to postseason despite Wilt being injured. Should of been the league MVP.

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 35/17/4 57% shooting in the postseason. Although he lost to the Knicks in the ECF he outplayed Reed.

3. Willis Reed - Shouldn't have been MVP, but still top tier player. NBA Champion

4. Walt Frazier - All-NBA First Team. My Finals MVP. Had one of the best game seven's in Finals history.

5. Billy Cunningham - All-NBA First Team. Averaged 26/14/4

I'm really open to switching West to #1 & Kareem to #2.

Edit: Moved West to #1.

[Doctor MJ]

This year is tougher than I thought as I figured West was a lock at #1. West and Kareem will likely be my top 2 choices, but I'm currently leaning towards Kareem. West had the better regular season, but he did miss 8 games. That's a small thing to look at, but when the next best guy plays a full season and has comparable production I think it narrows the gap slightly. Kareem straight up dominated in the playoffs, and despite not having as much team success, he's got to be a legit candidate this year for the top spot. Dude led the playoffs in PPG, FG%, PER, TS%, eFG%, and was 3rd in WS, 1st in WS/48, 2nd in OWS, and 4th in rebounding. As a rookie. He played the same amount of minutes but scored almost 7 PPG more on way better efficiency, and had an additional 2.3 rebounds. That's what you call elevating your game. His teammates were largely disappointing in comparison, particularly Flynn Robinson who straight up sucked.

When you look at Kareem's stats, it's easy to think "Aha! He started out a little slow by his standards, but by the end of the year he was prime Kareem and better than everyone else"

Any time I see a guy rocking huge numbers without really accomplishing anything in the post-season though, I'm real reluctant to give him too much of a boost with a major part of the reason being that it may have simply been opponent's strategy to let him get his. As legendary as the Knick team was, they played 3 series this post-season, and the only one of those 3 where they had no real worry about getting beat was Kareem's Bucks who they beat in 5 games - a more lopsided result than in their regular season match up. By contrast, the supposedly inferior Bullets took the Knicks to 7 games in the previous round.

Kareem's still good enough he's a contender for the #1 spot, but I very much don't see this as a "Who's peak is better?" debate at all. If I was really convinced that either Reed or Frazier was a clear #1 on the Knicks, I'd probably have them ahead of Kareem. West will be tough for him to beat for me.

[ThaRegul8r]

2. Alcindor/Kareem -- the normal prejudice against rookies shouldn't apply to someone who turned a mediocre to bad team into the 2nd best in the league.

What I don't get is that the previous season Wes Unseld was Rookie of the Year and MVP, averaging 13.8 points, 18.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 36.2 minutes per game in turning the Bullets around from a 36-26 record—fourth-worst in the league—to an NBA best 57-25, a 21-game turnaround. Alcindor posted better statistics and led the Bucks to a bigger turnaround—29 games. So if there was no prejudice against Unseld as a rookie who turned a mediocre team around, why should there be with Alcindor? Is it because Unseld wasn't a "big" man?

[ThaRegul8r]

As legendary as the Knick team was, they played 3 series this post-season, and the only one of those 3 where they had no real worry about getting beat was Kareem's Bucks who they beat in 5 games - a more lopsided result than in their regular season match up. By contrast, the supposedly inferior Bullets took the Knicks to 7 games in the previous round.

That because Willis Reed was utterly destroyed by Wes Unseld in Game 3 of the EDF Semifinals, and outplayed in Game 4 and Game 6, all losses. Here's my research I was doing on the series:

1969-70 Eastern Division Semfinals

Game 1: New York 120, Baltimore 117, 2OT. Frazier “made two key steals from Earl (“The Pearl”) Monroe in the overtime sessions to key victory” (The Southeast Missourian, Mar. 27, 1970). Reed scored 30, Frazier had 16 points.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nG ... 65,2884470
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mv ... 21,3950603

Game 2: New York 106, Baltimore 99 win. After Frazier injured his rib cage, Mike Riordan "on reserve National Guard duty earlier this week to assist in the postal strike, came through with an 11-point fourth period last night and held Earl Monroe to one point during that stretch as the New York Knicks defeated the host Baltimore Bullets, 106-99 to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Division playoff series” (The Pittsburgh Press, Mar. 28, 1970). Reed scored 15 of his team-high 27 in the first half, and grabbed 17 rebounds. Frazier had 19 points and six assists. Jack Marin had 22, Gus Johnson had 20 points, and Wes Unseld had 21 rebounds and five assists (Herald-Journal, Mar. 28, 1970).
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R1 ... 04,4070113

Game 3: Baltimore 127, New York 113. Wes Unseld scored 23 points and grabbed 34 rebounds in a 127-113 victory over New York, completely outplaying Willis Reed, who had 12 points and five rebounds, and outrebounding the entire Knicks team 34-30. Unseld led the Bullets to their first playoff victory since 1965.

Game 4: Baltimore 102, New York 92. “Earl Monroe, who tallied 39 points in the series opener, had another fine shooting performance with a 34-point effort despite the close guarding of, first, Walt Frazier and then Mike Riordan” (The Bulletin, Apr. 1, 1970). “Monroe is as good an offensive player as there is in the game,” said Bullets’ coach Gene Shue. “No one can stop him. He can be controlled some but he cannot be stopped” (Ocala Star-Banner, Apr. 1, 1970). Unseld had 24 rebounds.

Meanwhile, this year’s MVP the Knicks’ Willis Reed, has been sub-par in his last two battles with Unseld, and on Wednesday received a cortisone shot for his ailing left knee. Front-line sub Cazzie Russell of the Knicks also got a cortisone shot Wednesday.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Bc ... 15,1383775

Game 5: New York 101, Baltimore 80. Willis Reed had 36 points and a club playoff record 36 rebounds to lead New York to a 101-80 win to take a 3-2 lead. Frazier had 16.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=At ... 350,453822

Game 6: Baltimore 96, New York 87. Baltimore ties series at 3-3. Gus Johnson had 31 points (12-23 FG)—21 points in 21 minutes during one stretch—and 14 rebounds, and Monroe 29. The Knicks had five scorers in double figures, led by Frazier “the only New York starter who was not apparently off his game” (Daytona Beach Mourning Journal, Apr. 6, 1970), with 18. DeBusschere held Johnson to 3-for-12 shooting in the first half, but got into foul trouble, only playing 24 minutes, “with the result that Johnson had considerably more latitude in the second half” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 5, 1970). “Willis Reed, who was named the NBA’s most valuable player and had 36 points and 36 rebounds in the fifth game, was held to 10 points here and was outrebounded by Wes Unseld, 24-16” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 5, 1970).
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=L1 ... 26,3595988

Game 7: New York 127, Baltimore 114. Dave DeBusschere and Barnett had 28 points apiece, Cazzie Russell had 18, Frazier had 15, and Reed had 14 points and 14 rebounds. Earl Monroe led Baltimore with a game-high 32 points, and averaged 28 points a game for the seven-game series (The Pittsburg Press, Apr. 6, 1970). “Competing against that cat was like playing in a horror movie,” said Frazier. Gus Johnson scored 23, and Jack Marin scored 21. “Still, the Knicks’ victory was a workmanlike one, and was achieved despite the temporary absence of Reed, who sat out part of the third quarter with foul trouble” (The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 5, 1970). “He had warm praise for the ‘unselfishness’ of Walt Frazier for restrained individual shotmaking in favor of superior all-around play” (St. Petersburg Times, Apr. 8, 1970).
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=L1 ... 62,3925351

[Doctor MJ]

2. Alcindor/Kareem -- the normal prejudice against rookies shouldn't apply to someone who turned a mediocre to bad team into the 2nd best in the league.

What I don't get is that the previous season Wes Unseld was Rookie of the Year and MVP, averaging 13.8 points, 18.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 36.2 minutes per game in turning the Bullets around from a 36-26 record—fourth-worst in the league—to an NBA best 57-25, a 21-game turnaround. Alcindor posted better statistics and led the Bucks to a bigger turnaround—29 games. So if there was no prejudice against Unseld as a rookie who turned a mediocre team around, why should there be with Alcindor? Is it because Unseld wasn't a "big" man?

I think he's referring to a more general feeling among our group that young players' actual impact is often far less than their stats say, rather than an anti-rookie sentiment among the MVP voters.

As far as Kareem's rookie-ness playing into the MVP voting:

-Unseld had the advantage of not competing with against candidates on a significantly superior team. Reed this year would have completely killed Unseld of the previous year in voting on that alone.

-Kareem had the disadvantage of coming in a year after the rookie Unseld won the MVP for his team having the best record and then immediately getting swept. I bet there was a feeling among the voters that they were reluctant to give the aware again to a rookie after that.

-The MVP Unseld's team got swept by...MVP-runner up Reed's team. So people probably felt Reed had already been robbed of an MVP.

-Also, the other guy who beat Kareem in the voting was West, who had just completed a post-season the previous year that cemented his image as the best player on the planet, and someone really should get an MVP in his career. So yeah, Kareem was facing some brutal competition this year.

[Doctor MJ]

As legendary as the Knick team was, they played 3 series this post-season, and the only one of those 3 where they had no real worry about getting beat was Kareem's Bucks who they beat in 5 games - a more lopsided result than in their regular season match up. By contrast, the supposedly inferior Bullets took the Knicks to 7 games in the previous round.

That because Willis Reed was utterly destroyed by Wes Unseld in Game 3 of the EDF Semifinals, and outplayed in Game 4 and Game 6, all losses. Here's my research I was doing on the series:

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing Reg.