Season Opener – November 2nd, 1999.

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Tonight, the New York Knicks were scheduled to open their 2011-2012 NBA season at Madison Square Garden against Lebron James and the Miami Heat. However, with no Collective Bargaining Agreement in place, today’s game, along with every game up until December 1st, has been canceled.

Instead of preparing for the first full season with Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire on the Knicks, we are left to imagine what could have been. Many, including myself, have anticipated this season to be one of the Knicks’ more successful years in more than a decade.

Since, once we finally have a respectable team, we miss at least one month of this season, I thought I would look back at the season of 1999-2000; one of the Knicks’ more successful squads in the past 15 years. I’m going to start this series and see where it goes. Please send me your thoughts on this series and let me know if you think it should be scrapped or continued.

 

NOVEMBER 2nd, 1999.
Cleveland Cavaliers @ New York Knicks.
Final Score: 92-84.
Record 1-0; 1st place in the Atlantic Division.

 

Knicks’ high scorer: Larry Johnson – 24; high assists: Allan Houston – 5; high rebounder: Marcus Camby – 17.
Cavaliers’ high scorer: Shawn Kemp – 17; high assists: Bob Sura – 8; high rebounder: Andrew DeClercq – 7.

 

Marcus Camby contributed to the Knicks’ victory with a fantastic performance. In 32 minutes of play, Camby had 14 points, 17 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 steals. It was very encouraging to see Camby fill in beautifully for Patrick Ewing, who is still recovering from his torn achilles. Since Van Gundy has said “the Knicks have never been better than a .500 team in Ewing’s absence”, he, especially, must be satisfied with Camby’s performance. Now, let’s hope he can keep it up!