The last time, the Knicks had to share the city with a co-star. The Mets were playing the Reds in Game 4 of the NLCS, and Pete Rose was public enemy No. 1. And so it was that Shea Stadium was packed to the gills that afternoon of Oct. 9, 1973, to bear witness to Rose hitting a game-winning home run in the top of the 12th inning, touring the bases amid a hail of boos and bile a day after rolling around the infield dirt with Bud Harrelson and inviting a hail of whiskey bottles for his trouble.
So it was that only 18,444 people — about a thousand shy of capacity — made their way to Madison Square Garden for the Knicks’ season lid-lifter against the Pistons. The banner commemorating the 1973 title was already in place by the time those patrons arrived — the annual practice of formally raising one on Opening Night wouldn’t become an NBA thing until the ’80s — but they did dim the lights.
They did wheel out the large and clunky Walter Brown Trophy — forerunner to the Lawrence O’Brien Trophy — to a standing O, and they did fasten one Garden spotlight on it.
They did hand out championship rings to everyone, and all the familiar names — Clyde, the Captain, Pearl, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Dick Barnett — took a turn accepting them, before turning their attention to the Pistons and their 6-foot-11 star, Bob Lanier, who feasted on the Knicks for 29 points and 12 rebounds but couldn’t quite spoil the festivities, the Knicks hanging on for a 101-100 win.