"Basketball Is Back in New York City, My Friends"

Nope, nothing has actually happened to this decade’s version of the New York Knicks. Instead, those were the words uttered by a young Pat O’Brien back on June 18, 1985. A day when the Knicks locked up the right to draft Patrick Ewing, who was today inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame. In honor of #33 heading into the Hall, we look back at one of the great executive reactions in NBA lottery history.

I still have the tape of that night’s events. See, I was a Knicks fan whose favorite college team was Georgetown. I sat with my mom, fingers crossed, hoping along with Dave DeBusschere that the Knicks would grab the #1 slot and draft the Hoyas legend and put him in blue-and-0range.

To this day, anyone who watched that event live remembers the near on-camera orgasm that DeBusschere had when David Stern revealed the Indiana Pacers who would have the #2 selection in the draft. And with one tremendous, stress-relieving release from DeBusschere, the New York Knicks franchise took a positive turn.

{Skip to 8:20 mark for the moment of climax}

Here’s what transpired in the “Ewing Years”:

And here’s what’s happened since:

Add another sub-25 win season and you’ve got yourself a heck of a decade. For Knicks fans, Ewing, 50-win seasons and playoff battles seem like eons ago. This is all that’s left in its wake. Please help us, Donnie.