It’s been over 50 years since the New York Knicks last won an NBA championship, but the team is still celebrated in the Big Apple to this day.
Leading the way for the Knicks in the early 1970’s were Clyde Frazier and Willis Reed, one of the most dominant pairs in NBA history.
Bleacher Report ranked the NBA’s “best No. 2’s” in league history and placed Reed at No. 9 on the list.
“Reed played the bulk of his career with Walt “Clyde” Frazier. During the years those two were together, Frazier averaged 19.2 points and 6.5 assists to Reed’s 18.8 and 2.0, respectively. The gaps in those averages were even bigger during the playoffs,” Bleacher Report writes. “Reed is a legend. His heroic return from an injury for Game 7 of the 1970 Finals is one of the most famous moments in NBA history. But even in an era where big men dominated most games and conversations about basketball, Frazier was New York’s Batman.”
Even if Frazier was Batman and Reed was Robin, both were necessary in order for the Knicks to win both of those titles.
Reed was drafted by the Knicks with the No. 10 overall pick in the 1964 NBA Draft, and he spent his entire 10-year career with New York. He made the All-Star team in each of his first seven seasons and was also named the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1969-70, the year the Knicks won their first championship in franchise history. Throughout his career, Reed averaged 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds, which was also good enough to land him on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
After his playing career, Reed went into coaching, starting out with the Knicks in the 1977-78 season. However, he resigned 14 games into the season. He had stints in the 1980’s with Creighton University (1981-85), Atlanta Hawks (1985-87), Sacramento Kings (1987-88) and New Jersey Nets (1988-89), where he once again served as a head coach, going 33-77 across two seasons.
Reed passed away last year at the age of 80, but it’s clear that his memory and legacy continue to live on.
