“MR. RANGER COMES THROUGH” and “THE CHOKER DOESN’T CHOKE”
#746/#745
746. NEW YORK RANGERS VS PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
STANLEY CUP SEMIFINALS
GAME FOUR
APRIL 28, 1974
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
QUALITY OF PLAY—7.66
DRAMA—8.04
STAR POWER—7.01
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.35
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.66
LOCAL IMPACT—7.57
TOTAL: 44.29
“MR. RANGER COMES THROUGH”
No series involving the Philadelphia Flyers of 1974, aka the “Broad Street Bullies,” could be anything but a rock ‘em, sock ‘em affair. It fell to the New York Rangers to try and match that physical style, and to the surprise of most, they did just that.
The Flyers easily won the West Division (yes, in those map-ignoring days Philly was considered ‘west’) and swept the overmatched Atlanta Flames to advance to the semis. Over in the East, for the third straight season the Rangers knocked out Montreal in the first round, a slight but notable upset.
That brought the Flyers and Rangers together for a series few thought the New Yorkers could win. The team had floundered for much of the regular season, but a coaching change triggered a hot stretch, with Emile Francis replacing Larry Popein, a sturdy former Rangers center in the late-1950s who tried to leap from uniform to blazer, with poor results. Popein lasted just half a season behind the bench, his 41 games ranking among the shortest NHL coaching careers in history.
Francis guided the Blueshirts to the postseason, but besting the team with the 1973 MVP, Bobby Clarke, and the 1974 Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s best goalie, Bernie Parent (“Pah-Rahnt,” not “Pair-ent”), not to mention a roster full of rumblers and tumblers, seemed a tall order.
But not to “Mr. Ranger” himself, Rod Gilbert.
Gilbert (like Parent a native of Montreal, and as with the goalie his surname pronounced a la Francais, “Jo-Bare” not “Gill-Bert”) had been in Ranger blue since 1960, playing right wing on the famous “GAG Line” (an acronym for “Goal-A-Game”) with Jean Ratelle and Vic Hadfield. Now in his 13th season with New York, Gilbert was hardly slowing down. He scored 36 goals in ’73-’74, the second-most of his career, taking the team by the scruff and yanking it into the playoffs.
Gilbert, like most of his teammates, was scantly in evidence in the first two games of the series with Philadelphia, both won in menacing fashion by the Flyers. But the Rangers bounced back to win a highly physical Game Three, giving the City masses hope for a tied series when the two teams reconvened at the Garden for Game Four on a balmy Sunday night, April 28, 1974.
Lathered up after the tumultuous previous game, the Rangers crowd chanted “We want Schultz!” As in Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Philly’s primary enforcer. “From the balcony hung signs demanding Philadelphia pay for its past sins as the National Hockey League's most penalized team,” wrote Gerald Eskenazi in the Times. “One mocking sign read, “Dave Shoolz fan club.” Not only was the name misspelled but also the ‘z’ was shaped like a swastika.” Another said, pithily, “Kill Clarke, Shoot Schulz.”
Ahh, old-time hockey…
Instead of taking on the capacity crowd of 17,500 fans, Schultz mainly went after Gilbert. “Whenever they were near, Schultz gratuitously rapped his elbow against Gilbert's head,” noted Eskenazi. Somehow, however, Gilbert “always managed to fend off the Hammer's heavy fists with his stick,” in the words of Mark Mulvoy in Sports Illustrated.
Meanwhile the Rangers allowed the first goal, something they had now done in seven straight games. Joe Watson ripped a short, quick slapper past Eddie Giacomin (who had been knocked silly just after the opening faceoff) for the opening tally.
But the Flyers couldn’t maintain their discipline. Instead of brawling they accrued a full dozen minor penalties, mostly for high sticking and slashing (surprisingly, none were assessed to the Hammer). Constantly down a man, the Flyers couldn’t build any momentum, and gave up the tying goal while shorthanded. It was scored by Bobby Rousseau, who took a shot that bounced high off Parent’s stick and landed behind him, just barely eking across the goal line.
Neither team threatened much for the rest of regulation, so the pivotal game went into sudden death overtime tied at one. “An overtime still creates a special sort of excitement,” wrote Eskenazi. “The puck becomes a time bomb, and whenever it is merely nudged moans and groans follow.”
The Rangers turned a moan into victory. Four minutes into the extra frame, Gilbert was summoned off the ice, but missed the fact his linemates had skated to the bench. Instead, he went in deep as the Flyers turned it over in their own end. Suddenly, there he was, “Just hanging around the net,” as he put it, standing next to Parent, when Steve Vickers whacked a pass to him. Gilbert scooped it like a man shoveling snow, and it flittered between Parent’s pads. Goal, and game.
The Garden exploded. “Streams of toilet paper, rubber balls and paper cups came flying from the stands as a tribute,” per the Daily News. The Flyers exploded too, yelling that the Rangers botched line change caused them to have too many men on ice, a penalty seemingly borne out by replays. But the goal stood, the Rangers won, 2-1, and the series, surprisingly enough, was tied at two apiece.
"It's two out of three now," Clarke said glumly.
AFTERMATH:
The teams traded wins in the next two games, setting up a memorable Game Seven in Philadelphia, won 4-3 by the Flyers thanks to a brace of goals by Gary Dornhoefer. The Flyers went on to win the Stanley Cup over Boston. It was an early example of a coming trend—the Rangers losing to the eventual Cup champions.
Things ended better for Rod Gilbert. After 17 seasons and over 1,000 points and games for the franchise, his #7 jersey was the first to be retired by the Rangers, and it hangs in the rafters at MSG.
WHAT THEY SAID:
“It was a lucky goal—definitely the biggest of my career.”
—Rod Gilbert
FURTHER READING:
“It’s Sockey, The Way They Play It Here,” by Mark Mulvoy, Sports Illustrated
VIDEO:
745. NEW YORK KNICKS VS TORONTO RAPTORS
EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
GAME TWO
APRIL 26, 2000
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
QUALITY OF PLAY—6.82
DRAMA—8.07
STAR POWER—6.67
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.35
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.86
LOCAL IMPACT—8.33
TOTAL: 44.30
“THE CHOKER DOESN’T CHOKE”
In the summer of 1999, as millennium approached and the world braced for the Y2K disaster, a new folk hero emerged in NYC hoops lore. The Patrick Ewing Era was on fumes at this point, having produced no titles and just a single appearance in the NBA Finals, thanks mainly to Michael Jordan. In ’99 the owners locked the players out, resulting in a 50-game season that didn’t allow the Knicks to fully unfurl their wings—until the playoffs began. Then they went on a memorable run as an 8-seed all the way to the Finals, losing there to San Antonio in a mismatch. The team got that far thanks to a boost from a midseason trade for a volatile star, Travis Bickle with a strong mid-range game—Latrell Sprewell.
Spree had been a three-time All-Star with the Warriors, but had a reputation for a hair trigger and had been involved in multiple incidents with teammates and opponents. Early in the 1997-98 season he went postal on his coach, the mostly beloved and gravel-throated P.J. Carlesimo, attempting to choke P.J. out right there on the practice court. Sprewell wound up suspended for the final 68 games of the season. He was still in purgatory when Golden State shipped him east to New York, in exchange for fan favorite John Starks.
It was a risk, but Spree vowed he was a changed man after the strangulation, and he became a solid citizen in NYC. After the surprising ’99 run, during which Sprewell usually came off the bench, head coach Jeff Van Gundy, another beloved figure many have wanted to garrote at one time or another over the years, inserted Spree into the starting lineup, and the Knicks found a new energy in 2000 (or perhaps they were simply relieved the perils of Y2K were avoided).
The ’00 Knicks won 50 games and took the third seed, drawing the sixth-seeded Toronto Raptors in the opening round of the playoffs, the first-ever postseason meeting between the NBA blue blood and the expansion club from north of the border. The Raps were only in their fifth season of existence but had built an exciting young team around high-flying cousins Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. They weren’t ready to challenge for a title, and their coach, Butch Carter, was an off-kilter leader who would invite rapper Master P to tryout for the team, among other bizarre moves (Carter played briefly for the Knicks in the mid-80s). But the team’s youthful energy would give the aging Knicks some challenges.
The ‘Bockers eked out a four-point win in Game One despite blowing a 15-point first quarter lead, helped by the fact Vince Carter had an atrocious game. Vinsanity would rebound nicely in Game Two, held on Wednesday night, April 26, 2000, at Madison Square Garden.
Even then, the Canadians wanted no part of being the 51st State, and the Raps threatened to run the Knicks right out of the gym early, taking an 11-point lead after twelve minutes, and up by 16 just after halftime. “The stagnant, lethargic, incompetent Knicks,” was how Clyde Frazier described them on the MSG telecast, not needing to dig too deep into his thesaurus to get a handle on the horrid play he watched from courtside.
But the Knicks came back, as they often did in this era. “They seem to need to be down in order to play well,” noted Frazier, and while they struggled to slow down Carter, who kept getting to the bucket and drawing fouls, the Knicks froze the rest of Toronto’s attack as they worked back into the game.
Knicks forward Larry “LJ” Johnson was gutting it out despite a bad back, and would contribute just 11 points before fouling out. But when the team needed him most, Johnson delivered. Down ten early in the fourth quarter, the Knicks fed LJ on four straight possessions in the post, and he scored each time, the Doan’s Pills finally kicking in for a brief spell. LJ limped back to the bench after this exertion, clutching his back like an old man, but thanks to this stretch the home team was now in striking range, and at last got the game tied with a couple of minutes to go.
The adjective “pesky” was practically coined for Toronto’s Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues, the 5’3” waterbug who somehow carved out a fine NBA career despite his Lilliputian size. Bogues had mostly backed up Doug Christie, the Pride of Pepperdine, that season, but Coach Carter decided to go with the little man to play some havoc with the Knicks (Christie compared his benching to the Titanic hitting an iceberg). Muggsy’s gnat-like presence affected the Knicks offense, though he didn’t do much scoring with just six points. But half of them came on a huge three with the game tied and ninety seconds left that made it 81-78 Raps.
The Knicks responded with an alley-oop dunk from Ewing and exchanged made free throws, leaving the visitors ahead 83-82. Carter, who led all scorers with 27 points, at last misfired on a jumper, leaving the Knicks with the ball and a chance for the win.
Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy wasn’t trying anything fancy in this situation—he ran pure iso ball with his best scorer, getting Spree the rock on the attacking left and letting him work. “As a kid that’s what you dream about,” Spree said afterwards. Latrell pounded into the paint against Carter and popped an easy 10-foot jumper over him for the lead with 7.9 seconds to go. The bucket gave Spree 25 for the game.
“That last one was vintage Latrell,” said Van Gundy. “Two dribbles, pull up and shoot over a great player like Carter.”
Carter had an opportunity to return the favor on Toronto’s final possession. He drove hard at Spree, but an aggressive double-team by Chris Childs forced Vince to pass the ball to Dee Brown, whose three-pointer was just long. The buzzer sounded, the Garden rejoiced. The Knicks escaped with an 84-83 win and flew to Toronto up 2-0 in the tougher-than-expected series.
AFTERMATH:
The Knicks closed out Toronto in Game Three, sweeping the series after winning another tight game. The Knicks then bested their arch-rivals from Miami in seven exhausting games, but had little left for Indiana, who at last advanced to the NBA Finals by beating New York in six. Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals was the last game Patrick Ewing ever played as a Knick. In a related note, the Knicks would not win another playoff series until 2013.
Meanwhile, Butch Carter was fired after the Knicks series, and went into the auto parts business, a far better fit for his talents. Ironically, it was Toronto’s association with another rapper, Drake, that has garnered the Raps their largest public profile, just behind winning the 2019 NBA title in what has to be considered one of roundball history’s all-time outliers.
WHAT THEY SAID:
“I hugged LJ like he was my wife.”
—Latrell Sprewell, on his reaction after the Raps last shot missed.
FURTHER READING:
Just Ballin’: The Chaotic Rise of the Knicks by Mike Wise and Frank Isola
VIDEO: