For Brown and the Knicks, a Long Season of Agony

For New York Knicks Coach Hubie Brown, a season that began with limitless promise has ended in a pool of frustration.

“On the first day of practice, I honestly thought we’d win 50 games or more, and be one of the top five or six teams in the NBA,” he said.

Instead, the Knicks struggled to win half that number and are be one of only seven teams that didn’t make the playoffs. Brown describes it as the “most frustrating year” of his life.

First came preseason injuries and illness that sidelined centers Bill Cartwright and Marvin Webster and forward Truck Robinson. Thus began a bizarre run that would ultimately claim a staggering total of more than 300 player-games missed due to injury.

As his team buried itself in last place in the Atlantic Conference, Brown thought he could win by reaching deep into his 27-year well of experience--only to realize he could not move mountains.

“Even with the major injuries, my ego was strong enough to believe that I could get anybody to win, or at least get them to be so competitive that we’d still have a shot,” Brown said. “But the players could never count on a set group of people night-in, night-out.”

The losses mounted.

“We went from the No. 1 defensive rebounding team in the league last year to 23rd,” Brown said. “It’s not a secret. In this league, if you don’t rebound, you don’t win.”

And mounted.

“In all my years as a coach, I had never seen anything like this,” Brown said. “Then came the injury to Bernard King. That was the topper.”

King will win the NBA scoring title with a 32.9-point average, but he played only 55 games because of ankle, groin and knee problems. The latter injury necessitated surgery this month and King faces grueling rehabilitation this summer.

“As long as I’ve been around pro basketball, I’ve never seen a team so decimated with serious injuries, nothing where the nature of injuries had such a crippling effect,” said Dave DeBusschere, the Knicks’ executive vice president. “We had to play the season without so many guys and then it happens to Bernard.

“The only way we can approach it is feeling that Billy will be 100% healthy and Bernard will be 100% healthy. The only thing you can operate on is we can’t have bad luck forever. I’m not asking for anything extra. I just want an even break.”

Trying to win with unknowns like Ken Bannister, Ron Cavenall and Eddie Wilkins, Brown reached the end of his tether. Fans became accustomed to the coach stalking the sidelines, red-faced, berating his players with a healthy dose of salty adjectives.

“A lot of times I went too far,” Brown said. “But I would rather do that than not challenge my men and have them not achieve their potential. I don’t ever want my players to think that we will accept losing. Even if you are losing, you can have a winning attitude. I will not accept anything less.

“People looking for an excuse to lose will never understand the brutality that we put here on winning. So you demand that everybody plays hard. Who cares if they like it?”

With three rookies and an assortment of second-stringers, New York’s fortunes were preordained. Yet Brown still treated each game as if it were the seventh game of a championship series.

“This isn’t high school where it’s do or die for Rosemount High. These players get paid to play,” he said. “In the outside world, if you stiff your boss three or five days in the week, it’s interesting what will happen. So I don’t want to hear about people thinking we shouldn’t yell at them for giving less than 100%.”

The Knicks face an offseason of doubt about the health of key players. But Brown plans to apply the same formula, no matter who plays.

“We’re going to prepare them. We’re going to get on them. We’re not going to let the little mistakes slip by,” he said. “And then, if we can’t get the job done, hey, we worked as hard as we could. And that’s what people will realize about us.”