Rookie Guard Mark Jackson Brightest Light in Knicks’ Season

For one brief moment before his team’s 104-99 loss to the Lakers the other night, there appeared to be a thaw in the icy cool that is New York Knick point guard Mark Jackson, an instant when perhaps the scope of exactly what he’s accomplished during an incomparable rookie season truly began to dawn on him.

There were barely 45 seconds remaining before the opening tip and Jackson stopped warming up and stood alone just beyond the end line at Madison Square Garden.

Earlier that evening, Jackson spoke of being psyched for the evening, the game against the defending NBA champions had been sold out for a month, which to him meant “20,000 people in the stands-and 10,000 of them who’ll swear they know me personally.”

Now he was scanning the breadth of the venerable building. Years earlier, Jackson, a native son raised in Queens and a graduate of St. John’s, often had watched the home team play--and win. During the 1972-73 season, New York won 20 consecutive games at home; no other Knicks team had come close to that feat until this year.

The ‘72-73 team went on to win the NBA title. It’s unlikely that will happen this season, 15 years later. The loss to the Lakers ended a 13-game home winning streak and placed the team’s hopes of even gaining the playoffs in jeopardy. But the fact that there is hope, after a string of moribund seasons, almost can be attributed directly to Jackson.

Going against the NBA’s premier point guard, Magic Johnson, Jackson maintained his cool throughout, finishing with a team-high 17 points, 13 assists and five steals. For the season, he is averaging 10 assists per game (fourth in the NBA) and 2.4 steals (sixth). He virtually is assured of being named rookie of the year, which should come as something of an embarrassment to more than a few of the 17 teams that passed on Jackson before the Knicks selected him in last June’s draft.

There are already Knick officials who have been forced to eat their words. Prior to the draft, General Manager Al Bianchi, then an assistant coach and scout with the Phoenix Suns, was asked who he’d prefer between Jackson and Tyrone Bogues, who was drafted by the Washington Bullets ahead of Jackson. Bianchi said Bogues, without question.

“I’d said there’s no way I’d take (Jackson),” said Bianchi, who came to the Knicks later in the summer. “I knew who he was, but that was it. No one had any idea about him, if anyone said they knew he’d be this good, they’re crazy. I thank (head scout) Dick (McGuire) for taking him. It’s certainly something that the Knicks have to be thankful for.”

Jackson said he knew how good he could be and adds he still can’t figure out why he had to wait until 17 others (including point guards Bogues, Sacramento’s Kenny Smith and Phoenix’s Kevin Johnson) were picked before him.

“I don’t like to compare myself to the other (rookie) point guards; I just wanted to show that something went wrong because I didn’t think of it as three guys going ahead of me but 17,” Jackson said. “I was at the draft, thinking that I’d done everything that had ever been asked of me in college--scoring, passing off, coming off the bench--I’d played in 100 games. I began questioning just how intelligent the scouts were.”

The first choice in the draft, Navy center David Robinson, hasn’t played this season because of military duty. No. 3 pick Dennis Hopson has been a bust with the New Jersey Nets, and the rookie seasons of Armon Gilliam and former Georgetown star Reggie Williams--Nos. 2 and 4, respectively--virtually have been wiped out because of injuries.

Others picked before him, Seattle forward Derrick McKey, Chicago’s Scottie Pippen, Indiana’s Reggie Miller and even Bogues to some extent, have shown flashes of stardom. But Jackson has been rock steady the entire season, being named the league’s rookie of the month the last three months. Jackson already has the fifth-highest assist total in Knick history and probably will surpass Micheal Ray Richardson’s standard of 832 before the end of the season.

No less an authority than Magic Johnson says that Jackson’s “going to be one of the best point guards in the game before he’s done.”

Jackson’s already the leader of the Knicks.

“He’s been doing his job, running the ball club well,” said center Patrick Ewing, who perhaps owes Jackson a word of thanks for his selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team. “He’s definitely proven he’s a leader.”

Ewing also might be thankful that Jackson, 22, has helped deflect some of the pressures inherent in being the highest-paid player in the league while playing in the country’s largest media market.

Ewing charitably understates that his own rookie season three years ago was “a little different, being the first player picked in the lottery,” but Jackson’s relatively lowly status would seem to make it that much harder for him to establish a sense of clout.

Then again, given New York’s abysmal play at the point (the Knicks’ 1,941 assists were 22nd out of 23 teams last season), Jackson was well within his rights to assume that “I’d get a chance to play a lot and could be a key player.”

He also knew, initially “I had to be quiet and keep to myself because I didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to take over, after I started dishing the ball around I could say what I wanted because the guys knew that I’d take care of them.”

Jackson describes himself not as cocky, but rather someone who has a lot of confidence in himself. A single man living in one of the world’s biggest playgrounds, he has chosen to live at home with the rest of his family.

“The guys tell me that I should be pretty rich by the end of the season, but I just enjoy my family,” said Jackson. “They’re the key to my success; they bring me to the game on a high and later I can go home the same way.”

The Knicks started slowly this season, losing their first five games, but now, they’re in the battle for the final conference playoff spot. If they gain the playoffs, the Knicks would be deprived of a lottery pick that would undoubtedly help improve the team’s future.

“Maybe it’s not good for our growth pattern but it’s great for the fans,” Bianchi said. “When I got here all I heard about was how long-suffering everyone was. Now, you never want to stifle enthusiasm for the fans or players. I like what we’ve done, we’ve established something, we’ve shown that we can beat good teams at home. Making the playoffs may not be the ideal thing but we’ve decided that we want to win as many games as we can and then let things fall where they may.”

A sign of how far the Knicks--and Jackson--have to go could be seen in the Laker game. Bill Cosby, Peter Falk, Tom Brokaw and Spike Lee were among the sellout crowd.

Even after losing a lead in the fourth quarter and the game, Jackson said he and his team had nothing to be ashamed of, and Bianchi was still puffing on a foot-long cigar.

Who could blame him? The playoffs were still within reach, and even if the Knicks aren’t one of the top 16 teams in the league, Jackson is proof positive that there are windfalls to be found outside of a lottery.