Knicks’ Blueprint for an NBA Title on Hold for Now

CHICAGO — From the four corners of the NBA, they were brought to New York, placed around Patrick Ewing and told that they would be champions. The Knicks were assembled with care, yes, but also with haste.

Rolando Blackman was imported from Dallas, so that his sharpshooting could open the lane for Ewing. Doc Rivers and Charles Smith came from the Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers for his veteran grit, Smith for his complementary low-post scoring punch. Other pieces were placed on the periphery -- Hubert Davis was drafted to learn from Blackman, Tony Campbell signed as another scoring threat, Herb Williams, to back up Ewing.

Pat Riley showed them his four rings from coaching the Los Angeles Lakers and stuck up his empty thumb. Their quest was singular: To win it all before Ewing’s knees failed, before Ewing’s shoulder gave way, hopefully before Ewing’s hair fell out.

They won 60 regular-season games with defense, in a rugged style honed by the hyper-focused Riley.

They hoped defense, with a measure of intimidation, would get the Knicks past the Chicago Bulls, the two-time defending NBA champions. It nearly happened a year ago, when the Knicks pushed the Bulls to seven games in the second round. And that was with vastly different personnel.

This time, it was supposed to be different.

It was not. Friday night, the Knicks went noisily, but they went. The Bulls won their fourth game in a row, finishing off the Knicks in the Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, 96-88.

Immediately after the game, Bulls Coach Phil Jackson used his forum to reach out to a population he knows all too well.

“I want to say to all the Knickerbocker fans, your time will come,” said Jackson, a member of the 1973 Knicks championship team. “This is one step at a time in the playoffs. You made it to the finals of the conference, and you should be very proud.”

The Bulls had to get through the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons had to get through the Boston Celtics. The Knicks figured to skip this installment payment, cash out and head straight to the Finals.

“Everyone has to go through this,” Smith said, “but we didn’t want to. That’s what hurts. We didn’t want to say, ‘OK, now you’ve made it to the second round. OK, now you’ve made it to the conference finals.’

“We wanted to win it all this year. And that’s what’s disappointing. History shows that everyone has got to go through a building period to get there. But I didn’t see us doing that. I thought we were just there.”

They were, for all intents, there and gone in Game 5. At the pivotal point of the series, Michael Jordan posted a triple-double (29 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds) and Scottie Pippen was outstanding (28 points). In the waning seconds of the Bulls’ 97-94 victory, Smith pulled up for 3 1/2 layup attempts -- to win the game -- and was blocked once by Horace Grant, stripped by Jordan and then blocked twice by Pippen.

That was Wednesday night, when the Knicks lost at Madison Square Garden for the first time in 28 games. Earlier in the series, Ewing had said that the Knicks, with home-court advantage, didn’t have to win a game at Chicago Stadium. Then, he was served up that prognostication and told to chow down.

Didn’t taste good.

“We had it in the palm of our hands and let it slip away,” Ewing said of Game 5.

The Bulls were better. Knicks guard John Starks still denies it, but the Bulls are better.

“Our players will have to realize that there will be questions as to why we didn’t get the job done,” Riley said. “However, we were beaten by a great team. I don’t see a team that will beat them. They are on the top of their game again.”

As for the whereabouts of his team, Riley said: “Until the scapegoats are exhausted -- and there shouldn’t be any -- will we be able to celebrate what we did this year, winning 60 games and getting to the conference finals. We were playing against the champions who have won back-to-back and we just didn’t have enough.

“When there were four teams left in the fight, I thought Charles Barkley said it best: ‘It’s win or misery.”’

And misery may be defined by Ewing, sitting in front of his locker late Friday night, wondering whether he will ever satisfy himself, his public, his team, his dream -- and win it all.

Misery is Ewing shaking his head and saying, “I thought it was my year to win a championship.”