COMMENTARY : Oakley Excels, but Knicks Still Ewing’s Team

The Knicks were 12-12 and suddenly Charles Oakley and Herb Williams were both gone. The Knicks were ready to go too. They did not. Patrick Ewing, more than anyone, would not let them.

Oakley has become one of the great Knicks. I believe his uniform will end up in the Garden rafters some day. Oakley has been as much a warrior for Pat Riley’s Knicks, as much of a leader, as Ewing has. But there was a silly movement, begun last season, to call him the team’s MVP. Oakley does not get to be that. MVP of the Knicks is Patrick Ewing’s job. The Knicks are 16-2 without Oakley. That kind of record doesn’t ever happen with Ewing on the bench.

“I’m still the man here,” Ewing said. “This is still my team.”

He did not talk about the Knicks being his team in a boastful way. The words did not come out loud or hot. Of all the sports stars in New York, he always has been the one with the quietest voice. Ewing was just telling the truth about the Knicks.

“I know I’m going to get blamed if we lose,” he said, “so I know that I better do everything I can, especially at a time like this, to help us win.”

Certainly, Ewing did not save the season by himself. Derek Harper played like an all-star in January. Anthony Mason impersonated Oakley. John Starks finally found the basket. They all began to find the basket. The defense, even with the new hand-checking rules, has been something out of last season’s playoffs. But during the month when the Knicks played themselves back into things, Ewing has been as important to his team as any player in the NBA, and that includes Shaquille O’Neal.

“Everyone has discounted Patrick for as long as I can remember,” Doc Rivers, now with the Spurs, said. “It happened before I got to the Knicks, it happened when I was with the Knicks, and I guess it will always happen.”

Rivers paused. “Now this is nothing against Oak. I love Oak and he knows it. He’s the stabilizer for the Knicks. They’ve got no chance to win the championship without him. But they aren’t even a good team without Patrick Ewing.”