Injury Ends Season for Knicks’ Ewing

The surgery took place in the dead of night, the news arrived several hours later with definitive and ruinous finality.

Patrick Ewing is out for the season.

Ewing underwent emergency surgery early Sunday to repair a dislocated bone and several torn ligaments in his right wrist. It was a colossal blow to the New York Knicks in their continual, unfulfilled quest to win an NBA championship.

“It’s devastating,” Coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

“I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can fill the void,” General Manager Ernie Grunfeld said.

Ewing, the foundation of the Knicks and in his 13th season with the team, fell hard on his shooting wrist during Saturday night’s loss at Milwaukee and lay sprawled on the court in agony.

He had surgery about 4 a.m. EST Sunday after being taken to a hospital in Manhattan following the Knicks’ arrival from Milwaukee after their 20-point loss.

“It’s a football or motor vehicle type of injury. He fell with tremendous force onto his wrist,” said the Knick physician, Norman Scott. “It’s a high-speed, high-force type of injury.”

Ewing, 35, dislocated one of eight bones in his wrist and tore several ligaments. His right wrist will be in a cast for two months before he begins rehabilitation.

There is no chance of Ewing returning for the playoffs, Scott and Grunfeld said. Nor are there assurances he will be fully healed by next season.

Ewing will remain in Beth Israel Hospital for at least two days, and now the Knicks must attempt to regroup without their most durable and indispensable player.

“He’s determined to come back. That’s the best word I can use--determined,” Van Gundy said. “I’ve seen it happen before to other teams--it happened last year to the Spurs and David Robinson--and it’s devastating.”

Ewing, attempting to dunk an alley-oop pass from Charlie Ward with 25 seconds to play in the second quarter, was fouled by Andrew Lang and broke his fall with his arms before landing on his tailbone. Grimacing and writhing in pain, he stayed on the floor for about two minutes.

Ewing managed to go to the foul line. But all he could do was cradle the ball and shoot with his left hand, missing both shots.

The Knicks lost, 98-78, leaving them with a 15-11 record and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Grunfeld said he doubted the Knicks could acquire anyone to replace Ewing, an 11-time All-Star who signed a four-year, $68-million contract extension last summer. Among the centers available are Olden Polynice of Sacramento and, oddly, Lang, whose foul ripped a hole in the Knick season.

“We’ll have to look around, but we have a lot of competent players on our roster. There’s no one of Patrick’s caliber, but I have confidence,” Grunfeld said. “We have a lot of depth and we expect to be a competitive club despite this. It’s not going to be up to one player. We have several guys who can play center and everyone’s going to have to take up some of the slack.”

Van Gundy said the team will use Chris Dudley or Buck Williams at center, depending on the opponent.