Night Belongs to Ewing

Patrick Ewing’s jersey No. 33 was retired Friday night and raised to the rafters of Madison Square Garden, where it will forever hang alongside the two championship banners that were there before he came to New York.

Ewing did not shed any tears as he was showered with gifts and adulation during a 30-minute ceremony at halftime of the Orlando-New York game won by the Knicks, 118-110, in double overtime.

“I always will be a Knick. I always will be a New Yorker,” Ewing told the crowd before he stood with his father and his three children as a banner with No. 33 was raised to the ceiling.

The Knicks presented Ewing with a new sports utility vehicle, a set of autographed jerseys from other professional sports stars who wore No. 33 and a statue commemorating his open-armed pose atop the scorer’s table after the Knicks defeated Indiana in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals.

Ewing’s number is the ninth to be raised at the Garden, joining Walt Frazier (No. 10), Dick Barnett (12), Earl Monroe (15), Dick McGuire (15), Willis Reed (19), Dave DeBusschere (22), Bill Bradley (24) and Red Holzman (613, for his career victory total).