A running theme of The Last Dance—the 10-part documentary about Michael Jordan and the final Chicago Bulls championship run—is the players who Jordan tormented during his incredible run. Few are more notable than Patrick Ewing.
The Ewing era was the last true heydey for the New York Knicks. The team made 13 straight playoff runs, only missing the postseason in his first two years out of Georgetown. New York made the NBA Finals twice during that run, losing to the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.
It comes as little surprise that those two seasons were years where Michael Jordan was not playing for the Chicago Bulls. In five playoff meetings between Jordan and Ewing, the Bulls took every series, including the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, and three semifinals series. Ewing got the best of the Jordan-less Bulls in the 1993 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Jordan also beat Ewing in the 1982 NCAA Tournament title game between North Carolina and Georgetown, so this rivalry dates way back.
Patrick Ewing lived all those series. He doesn’t need to watch 10 hours on Jordan’s legacy, he says. He told Dan Patrick that he is passing on The Last Dance.
“I watched some of it. I watch a little and then I shut it off and then go do other things,” the Knicks legend told Dan Patrick on Tuesday. “I lived through it, so I don’t need to watch it. I know he’s great.”
The full interview from The Dan Patrick Show:
Ewing made 11 All-Star Games, has a gold medal, and is in the basketball Hall of Fame. Now he coaches at his alma mater. Few are as accomplished in the sport as him.
And yet, if there’s one thing missing from his legacy, it is an NBA Title. You can probably point directly to Jordan for the fact that he didn’t get more opportunities.
[“>The Dan Patrick Show]