duncan228
06-03-2009, 01:22 PM
Former Knick Patrick Ewing returns to NBA Finals as assistant with Magic (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2009/06/03/2009-06-03_former_knick_patrick_ewing_returns_to_nba_final s_as_assistant_with_magic.html)
BY Frank Isola
Daily News
ORLANDO - The celebration for Patrick Ewing was subdued late Saturday night. Just a couple of handshakes and hugs before he rushed out of Amway Arena.
He even beat LeBron James to the exit. "I've got a plane to catch," Ewing said. "My daughter is graduating from high school."
Win or lose, Ewing was going to Randi's commencement in northern New Jersey on Sunday. That it came the morning after the Orlando Magic advanced to the NBA Finals with Ewing's prized pupil Dwight Howard leading the way made it all the more special.
"I'm happy to be going back," Ewing says. "It's been a long time."
Ewing was in the twilight of his career in 1999 when the Knicks last reached the Finals. He was also injured, having suffered a partially torn Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference finals.
Without Ewing in the middle and Larry Johnson playing with a sprained knee, the Knicks were no match for the Spurs' front line of David Robinson and Tim Duncan. San Antonio captured the title in five games while Ewing spent the entire series on the bench in a suit.
Five years earlier, Ewing and the Knicks lost the Finals to the Rockets in seven games. His brilliant career - Ewing is the franchise leader in nearly every major statistical category - ended without a ring. Of the best players from his era, Ewing joined Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Karl Malone as perennial All-Stars to never win a championship.
"Wouldn't it be something if he won now," says Magic assistant Steve Clifford. "It would be a great accomplishment for this franchise, but I would really be happy for Pat."
Ewing knows that winning a ring as an assistant coach can't compare to winning a championship as a player. Then again, he never imagined his life after playing would involve X's and O's.
"I never thought I'd get into coaching," Ewing says. "But I enjoy it. And when you're in the position we're in now it makes all the work that we put in worth it."
In recent years, Ewing has expressed a desire to become a head coach and is still somewhat bewildered that the Knicks have never reached out to him for an assistant coaching position. The Knicks have had five different head coaches since Ewing was traded following the 2000-01 season and he has worked for three teams - Washington, Houston and Orlando - during that same period but has never even interviewed with the Knicks.
For now, Ewing can't think about the future or the past. Fifteen years after his first trip to the NBA Finals and a decade after his last, Ewing is four wins away from a championship.
"Hopefully, I'll get a ring this time," he said.
BY Frank Isola
Daily News
ORLANDO - The celebration for Patrick Ewing was subdued late Saturday night. Just a couple of handshakes and hugs before he rushed out of Amway Arena.
He even beat LeBron James to the exit. "I've got a plane to catch," Ewing said. "My daughter is graduating from high school."
Win or lose, Ewing was going to Randi's commencement in northern New Jersey on Sunday. That it came the morning after the Orlando Magic advanced to the NBA Finals with Ewing's prized pupil Dwight Howard leading the way made it all the more special.
"I'm happy to be going back," Ewing says. "It's been a long time."
Ewing was in the twilight of his career in 1999 when the Knicks last reached the Finals. He was also injured, having suffered a partially torn Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference finals.
Without Ewing in the middle and Larry Johnson playing with a sprained knee, the Knicks were no match for the Spurs' front line of David Robinson and Tim Duncan. San Antonio captured the title in five games while Ewing spent the entire series on the bench in a suit.
Five years earlier, Ewing and the Knicks lost the Finals to the Rockets in seven games. His brilliant career - Ewing is the franchise leader in nearly every major statistical category - ended without a ring. Of the best players from his era, Ewing joined Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Karl Malone as perennial All-Stars to never win a championship.
"Wouldn't it be something if he won now," says Magic assistant Steve Clifford. "It would be a great accomplishment for this franchise, but I would really be happy for Pat."
Ewing knows that winning a ring as an assistant coach can't compare to winning a championship as a player. Then again, he never imagined his life after playing would involve X's and O's.
"I never thought I'd get into coaching," Ewing says. "But I enjoy it. And when you're in the position we're in now it makes all the work that we put in worth it."
In recent years, Ewing has expressed a desire to become a head coach and is still somewhat bewildered that the Knicks have never reached out to him for an assistant coaching position. The Knicks have had five different head coaches since Ewing was traded following the 2000-01 season and he has worked for three teams - Washington, Houston and Orlando - during that same period but has never even interviewed with the Knicks.
For now, Ewing can't think about the future or the past. Fifteen years after his first trip to the NBA Finals and a decade after his last, Ewing is four wins away from a championship.
"Hopefully, I'll get a ring this time," he said.