MAY 8, 1970

On May 8, 1970, New York woke up waiting for great things to happen. At the beginning of the season the TV station broadcasting the Knickerbockers games counted 5,000 subscribers. In April they had grown up to 40,000. The Knicks were the story of the day. Despite being one of the original NBA teams, they played in the first game in history in 1946 in Toronto, and in spite of being traditionally a very strong team, they had never won an NBA title.
They had made it to the Finals three times, in 1951, in 1952 and in 1953 with Joe Lapchick as their head coach, but they had always lost. They faced Rochester in 1951 and lost 4-3, then they met Minneapolis twice, losing 4-3 the first time and 4-1 later. From 1954 to 1969 when the NBA Finals were to be played, they were already vacationing. But in 1970, the first season after Bill Russell's retirement from the Boston Celtics, where he led the team to 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons, it was the Knicks turn to finally shine. The series pitting them against the Lakers was tied at 3, so the Finals would be decided in the seventh game. On May 8, 1970, in Madison Square Garden.
Location: New York, NY, USA

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