Knicks playoff series against the Heat sets the stage for great theater
NEW YORK -- The Knicks' second round playoff series begins Sunday at Madison Square Garden, and who they're playing has significance.
The Knicks and Heat may not be the most historic rivalry, but for a time, it was the most intense.
It started with a fight.
"All the technical fouls and flagrant fouls and suspensions. But you look back now and it was great competition," Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Thibodeau was a Knicks assistant back then. In a physical and competitive series in 1997, emotions boiled over. In fact, it was the heaviest playoff suspension in history and likely cost the Knicks the series.
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The animosity actually began two years earlier when Pat Riley surprisingly quit the Knicks via fax and bolted to Miami. With that, the fuse for the rivalry was lit.
The teams met again the following year with even more intensity
"Occassionaly, you see the game will be replayed, the physicality, but it was just great, hard competition, and it was on every play. The style of play is a little bit different today than it was then," Thibodeau said.
By 1999, the Knicks and Heat cooled their bitterness, but not the drama. It gave us one of the most iconic moments in Knicks history.
"Allan Houston, I probably wouldn't be here today if that thing didn't roll in. It hit every part of every thing," Thibodeau said.
The Knicks and Heat had four straight playoff matchups and only one since then. This year's series won't be decided by Patrick Ewing or Alonzo Mourning, but the stage is set for great theater.