“Blood in the Garden” by Chris Herring makes all New Yorkers yearn for the old Knicks!
61) Part IV of the books I read in the summer of 2023: The Knicks (just*) before the turn of the 21st century, never won a title, but they certainly are quite memorable!
Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring
(Published 2021 → read by me August 2023)
When reading sports books I am always most intrigued by the human element, where personal bonds are formed and a man’s character is truly tested in the heat of the moment. Where individual athletes take on the collective mind of a real team! This book certainly didn’t disappoint.
Pat Riley as the Knicks Head Basketball Coach was a transformational figure that pushed his team to great heights, despite not delivering on the ever so coveted, *championship. Riley’s top assistant coach, Jeff Van Gundy took the reins over from him in 1996, and was remarkably effective and memorable as the Knicks Head Coach, too.
*With all due respect to the Knicks historic Championships of 1970 & 1973 and my readers who are old enough to remember those titles; There are still plenty of Knicks fans born between 1968 and early 1973 who have no conscious memory of them. We now have over fifty years and multiple generations of Knicks fans who have never witnessed a Knicks Championship parade.
While Riley’s mentorship of Van Gundy is no secret, Herring reported on a conversation Pat Riley had with Jeff Van Gundy during exit interviews of the 1992 off-season (right after Riley’ first season with the Knicks), that captured the essence of their partnership together in New York.
“Riley told Van Gundy not to be sheepish about the fact he hadn’t been an NBA player. ‘These guys only care about you having four qualities: that you’re competent, sincere, reliable, and trustworthy’, Riley told him. ‘If you are those four things, you can accomplish anything in this league’.” (Herring p. 204)
If you ask me, Riley could have just as easily said that “With those four things you can accomplish (just about) anything in life”.
Just like with that passage (above), I found the back-stories of Anthony Mason, John Starks and Charles Oakley so fascinating! And yes, the Charles Smith stories were infinitely painful, and at times funny in almost a cringe-worthy type of way. I also never knew that Patrick Ewing was nearly traded to the Golden State Warriors before Pat Riley even coached his first game with the Knicks.
Truth be told, I have read an *embarrassing number of NBA books*. For those of you really plugged into my newsletter, or who know me on a very personal level, you are not at all surprised. After-all, two of my all time favorite books that I have discussed in a prior post were both written by one of my literary heroes David Halberstam, which were both on the NBA.
I have also written about the Knicks and their near misses, and their bleak past more times than I care to remember. There are plenty of people I know that no longer follow the NBA. But, when the Knicks were good, back in the day, the fans turned out! This is also an era where basketball was more prominently featured in our mainstream culture.
As I have mentioned in prior posts, sometimes when I’m reading a really good book, it sends me down a rabbit hole. This is where I want to learn more and more about the topic I’ve been reading. Thanks to Herring’s book, one of the best podcast series I discovered and just completed is -
Shattered: Hope, Heartbreak and the New York Knicks :
The series is narrated by Chuck D, and was originally published in the late Spring of 2021. There were eight episodes total all running approximately 45 minutes each. It takes on a wide-angle view of the Knicks from 1991-2021, while still providing juicy details of much of the drama surrounding the team. https://theathletic.com/podcast/246-shattered-hope-heartbreak-and-the-new-york-knicks/
There was so much covered in this podcast series. The first episode started with the Riley’s Knicks. Further on in the series, it goes onto salacious events from the “Isiah Thomas Era” to the overall tyranny of the blundering team owner, James Dolan .
The strange and sad saga of Isiah Thomas sexually assaulting a female Madison Square Garden employee could not have gone any worse than it did. Dolan could have easily settled this matter out of court, but trusted Isiah so much, and was so obstinate in his own views, that as a result of actually going to trial (and losing), the Knicks organization had to pay nearly $12 million dollars to settle this lawsuit.
The aftermath of this bizarre public spectacle finally left Isiah Thomas fired from the Knicks, as well as (ostensibly) black-listed him from ever getting another job with any other NBA team.
Another episode in this series goes into great detail about the *Facial Recognition Technology* James Dolan uses to squash his enemies (both real and perceived). Not that anyone who pays (even a little bit of) attention to the NBA needs further evidence to show why James Dolan is perceived to be a notoriously bad sports owner. But, talk about violating people’s personal rights, and totally abusing one’s power for the ^pettiest of reasons^!
*This facial recognition technology is where MSG cameras scan every person’s face upon entry in the building, and makes sure that some are not allowed entry if they are on Dolan’s list. This is not only quite pervasive, but also more than likely very illegal, and has impacted people’s ability to attend events at all MSG properties, including Radio City Music Hall.
The book and the podcast series compliment each other quite nicely. Even though there are times I was left grimacing by the memories of how close the Knicks came to greatness at the close of the 20th century. Further complicating this memory is the team’s seismic fall from grace since that bygone era.
^FOR THE RECORD: If anyone ever sends this story to James Dolan, and I’m banned from Madison Garden because of it…please at least help make sure that this is one of the most viral Knicks stories on the internet. ;-)^
For my non-sports fans, I appreciate you reading this far. For my sports fans that might not be that into basketball, thanks for getting this far, too.
For my die hard NBA fans (even if you aren’t a Knicks fan), I highly recommend Blood in the Garden. It will surely entertain you. As for my fellow (beleaguered) Knicks fans - from this book (and the podcast) you will certainly laugh, but you also might cry. Either way, I still invite you to to invest the time (and money) in it.
Until next time!
-JPJ
PS - If you missed PART III, feel free to visit it here
Chuck Klosterman’s “The Nineties - A Book” REVIEW
It was during the height of the Pandemic that three friends and I formed a book-club. It ran via Zoom from June 2020 through June 2021. In those twelve months, we “read” / reviewed fourteen to fifteen books (depending on who in the group is counting).
BONUS CONTENT:
Blood in the Garden was so good, and such a quick read. Stylistically speaking, and for a great narrative history of the later decades of the NBA, Herring’s book reminds me of two other fantastic NBA Books I read in the last number of years.
Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution by Jonathan Abrams (published in 2016)
Abrams does a great job of capturing the whole high school-to-pros era, starting with Kevin Garnett entering the league in 1995. More famously in year two of the “Preps-to-Pro Generation”, Kobe Bryant came straight out of high school in 1996.
The book concludes the last year high school stars were able to turn pro in 2004 with Dwight Howard. Aside from Kobe, and maybe even supplanting Kobe, was LeBron’s turning pro the second to last year the NBA allowed it (in 2003). Not surprisingly, it’s these four aforementioned players that grace the cover of Abrams’ outstanding book.
The Sixth Man: A memoir by Andre Iguodala and Carvell Wallace (published in 2018)
A personal and basketball memoir - Andre Iguodala played in the NBA from 2005-2023. He was a quasi-super star early on in his NBA career, and eventually developed into a glue guy and 1x Finals MVP on the 4x Champion Golden State Warriors.
One great takeaway I got from this book was how challenging it initially was for Iguodala to turn pro from the University of Arizona. His Coach, Lute Olson desperately wanted Iguodala to stay for his junior year, and literally broke down Iguodala’s self-esteem, nearly convincing his star player that he wasn’t ready to go pro. But, when some agents were vying to have Iguodala as a client and gave him some sound advice, he quickly learned to play the political parlor game and cozy up to Coach Olsen. This was so he could turn pro after two years of playing college ball and his draft stock wouldn’t slip.
I enjoyed this book too. I wasn’t aware of the podcast. Thx for the heads up