May 17th saw the Rangers respond nicely with a solid shutout of the Devils 4-0. The Rangers outshot the Devils 40-16 in that game and yet is was still only 1-0 heading into the 3rd period.
May 18th saw the Knicks win a nail biter 87-86 where all 5 starters for the Knicks finished in double digits. The Series was now Knicks 3, Bulls 2.
May 19th brought the second heart-attack Rangers/Devils game as the Rangers won it in double OT 3-2. The OT winning goal was scored by someone named Stephane Matteau. Remember that name folks. Two-in-a-row for the Rangers now and a 2-1 series lead. My confidence was hesitantly growing.
May 20th saw the Knicks poop the bed and lose a stinker 93-79. Pippen and Grant led the way for the Bulls as they tied up the series, 2-2. My boy Mason poured in 13 off the bench and 5 Knick players scored double digits again but it wasn’t enough. Series tied 3-3. We were heading to a game 7!
More bed pooping occurred on May 21st as the Rangers fell flat at the Meadowlands and lost 3-1. I started getting the feeling that this Brodeur fella might have a decent career ahead of him. Series friggin tied 2-2. Confidence short-lived and fading.
May 22nd. Game 7. MSG. Pippen vs Ewing. In the end it was the Knicks defense that prevailed and Charles Oakley was a monster with 20 rebounds! The Knicks held the Bulls to only 77 points and won by 10. Disaster averted. On to the Conference Finals! Much excitement. But wait, is that Reggie Miller over there waiting for us?
May 23rd saw the Rangers return back home to MSG with the Series tied. Okay boys, time to take control of this series. Stop messin around here and get it done. Didn’t happen. The Devils dominated the game and won 4-1. Brodeur once again stands on his friggin head. Devils take the series lead 3-2 and put the rangers on the brink of elimination. ‘Crap’, we all thought, ‘here we go again. Another year, another disappointment.’ If only someone could wake the Rangers up before it was too late.
May 24th. Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at MSG. The New York Knickerbockers against the Pacers and REGGIE F’N MILLER. I guess there were other players on the Pacers back then, but I couldn’t name them without going back and looking at the stat sheets. It’s hard to write or talk about Reggie Miller in the context of 1994 because this was before his ridiculous, unbelievable, cray cray moment in the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals where he scored 8 points in the final 8.9 seconds to lead the Pacers comeback win over the Knicks. But even without that and thinking in 1994 terms, he was still the most hated NBA player at MSG. The guy was a great player, but almost every damn time against the Knicks, he seemed to double down on the miracle pills. And his antics with Spike Lee and the crowd didn’t help. He got fans fired up and pissed off. Heading into the series, the question we all asked was, ‘can Oak and Mace shut this effer down?’ For game 1, the answer was “yes”! Miller was limited to 14 points on 5-11 shooting. The Knicks made it a point that Reggie wasn’t going to beat them and some other guy named Rik Smits scored 27 points. For the Knicks, Ewing and Oakley both had double doubles and the Knicks went on to win 100-89.
Wednesday, May 25th was Game 6 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals in the Swamps of NJ. A day earlier at the Ranger’s practice facility, someone made the following statement: “We’re going to go in there and win Game 6. We know we’re going to go in and win Game 6 and bring it back for Game 7.” That person was Mark Messier and though my friends and I were more than skeptical and silently cursing at him for the obvious reverse hex guarantee, we knew that if anyone could make such a bold statement and pull it off, it was Mark “Captain Courageous” Messier. Or maybe not. The Devils took a 2-0 lead into the second period. My buddies and I all turned to each other about 12 times during that 1st period and said stuff like: “See, G-damn Messier and his guarantees. Got the Devils all fired up now. Great job Mess. Farts in a hammock, this team is going nowhere. My hexes aren’t even working cause of this reverse jinx BS.” But signs of life started to show late in the second period as Kovalev scored with an assist from Messier. “We in this MFers. Thanks for showing up Mark”. “Let’s go Rangers” we roared. I don’t know what happened in that locker room during the second intermission or what the hell Messier, did, ate, drank, and/or said, but holy shizznutz!, Messier literally took over the entire game and went on to score a hat trick including an empty-netter. The Rangers forced a Game 7 by winning 4-2 and a new level of NYC hero was born.
May 26th had me heading down to North Carolina with my then GF for my former law school roommates’ wedding weekend. The whole time driving down there, in the back of my mind, was the worry of not being able to watch the Rangers’ Game 7. My fears grew as the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at didn’t even have friggin cable TV. I was unable to catch the Knick’s Game 2 and watch Ewing dominate with 32 points and 13 rebounds. Miller did his thing with had 23 points and that Smits fella had 22, but the Knicks won 89-78. Funny how the final scores were back then. Nowadays 89-78 is the half time score of a lot of NBA games.
(To be continued)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login