The 25th Anniversary Of "The Dunk" By John Starks Taking Place The Day After James Harden Matched Starks With The Most 3-Point Attempts Without A Make In NBA Playoffs History Is So Goddamn Cruel
Would you look at that? A joyful memory for Knicks fans on Twitter. There is no way this fleeting moment of happiness will be yanked away immediately!
God I hate using a gif of the enemy, but that’s how every Knicks fan felt this morning. Every time I caught highlights from last night’s Warriors/Rockets game, John Starks’ name inevitably came up because James Harden STUNK from behind the arc. When you shoot so poorly that they bring up the worst game in NBA Finals history, you know you fucked up. The fact that Harden’s game happened in Houston made it a double whammy, even though he did it as a Rocket. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever see the Knicks come as close to a championship as they were on Starks’ game-winning three point attempt from the corner that Hakeem Olajuwon jussssst got a piece of at the end of Game 6.
Unfuckingreal. If John Starks hits that, he is a New York LEGEND. Knicks fans no longer have to hear tales about what New York was like when Clyde, Willis, and company led them to a title. MSG would become the capital of the sports world with the Knicks and Rangers both having tickertape parades down the Canyon of Heroes. Patrick Ewing would never have had to deal with the stigma of being ringless. And if you said the name John Starks, that championship winning shot would be the first thing you think of.
Instead Starks missed and the Knicks lost Game 7 behind a 2-for-18 performance from him, including 0-for-11 from threes. Now when you say John Starks, many people think of that nightmarish game. It’s not that Starks went from an undrafted player to an All-Star and key player on a championship contender. It’s that goddamn Game 7 disaster. John Starks pulled a real life Munson and everything changed in one night.
If you don’t think of Game 7 first, you almost definitely think of The Dunk.
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In a weird way, The Dunk perfectly summed up those 90s Knicks. Very good, definitely memorable, but maybe not as great as we would like. Knicks fans would say John Starks dunked over two Bulls, including Michael Jordan. And the iconic poster that any Knicks fan worth their salt had up in their room kinda confirmed it.
Since today is Friday, my #BarstoolConfession is that I know it was never over MJ. But we said it because it felt good to get something over on those motherfuckers for once. MJ and Scottie Pippen each have legit, significantly more disrespectful and legitimate dunks over Patrick Ewing that I will not include in this blog because fuck them. But The Dunk was the Knicks fans answer to those other dunk, even if its greatness was kinda all smoke and mirrors other than being a huge play from a playoff game. But the Knicks didn’t even win the series, putting The Dunk alongside Endy Chavez’s The Catch as great playoff moments from my fanhood that in the end didn’t mean shit.
I don’t know what else to say about this other than the fancy 25th anniversary of The Dunk coming on a day when John Starks’ name is being thrown around because of the worst moment of his professional career is so fucking sad and so fucking Knicks, even though hearing The Garden explode like that gives me hope that one day we will get a memory close to that good at MSG. Just probably not until James Dolan sells the team or dies. This got kinda sad, so here is something to pick Knicks fans back up on MDW Friday.