subject: The New York Knicks Tickets : One Of Only Two Teams Of The Original National Backetball Association [print this page] The New York Knickerbockers,known familiarly as the Knicks, are a professional National Basketball Association team based in New York City. The organization was a founding member of the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and would join the NBA after the BAA and National Basketball League merged.
The Knicks are one of only two teams of the original National Basketball Association still located in its original city (the other being the Boston Celtics). The "Knickerbocker" name comes from the pseudonym used by Washington Irving for his A History of New York, which name became applied to the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of what later became New York, and later, by extension, to New Yorkers in general.
The first game for the Knicks and BAA was played on November 1, 1946 against the Toronto Huskies as the New York Knickerbockers at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, where the Knickerbockers won 68/66 The Knicks were the first team to have a non/Caucasian player on their roster, Japanese player Wataru Misaka, who joined the team in 1947.
The Knickerbockers' first head coach was Neil Cohalan, and the team was a consistent playoff contender in their early years. During the first decade of the NBA's existence, the Knickerbockers made the NBA Finals in three straight years (1951/53), and they were respected by basketball players and fans. For the remainder of the 1950s, the Knicks would field decent teams and make the playoffs in 1955, 1956 (where they lost a one/game playoff to the Syracuse Nationals), and 1959.
The Knicks were the first team to sign an African/American player to a contract, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton in 1950. Although Clifton was signed first, Earl Lloyd was the first African/American to actually play in an NBA game. And in that same season, Chuck Cooper became the first African/American to be drafted to an NBA team.
From 1970 to 1976, the Knicks fell on hard times, and they finished last in the NBA's Eastern Division every year. Some of the biggest losses in Knicks history occurred during this time. One notable loss occurred on March 2, 1962, as the Philadelphia Warriors' Wilt Chamberlain scored a NBA/record 100 points against the Knicks, and the Warriors won the game 169/147 in a game played in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
During the Knicks' slide into futility, there were signs of better things to come. In 1964, the Knicks drafted Willis Reed, who went on to become 1965's NBA Rookie of the Year. In 1965, the Knicks were given an extra first/round draft pick by the NBA (as were the San Francisco Warriors, who owned the worst record in the league's Western Division in 1964/65) and took advantage by drafting Bill Bradley and Dave Stallworth.
The Knicks got off to their worst 10 game start in franchise history, producing 9 losses, with just one win against the New Orleans Hornets. The Knicks responded by winning 9 games and losing 6 in December.
On January 24, 2010 the Knicks suffered their worst home loss in Madison Square Garden history against the Dallas Mavericks in front of a sellout crowd. The 50/point loss was also the second/worst in Knicks franchise history. The worst was a 62/point loss to the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers) on Christmas Day 1960.
Nearly a month after their worst home loss in MSG history the Knicks shook up their roster by making some surprising moves. On February 17, the Knicks traded Darko Milicic to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Brian Cardinal and cash considerations.[30] On February 18, the Knicks and Boston Celtics swapped guard Nate Robinson for shooting guard Eddie House. The deal also included forward Marcus Landry going to the Celtics and the Knicks acquiring bench players J. R. Giddens and Bill Walker.
The Knicks also acquired All/Star forward Tracy McGrady from the Houston Rockets and point guard Sergio Rodriguez from the Sacramento Kings in a three/way trade. The deal sent the Knicks shooting guard Larry Hughes to Sacramento and forward Jordan Hill and power forward Jared Jeffries to Houston. About 3 weeks after these team/changing trades, the Knicks played the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center and blew them out by a score of 128/94 for the largest win of the season. However, the Knicks were eliminated from playoff contention in late March 2010. The Knicks have not won a playoff series since the year 2000, and have not even made the playoffs in six years.
The Knicks finished fairly well due in part to the improvement of David Lee and rookie Toney Douglas along with other young players. In addition, the Knicks are set to play two preseason games in Europe during the 2010/2011 NBA preseason.
On July 5, 2010 the Knicks struck a deal with former Phoenix Suns forward/center Amar'e Stoudemire. The contract is worth $99.7 million over a span of five years.
The Knicks then traded David Lee to the Golden State Warriors for Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf. Point guard Raymond Felton was picked up during early summer free agency for a 2 year contract reportedly worth $15.8 million. On August 11, 2010, the Knicks signed guard Roger Mason.
