NEW YORK - There was a buzz in Madison Square Garden. There's always a buzz for a Game 7, but this one was different. The Knicks had never won a championship, and they were one home win away from doing just that. Anybody in the arena who didn't feel the magnitude of the moment didn't have a pulse.
So there was a buzz, but it was a different kind of buzz. It was a nervous energy, where many of the fans had to be thinking, "What if we don't win?" It was a valid question; nobody knew if the Knicks' starting center, Willis Reed, was going to play. He had torn a thigh muscle earlier in the series, an injury that had caused him to miss all of Game 6. Lakers center Wilt Chamberlain, taking advantage of Reed's absence, had unleased holy hell in Game 6, scoring 45 points to lead the Lakers to a 23-point victory. If Reed didn't play Game 7, how could the Knicks prevent a repeat of that performance?
So there was nervousness, but there was also excitement. It was Game 7, after all, and, Reed or no Reed, the Knicks were still a good team, still had three future hall-of-famers in their starting lineup. Plus, it was one game, at home. Anything can happen in one game, right?
The teams came out for the pregame warmup. The fans got louder. But there was no Reed. He had to have been far too hurt to play. Nervousness. A buzz. Excitement.
The fans started cheering, louder and louder. The announcers doing the pregame stopped mid-sentence, looking toward the tunnel leading to the locker rooms. The fans got even louder. Knicks announcer Marv Albert: "And here comes Willis!"
Bedlam.
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Imagine tearing a muscle in your right thigh, right at the top, near the hip. The last thing you'd want to do is move it, right? Most people would be laying in bed, not moving the leg at all - partially because of the pain, partially because it just physically couldn't move with a torn muscle. Now imagine having a torn thigh muscle, but being 6-foot-9 and weighing 250 pounds, then getting up from your chair in the locker room and walking down the tunnel to the court, dragging that useless leg behind you to join your team for warmups. Sound like a herculean task? Think that would inspire your teammates - and your team's fans - before the biggest game in franchise history?
Madison Square Garden didn't earn the nickname "The World's Most Famous Arena" lightly. It earned it. So when a poll came out asking people to name the most memorable moment in the arena's history, it carried some weight. The winner? The moment Willis Reed walked down that runway before Game 7. Not the game itself, mind you, but him simply joining his team for warmups.
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Reed scored the Knicks' first two baskets that game, almost literally dragging his leg down the floor to shoot a pair of jump shots. Then he came out of the game, too injured to go on. It didn't matter. Walt "Clyde" Frazier scored 36 points, Dave DeBusschere added 18, and the Knicks held Wilt to 21 on their way to a 113-99 victory. Willis Reed was named the Finals MVP. It didn't matter that he didn't play in Game 6 and only scored 4 in Game 7. He was the unquestioned MVP of that team. The moment Reed jogged onto that floor in pregame warmups, the Knicks had already won.
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