Knicks Legend Named Top Playoff Performer

The New York Knicks haven’t won the NBA Finals in over 50 years, but it’s tough to win a championship when you don’t have a guy like Walt “Clyde” Frazier on the court.

Frazier was the engineer of the offense behind the Knicks’ championships in 1970 and 1973, the only titles in franchise history until this point.

That’s why Bleacher Report writer Andy Bailey named Frazier the 25th-best playoff performer in NBA history.

“Walt Frazier’s raw numbers don’t leap off the screen quite like [Oscar] Robertson’s, but he won two titles. And for the second one, he was almost certainly the New York Knicks’ best player over the course of the postseason,” Bailey wrote. “Willis Reed won Finals MVP in 1973, but his playoff-long averages of 12.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists fell well shy of Frazier’s 21.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.2 assists. The big man in this duo may have gotten more accolades, but Frazier was the offensive engine. And even on a loaded team that included fellow Hall of Famers Dick Barnett, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley, he was capable of taking over a playoff game like few across history ever have.”

While the Knicks haven’t won since Frazier ran the offense, New York has a better statistical player on the roster right now in star point guard Jalen Brunson.

Brunson has averaged 30.3 points and 6.6 assists per game in 24 playoff games with the Knicks across two seasons. Those numbers are comfortably larger than Frazier’s, though Brunson benefits from having the 3-point line, something that wasn’t implemented in the NBA until 1979.

But Brunson’s success proves that the Knicks have someone who can lead them to a title. If the injury bug hadn’t stung the Knicks this year, it’s possible that they could have challenged the eventual champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

With Brunson just approaching his prime, the Knicks have to seize the opportunity and find a way to win during the team’s window. They are certainly capable if they can find the right pieces to put around him.

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