HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you 90s knicks fans are the greatest. "probably could have beaten"=had shot after shot after shot and never did beat. Then again, knicks fans truly have convinced themselves that
Grocery Bagger Vance "dunked on" Michael Jordan.
Starks was not the most talented player Ewing ever played with, by the way. The knicks front office failed Pat in never getting him a top notch
#2 , but they were good at getting talented players who could execute their roles well within that ugly system of slowed down half-court offense and jail-yard defense they played under Riley.
D. Rob, corny as he seemed, led his team to a 12-7 record vs. Ewing's Knicks in head-to-head matchups and averaged 23 & 9 on 50% shooting while All Beef Patty put up 19.8 & 10 on 43% shooting.
Ewing at his absolute peak was a beast. But with those knees catching fire he became less of a defensive presence outside of being a strong help defender, and he fell too in love with him jumper which was great for a big man but still not an efficient enough shot.
It doesn't help that he and his game were aesthetically unpleasant. I truly believe a lot of people appreciated his less and rate him lower because he wore
Hammer Pants on his knees, lumbered up and down the court, always looked like he was
45 minutes into a sauna session, his box fade looked like it was rockin a v-neck, and he had that ugly ass sweep across the lane move. His dunks had no flair. He got dunked on time and again, including two of the most disrespectful dunks in the history on mankind. In the clutch against the Rockets it was Starks and not Ewing hoisting the ball; in the clutch against the Pacers, there was Ewing gracelessly missing a finger roll.
He was also one of the least relevant members of the Dream Team. I remember watching the Dream Team doc that came out last summer, there was a part where Jordan, Barkley, maybe Magic, and Ewing were being interviewed and the guy asks "with all these great players on one team, who takes the last shot?" and Ewing blurted out "Me." I got half a dozeen text messages from friends within minutes, all of them saying, essentially, "nikka, please." Ewing is kind of the prototype for a Level B superstar.
He's like the Gobots, and the MJs, Hakeems and even the Barkleys, Malones of the world were Transformers. Pat's swag levels were low and he looked like some kind of sweaty ass basketball Chewbacca out there, making those slow forays into the lane.
All that being said, he would feast on DuhWhite.