NBA All-Star Weekend: Top 10 Knicks moments of all-time

The Knicks will have two All-Stars playing in Sunday’s game in Los Angeles when Jalen Brunson takes the floor for the USA Stripes and Karl-Anthony Towns suits up for the World Team. It marks the first time in 51 years — since the era of Walt Frazier and Dave DeBusschere — that the Knicks have had multiple players in the main event.

All told, a Knick has been selected to play in an All-Star Game 102 times. Here’s a look at the top 10 Knicks moments from All-Star Weekend.

10. Carmelo Anthony, 2013

Anthony went to the All-Star Game in every one of his six seasons as a Knick and had multiple impressive performances. One of the best was in 2013 when he scored 26 points, shot 8-for-14 and was the game’s leading rebounder with 10. Chris Paul edged him out for MVP with his 20-points, 15-assist performance.

9. Kenny Walker, 1989

Walker became the first Knick to be crowned Slam Dunk champion, using a pair of 360-degree dunks to beat Clyde Drexler in the final round. Walker almost skipped the contest after his father died earlier that week but decided to participate and dedicated the performance to him.

8. Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks, 1994

The All-Star Game in Minneapolis marked the only time the Knicks have had three All-Stars since Frazier, DeBusschere and Bill Bradley went in 1973. This was the apex of the Pat Riley era, and later that year Ewing, Oakley and Starks led the Knicks to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. 

7. Amar’e Stoudemire, 2011

Talk about ending a dry spell. When Stoudemire was named a starter, it marked the first time a Knick had been voted into the game as a starter since Ewing was in 1992. Stoudemire did not disappoint as he and LeBron James both scored 29 points in the East team’s loss.

6. Bob McAdoo, 1977

In the first All-Star Game after the ABA/NBA merger, McAdoo notched 30 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals for the losing East team. Interestingly, he was beat out in All-Star MVP balloting by another Eastern Conference player — one of the rare times it has gone to a player on the losing team — as Julius Irving also scored 30 with 12 rebounds and four assists.

5. Nate Robinson, 2006, 2009 and 2010

In an era in which the Knicks were so bad that they went nine years without sending a player to the All-Star Game, the 5-9 Robinson gave the faithful something to cheer about by winning the Slam Dunk Contest three times. The most memorable has to be the first one, when Robinson brought 5-7 Spud Webb onto the court and dunked over him for a perfect 50 score.

4. Carmelo Anthony, 2014

Anthony scored 30 points and hit a then-record eight three-pointers to help secure a 163-155 record for the East.

3. Patrick Ewing, lifetime achievement

Ewing owns the Knicks’ record with 11 All-Star appearances. His performances in 1991, 1993 and 1994 are all impressive enough to make this list. The best statistically was in 1991, when he had 18 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and a steal. He was 8-for-10 from the field and hit both free-throw attempts. His most entertaining game came in 1994 when he battled against David Robinson, culminating in a much-played in-your-face dunk by Ewing. 

2. Walt Frazier, 1975

Clyde became the second and the last Knick to earn All-Star MVP honors after putting up 30 points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals. It was one of Frazier’s seven All-Star appearances, tying Reed for the second most in team history.

1. Willis Reed, 1970

This was the first step of Reed’s history-making season when he became the first player to win All-Star MVP, regular season MVP and NBA Finals MVP in the same year. Reed secured the All-Star MVP when he notched 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Eastern Conference to a 142-134 win.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.