53f loor if the shot went in. Championship parade planners
in New York were on the phone with Tiffany & Co., ready
to commission a trophy ice sculpture if the Knicks won the
game. New York trainer Mike Saunders—who’d had a stash
of champagne “confiscated” by Rockets security staffers,
who then sold the bottles back to him—would need to
rush into the locker room to prepare a bubbly celebration.
But then the shot that couldn’t miss came up extremely
short. Olajuwon had grazed the shot with his fingernail,
doing just enough to change the arc of the jumper and NBA
history. And no matter how hard Starks tried, nothing—not
even prayer—would allow him to forget the play.U
PON ARRIVING AT The Summit for Game 7, Starks,
tea mmate A nt hony Bonner a nd Pastor John Love sought
out a space to hold pregame invocation. But arena staffers
told them that every single one of the building’s meeting
rooms was occupied. Except for one: Houston’s weight room.
So the trio held hands and formed a circle in the midst of
the strength equipment. Love, the longtime team chaplain,
closed his eyes and thanked God for bringing the group
together. He expressed gratitude for getting the Knicks
to Houston safely and allowing them to advance as far as
they had. He asked God to keep the players safe and to
help each of them play to the best of his abilities.
“In the grand scheme of things, it’s fair to say the last
part of the prayer didn’t work,” Love says now.
Impacted by his lack of sleep, Starks played a brutal first
half. He lost track of his defensive responsibilities multiple
times and had three early fouls, forcing him to the bench
before the break. Still, despite him shooting just 1-for-5 in
the half, New York was close, down just 45–43 at halftime.
If the Knicks hoped that time in the locker room would
calm Starks down, it didn’t. If anything, it made him think
even more about what wasn’t going right. So when he
came back out to start the second half, the brickfest only
intensified. His first try of the third quarter, a long triple,
was way too strong, drilling the backboard before coming
off the rim. The next try missed, too, making him 1-for-7.
“Starks has had many nights like this over the course
of the year, where he’ll try to shoot himself back into the
game after struggling. That’s been the case here tonight,”
NBC announcer Marv Albert said.There was a window for Starks to feed the ball to Ewing,
but it was tight. And Starks wasn’t a pinpoint passer.
He struggled so mightily at times with feeding the ball
into Ewing during practices that Riley would often halt
practice completely until he accomplished it. “We’re not
going anyf---ingwhere til John gets the ball into Patrick!”
Riley would shout.
So between Starks having committed a turnover on a
pass to Ewing a couple of plays before and the fact that
Starks had connected on six shots in a row in that fourth
quarter, he decided against forcing the pass, instead opting
to take matters into his own hands. As he left his feet and
launched what could have been an iconic shot from the
wing, he had full confidence it was going down.
As the ball hung in the air, so much else hung in the bal-
ance with it. A Starter brand executive stood in the arena
tunnel with a bag full of knicks world champions
hats and shirts that would need to be distributed on the
FEBRUARY 2022Copyright © 2022 by
Chris Herring. From the book
BLOOD IN THE GARDEN:
The Flagrant History
of the 1990s New York Knicks
by Chris Herring, published
by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Printed by permission.(^19)
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