As tough as it was when the Knicks failed in the 1994 NBA Finals against the Houston Rockets, Patrick Ewing took it just as hard when he was unable to play for his elusive ring with his teammates five years later.
The 11-time All-Star appeared on The Post’s “Big Apple Buckets” podcast this week and discussed a number of topics, revealing that he “popped” on the team bus when forced to give up on a five-game defeat. of the Knicks against the San Antonio Spurs in the ’99 finals due to an Achilles tendon injury sustained earlier in the postseason.
“It definitely would have been a tougher streak for them if I had been healthy,” Ewing said. “Marcus Camby and I would have been a terrific pair to go up against both Tim Duncan and David [Robinson], but it was tough because having to sit there and listen to all the noise that those fans were talking about was hard to bear. I actually broke down. I didn’t want anyone to see me, so I went on the team bus and collapsed because I wasn’t able to play and we were losing.”