The ‘clash’ between Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing has lasted over the years and does not seem to end.
The center of the Hall of Fame lost to MJ for the first time in the 1982 national championship game, when Jordan hit the winning shot.
Hence, Ewing was eliminated from the Chicago playoffs on five occasions. In 1989, the Knicks lost to the Bulls. In 1992, the Knicks took the defending championships to seven games, but were blown away in the decisive race; in 1993, the Knicks achieved the best record in the East, but lost a 2-0 lead in the conference finals.
Only after Jordan’s first retirement, Ewing and the Knicks managed to outperform the bulls in seven games in the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals.
“I played 17 years, and as you said, six years we played against the Bulls six times,” said Ewing in ESPN’s “The Jump”. “We only managed to win one of those times and, unfortunately, it wasn’t there. So, he talked about garbage from the first day I met him, and he still keeps talking about garbage, telling me that I never beat him when it matters”.