Charles Oakley says that Patrick Ewing’s inability to intensify more in the 1993 playoff war against the Bulls and Michael Jordan cost the Knicks a trip to the Finals, not Charles Smith.
Former Bulls and Knicks defender Oakley watched the series The Last Dance, which he collected on Sunday focusing on the fierce rivalry of the Bulls-Knicks of the early 1990s.
In 1993 their epic Eastern Conference Finals streak was highlighted that the Bulls won in six games after the Knicks took a 2-0 lead. Jordan scored an average of 32.2 points in the series, during which it was roasted for a side trip to Atlantic City to play after the first game.
Oakley says he still talks to Jordan, his former teammate, from the series. The former Knicks power striker won’t block him on Smith, who blew up all those last-second rebounds in the broken Heart 5 critic, who would have given the Knicks a 3-2 lead as they tried to keep the Bulls from their first three-peat.
“Patrick would make a double team at the end of the game,” Oakley told The Post. “He would have faded into double teams and this would have hurt us as a team.”
