The 1990–91 New York Knicks season was the 45th season for the Knicks in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. In the off-season, the Knicks signed free agent John Starks, who played in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

the previous season. The Knicks changed their on-court leadership early in the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, as head coach Stu Jackson was fired, and replaced with John MacLeod after 15 games. After a 6–3 start to the season, the Knicks lost eight of their next nine games, and held a 20–27 record at the All-Star break. They recovered to a 34–33 record near the end of the season, but then went 5–10 in their last 15 games. New York finished in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 39–43 record, and earned the #8 seed in the Eastern Conference for the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is a basketball ambassador for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played most o ...

led the Knicks with 26.6 points, averaged 11.2 rebounds and led them with 3.2 blocks per game; he was named to the All-NBA Second Team, and was selected for the 1991 NBA All-Star Game in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. In addition, Kiki Vandeweghe finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 16.3 points per game, while

Gerald Wilkins Gerald Bernard Wilkins (born September 11, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a shooting guard/small forward, who played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and the University of Tennessee at Chattan ...

provided them with 13.8 points per game, and Charles Oakley led the team with 12.1 rebounds per game. Mark Jackson led the team with 6.3 assists per game, playing most of the season off the bench as backup point guard behind

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of ...

. In the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Knicks were swept in three straight games by

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

and the eventual NBA champion

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

. The Knicks had suffered a 41-point margin in a 126–85 Game 1 road loss to the Bulls. The Bulls would reach the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

and defeat the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in five games, winning their first-ever championship. The Knicks finished ninth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 654,962 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

during the regular season. Following the season, Cheeks was traded to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

, and

Trent Tucker Kelvin Trent Tucker (born December 20, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A shooting guard, Tucker attended the University of Minnesota from 1978 to ...

was dealt to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

. For the season, the Knicks slightly redesigned their uniforms, replacing their alternate "NY" logo on the left leg of their shorts with their current primary logo. These uniforms remained in use until 1992.

NBA draft

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot :z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 25 , @

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

L 85–126
, Kiki VanDeWeghe (19) , Charles Oakley (11) ,

(7) ,

Chicago Stadium Chicago Stadium was an indoor arena in Chicago from 1929 to 1995. When it was built, it was the largest indoor arena in the world with a maximum seating capacity of 26,000. It was the home of the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks and ...

18,676 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , April 28 , @

L 79–89
,

(24) , Ewing, Oakley (10) ,

(3) ,

18,676 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 3 , April 30 ,

L 94–103
, Ewing, VanDeWeghe (20) ,

(14) ,

(7) ,

18,021 , 0–3 , -

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and records

* The Knicks won the 1990 McDonald's Open by winning games against Italy's Scavolini Pesaro and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

's POP 84.

Season

was named to the

All-NBA Second Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

Transactions

References

External links

1990–91 New York Knickerbockers Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:1990-91 New York Knicks Season New York Knicks seasons

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

New York Knick 1990s in Manhattan