Former Knick Bernard King took a timeout for some Q&A with Steve Serby before King’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction this weekend.
Q: What are you most proud of?
A: I’m most proud of the fact my wife and I raised a wonderful daughter. That’s what life is all about. In terms of basketball legacy, we could always point to back-to-back 50-point games, the 42 I averaged in the Piston playoff series, or the great year in ’84-85, or the 60 points (Christmas Eve against Nets). What stands out in my mind was what I was able to do at a time when players were not coming back from ACL injuries. I had my entire knee reconstructed. I was told I would never play again. I told myself, “I’m from Brooklyn. I’m from Fort Greene. I grew up on the toughest playgrounds in the world. In one of the toughest neighborhoods in the country, and I made it all the way to the NBA, and I rose to the top of my profession at that time. You don’t know my heart. If I could do that, this is nothing!” I set about the task of working to make it back at a level I could be satisfied with. I did that. To do that for five hours a day, six days a week for two straight years, and not once wavering, always having faith. … I did it. I became an All-Star again, and that was my goal.
Q: What made you so mean on the court?
A: Oh, no, not at all. If you speak to any guys in the league who knew me off the court, that certainly was not my personality, It may have exuded itself based on my demeanor. What you saw was an intensity and a passion for the game. There was only one way I knew how to play the game — that was all-out, with intensity, with aggressiveness, with passion. In terms of meanness, it may have been interpreted that way by you guys in the press (chuckle). I learned later, after I was done playing, that some guys didn’t want to defend me because of my game face.
Q: Dominique Wilkins, for example.
A: He told me he spoke to me, and I glared at him. I didn’t say a word (chuckle).
Q: How did it feel wearing the Knicks jersey for the first time at the Garden?
A: Every night was special to me. It was phenomenal to think that at one point in my young life, I was all the way at the top of the arena (chuckle). As a high school senior, when the All-City team was honored at halftime — against the Celtics, how apropos (laugh). I respected the legacy and the history of the Knicks, which I tried to honor with my play. Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Cazzie Russell, Dick Barnett, Mike Riordan, Jerry Lucas, Dean Meminger. Need I go on? I got goose bumps every night I put my uniform on. I wanted to ascend and take my game to another level for the fans of New York. I believe I accomplished that.
Q: Describe Hubie Brown.
A: Our personalities meshed. He didn’t have to say much to me verbally; I learned by listening to him. We were both passionate and intense people.
Q: Visualization?
A: Visualization was a very strong part of my game and still part of my life. I would visualize myself performing all my moves successfully. You can do that with anything in life.
Q: Regrets?
A: None. … I did not learn how to shoot the 3-point shot (laugh).
Q: What about not getting a chance to play with Patrick Ewing?
A: I thought we’d have won a championship together, and that’s my only regret. I would have had no problem integrating my skills with Patrick because it would have been his team.
Q: Describe the playoff series against Isiah Thomas’ Pistons in 1984.
A: It was very kind of Isiah to call me and congratulate me on my induction into the Hall of Fame. … What I remember is I’m playing that entire series with two dislocated fingers. I probably would have been sat down if it was the regular season. But my teammates depended on me. In that fifth game, I had the flu. I did not participate in the shootaround that morning. But nothing was going to keep me from playing. My father went to work every day even when he was sick. I went to work when I was sick. … How do you score 16 points in [94] seconds [as Isiah did]? If I had to go out to the court on my own in my playing days, there’s no way if I put a clock on it I’m going to score 16 points in [94] seconds from all the areas of the court he was shooting from. I always thought of myself as a pressure player. I was willing to accept pressure. If you’re the No. 1 offensive force on your team, you better be there down the stretch.
Q: Tell the story of how Hubie diagrammed the last shot in Game 5 for Bill Cartwright.
A: I have never ever in my basketball life questioned a coach on any level. You don’t question the coach. You’re a player, you play. I’m averaging over 42 points a game. and the game is on the line. If we’re going to win this game, I’m going to take the shot. If we’re going to lose this game, I’m going to take the shot. You don’t do that breaking the play. I said [in the huddle], “Hubie, do I have the right to take it myself?” He did not respond. So I said it louder: “Hubie, do I have the right to take it myself?” Ultimately, he looked up from his board and said: “Yeah.” Earl Cureton defended me. The season was on the line for both organizations. He said, “Come on, bring it on!” I didn’t think about it, but I heard it. I wasn’t going to change what I was going to do. I dribbled, and I did something I ordinarily don’t do — I put the ball between my legs just to throw his rhythm off. He was 6-10. I drove left to slow his lateral movement down, took two dribbles, I faded and I shot, and fortunately for our team it went in.
Q: The Bernie and Ernie Grunfeld Show at Tennessee.
A: It was a show (laugh)! He and I had the best chemistry of any ballplayer I ever played with on any level.
Q: Why was that?
A: You cannot create chemistry. It had to exist naturally. I did not have to look to find out where Ernie was going to be on the court. And the same with Ernie. We shared the ball.
Q: Your daughter Amina is 15.
A: She’s an excellent student. She doesn’t care for basketball at all (chuckle). She runs track. She loves to have a smile in her face. She’s just a wonderful person.
Q: You are now a partner in Gerald Briffa’s StarPassSports.com.
A: I head up the basketball side.
Q: What will your emotions be during Sunday’s Hall of Fame ceremony?
A: You can never predict emotions. I have a great deal of respect for the Hall of Fame, and I’m ecstatic about it. For a young kid who grew up in New York City, specifically Brooklyn, New York, and to have worked my way from the playgrounds around all of New York City to the pinnacle of basketball, is just pretty remarkable in my mind. I would not be here today without my teammates and the coaches I played for. You don’t do this alone.