DENVER — The Knicks are in preliminary stages of organizing a 40th anniversary night at the Garden in February to celebrate the 1969-70 club that brought the franchise its first championship, The Post has learned. All players from that team will be invited, even current Lakers coach Phil Jackson, according to a source.
Forty years ago tomorrow, the Knicks won the last game of a then-NBA record 18-game winning streak. The Knicks got off to an incredible 23-1 start their championship year.
On Nov. 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving, the Knicks rallied from six points down in the final 16 seconds to beat the Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) for their 18th straight victory, moving them to 23-1.
Those are bittersweet memories for longtime Knicks fans, considering 40 years later the club is in the midst of the darkest era in franchise history, in shambles. The Knicks (3-12) are on track to post a club-record ninth straight losing season.
After getting blown out in Los Angeles and Sacramento, the Knicks finish their Western swing tonight in Denver.
“I feel sorry for the fans,” Knicks legend and MSG broadcaster Walt Frazier told The Post in Sacramento on Wednesday night. “The fans are so dedicated, so loyal. They deserve a winning team.”
Frazier, the linchpin of the 1969-70 champs, reminisced while wearing a smile ear to ear.
“Forty years later, we’re still talking about that team,” he said. “We’re not talking about the ’69 Mets. We cast a giant shadow over the organization.”
Indeed, the days of Frazier, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley still are on the lips of Knicks fans, who last celebrated a title in 1973. But few remember their 23-1 start in 1969.
“The fourth quarters, the starters were on the bench,” Frazier recalled. “We were blowing people out.”
Frazier made his first Sports Illustrated cover that November, with the headline: “Knicks blitz the NBA.”
“The story questioned whether we were that good because it was unprecedented,” Frazier said. “We should’ve been improved, but c’mon.
“That’s when we first started having sellouts. We were the hottest ticket in town on a Saturday night. The celebrities first started coming out, politicians also,” Frazier added. “Then we started noticing the crowds on the road, selling out on the road. We had the rock thing going. And that started ‘Clyde,’ kids wanted to see how I was going to be dressed. It got so bad we had to park the team bus on the inside of arenas like they do now.”
Forty years ago also marked the start of the famous Garden “De-Fense” chant, which was spawned because of the Knicks’ penchant for making fourth-quarter comebacks during the 18-game streak.
“They chanted ‘De-fense,’ but also stomped their feet so the Garden reverberated,” Frazier said.
The 1969-70 team made defense a Garden tradition — one being smashed nightly by the current Knicks, who are allowing 107.6 points per game (second worst in the NBA) and a league-worst 48.6 opponent shooting percentage.
Former coach Red Holzman must be turning in his grave. During the 18-game streak, Frazier noticed Red to be very quiet.
“When we’re winning Red doesn’t do or say anything,” Frazier said. “We put in our own plays. You ask Red, ‘Can we do this?’ ‘Sure.’ ”
Perhaps things will change at the Garden next July if they sign LeBron James with their league-high cap space. Kobe Bryant made an interesting statement this week in suggesting a basketball star has never played in New York.
“That city has never had that,” Bryant said. “They’ve never had a flashy or marquee guy. They’ve never had a star so this would be the first time. When you look back to the year they won championships, it’s always been a team effort.”
Frazier was not offended.
“He’s talking about a guy who stood out from the team,” Frazier said. “Because you can’t mention Frazier without Red, Bradley, DeBusschere. He’s talking about a guy like Jordan who is above the team.”