Editing New York Knicks (section)

====1991–1996: the Pat Riley/Don Nelson years====
After the conclusion of the season, MacLeod left the team to become the head coach at the [[University of Notre Dame]]. President [[David Checketts]] reached out to [[Pat Riley]], who was working as a [[Sports commentator|commentator]] for the [[National Broadcasting Company]] (NBC), to see if he was interested in returning to coaching. Riley accepted the Knicks proposition on May 31, 1991.<ref name="Riley challenge">{{cite news |title=Basketball;Now the Hard Part for Riley: Coaching Knicks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/01/sports/basketball-now-the-hard-part-for-riley-coaching-knicks.html?scp=5&sq=Pat+riley&st=nyt |work=The New York Times |author=Brown, Clifton |date=June 1, 1991 |access-date=January 13, 2012 |archive-date=March 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306021616/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/01/sports/basketball-now-the-hard-part-for-riley-coaching-knicks.html?scp=5&sq=Pat+riley&st=nyt |url-status=live}}</ref> Riley, who coached the Lakers to four NBA titles during the 1980s, implemented a rough and physical style emphasizing defense.<ref name="Riley challenge"/> Under Riley, the team, led by Ewing and guard [[John Starks (basketball player)|John Starks]], who scored 24 points per game and 13.9 points per game respectively, improved to a 51–31 record, tying them for first place in the Atlantic Division.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Starks |url=http://www.nba.com/playerfile/john_starks/bio.html |publisher=National Basketball Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131153505/http://www.nba.com/playerfile/john_starks/bio.html |archive-date=January 31, 2009 |access-date=January 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="92 Riley">{{cite web |title=1991–92 New York Knicks Roster and Statistics |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/1992.html |publisher=Basketball Reference |access-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111041237/http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/1992.html |url-status=live}}</ref> After defeating the Pistons in the first round of [[1992 NBA playoffs|the playoffs]], the team faced the Bulls, losing the series 4–3 in seven games.<ref name="92 Riley"/> The [[1992–93 NBA season|1992–93 season]] proved to be even more successful, as the Knicks won the Atlantic Division with a 60–22 record. Before the season, the Knicks traded [[Mark Jackson (basketball)|Mark Jackson]] to the [[Los Angeles Clippers]] for [[Charles Smith (basketball, born 1965)|Charles Smith]], [[Doc Rivers]], and [[Bo Kimble]] while also acquiring [[Rolando Blackman]] from the [[Dallas Mavericks]]. After defeating the [[Indiana Pacers]] and [[Charlotte Hornets]] in the first two rounds of the [[1993 NBA playoffs|playoffs]], the Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference finals, where once again they met the Bulls. After taking a 2–0 series lead, the Knicks lost the next four games.

After the Bulls' [[Michael Jordan]] made what would be his first retirement from basketball prior to the [[1993–94 NBA season|1993–94 season]], many saw this as an opportunity for the Knicks to finally make it to the NBA Finals. The team, who acquired [[Derek Harper]] in a midseason trade with the [[Dallas Mavericks]], once again won the Atlantic Division with a 57–25 record. In [[1994 NBA playoffs|the playoffs]], the team played a then NBA-record 25 games (the [[Boston Celtics]] played 26 games in the [[2008 NBA playoffs|2008 playoffs]]); they started by defeating the [[New Jersey Nets]] in the first round before finally getting past the Bulls, defeating them in the second round in seven games. In the Eastern Conference Finals, they faced the [[Indiana Pacers]], who at one point held a three games-to-two lead. They had this advantage thanks to the exploits of [[Reggie Miller]], who scored 25 fourth-quarter points in Game 5 to lead the Pacers to victory. However, the Knicks won the next two games to reach their first NBA Finals since 1973.

In [[1994 NBA Finals|the finals]], the Knicks would play seven low-scoring, defensive games against the [[Houston Rockets]]. After splitting the first two games in Houston, the Knicks would win two out of three games at [[Madison Square Garden]], which also hosted the [[New York Rangers]] [[Curse of 1940|first Stanley Cup celebration in 54 years]] following their win over the [[Vancouver Canucks]] in Game 7 of [[1994 Stanley Cup Finals|their finals]] during the series. (A Knicks win would have made the Garden the first building to host a Cup winner and an NBA champ in the same season.) In Game 6, however, a last-second attempt at a game-winning shot by Starks was tipped by Rockets center [[Hakeem Olajuwon]], giving the Rockets an 86–84 victory and forcing a Game 7. The Knicks lost Game 7 90–84, credited in large part to Starks's dismal 2-for-18 shooting performance and Riley's stubborn refusal to bench Starks, despite having bench players who were renowned for their shooting prowess, such as [[Rolando Blackman]] and [[Hubert Davis]] available. The loss denied New York the distinction of having both NBA and NHL championships in the same year. Nevertheless, the Knicks had gotten some inspiration from [[Mark Messier]] and the Rangers during the finals.

The next year, the Knicks were second place in the Atlantic Division with a 55–27 record. The team defeated the [[Cleveland Cavaliers]] before facing the Pacers again in the second round. The tone for the Knicks–Pacers series was set in Game 1, as Miller once again became a clutch nuisance to the Knicks by scoring eight points in the final 8 seconds of the game to give the Pacers a 107–105 victory. The series went to a Game 7, and when [[Patrick Ewing]]'s last-second [[finger roll]] attempt to tie the game missed, the Pacers clinched the 97–95 win. Riley resigned the next day,<ref>{{cite web |date=1995-06-16 |title=Pat Out Of Control Riley Resigns As Knicks Coach In Management Power Fight |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/1995/06/16/pat-out-of-control-riley-resigns-as-knicks-coach-in-management-power-fight/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |work=New York Daily News}}</ref> and the Knicks hired [[Don Nelson]] as their new head coach.

While Nelson had been a successful coach before joining the Knicks, his offensive-oriented [[Nellie Ball]] philosophy failed to mesh with the team, and during the [[1995–96 NBA season|1995–96 season]], Nelson was fired after 59 games, and, instead of going after another well-known coach, the Knicks hired longtime assistant [[Jeff Van Gundy]], who had no prior experience as a head coach. Van Gundy, who restored the team's defense-first style of his mentor Pat Riley, went 13–10 the rest of the way. The Knicks ended up with a 47–35 record that year, and swept the Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual champion Bulls (who had an NBA record 72 wins in the regular season) in five games.