What if Ewing was healthy in 1999?

[sportjames23]

First of all, lebron was 22 at the time with the 2nd worst supporting cast of all time, besides the knicks in 1999 without ewing(funny how the spurs got lucky to also play them)
2007: 22 7 and 7 but inefficient as ****, 36%. but gooden was their 2nd best scorer with 13 pts lmfao. hughes was 1-10 in the series...yes u read that right. Big z put up 8 pts on 35%. Not like anyone on cleveland even showed up. Lebron was doubled or they packed the entire paint and put 2-3 guys to also play help d on him.


The Spurs beat that Ewing-less Knicks team 4-1. IIRC, a few of the games were close, with the Knicks almost forcing Game 6. How would they have done vs the Spurs with Ewing playing? Would Ewing have gotten his ring then?

[Real14]

It would be closer than people think. Knicks would win.

[Reggie43]

How I wish he was healthy in the '99 ECF. That would mean lesser minutes for Camby who killed the Pacers and was probably the Mvp in that series.

[Droid101]

Uh... the Ewing theory is a thing because of that year.

no way they do any better than they did

[MJistheGOAT]

Are we talking about peak Ewing or past his prime-old 99' Ewing??

[sportjames23]

Are we talking about peak Ewing or past his prime-old 99' Ewing??


99 Ewing.

[Dro]

They may have actually beat the Pacers fair and square instead of a bogus 4 point play......

[sportjames23]

They may have actually beat the Pacers fair and square instead of a bogus 4 point play......


LOL, that was bogus, even if I wanted the Knicks to win that series. Still, no way the Pacers should have lost that series with Ewing not playing.

I remember that season, the media made a big deal because during the lockout, the Pacers players got together to workout and no other team was doing that. ESPN and the rest made it seem like the Pacers had an edge on all other teams and were driven by their loss to the Bulls the previous season. Pacers fans were hyped as shit, and rightly so.

[Dro]

LOL, that was bogus, even if I wanted the Knicks to win that series. Still, no way the Pacers should have lost that series with Ewing not playing.

I remember that season, the media made a big deal because during the lockout, the Pacers players got together to workout and no other team was doing that. ESPN and the rest made it seem like the Pacers had an edge on all other teams and were driven by their loss to the Bulls the previous season. Pacers fans were hyped as shit, and rightly so.
Yeah, I felt would win the title that year. I thought we would beat SA...

[TheBigVeto]

The Spurs beat that Ewing-less Knicks team 4-1. IIRC, a few of the games were close, with the Knicks almost forcing Game 6. How would they have done vs the Spurs with Ewing playing? Would Ewing have gotten his ring then?

The Pacers would've won the championship.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Hmm... For some reason I can't recall hearing of the Ewing theory before.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1193711

Looked it up and I do know of the premise. Guess I just can't connect the name. It's actually pretty close to "empty stats" tbh.

Anyway. He uses 1998 Utah as an example. What really happened was Andre Miller took on a bigger role in 1998 and turned out to be more valuable to the basketball team than KVH.

There's a reason why Marino retired after 99. It's because he was garbage by the last season of his career. And the Dolphins made it as far with him at 5% of what he used to be as they did with Fiedler the following season.

1999 Rams were better with Kurt Warner because Warner is a HOFer and Trent Green was merely a good starting QB (who didn't even peak until about 3 seasons later in his career).


Then his predictions (albeit, they're predictions...) weren't very good either.

Pats were better off after Bledsoe went down. Yeah. He was replaced with one of the 2 or 3 greatest QBs ever. That's why.

VT went 8-4 following Vick's departure. They were 11-1 with him.

Kings weren't better after Webber. Nor were the Raptors after Vince. Kobe won after Shaq. Manning eventually won a SB in Indy.

And those are only the holes in the theory based on what I know off the top of my head. Don't follow like half the sports he mentioned.

I do think the Ewing Theory has some legs, tho, if it means a worse, bigger name, player (either less talented or aging) is replaced with a better one. Just wanted to go over an older article with predictions by someone who made a much bigger name for himself over the last 15 years.

[Round Mound]

Ewing is a champion to me no matter if he won a ring or not. He was a warrior: great defensively, among the goat shot blockers, great post game, the best shooting touch for a center and solid rebounder. Ewing battled as hard as he could and his plastic knees just couldnt make him sustain it for longer :cry:

[Legends66NBA7]

The Spurs are still winning the title.

[GreggPopazit]

He would have helped, but Spurs still win. Ewing was already a shell of his former self. In the playoffs before he was out, he was getting OK rebounds (nearly 9 per), but his shot blocking ability was already gone (0.7 bpg) and he was only shooting 43% for 13ppg.

[kennethgriffin]

duncans career could have went in the opposite direction had:


ewing been healthy in 1999

kobe and shaq been healthy and if horry could have made 1 shot in 2003

kobe and shaq been still together, horry not make that shot in 2005

spurs not having a free title with mavs 1st round exit and cleveland matchup in 2007


or had the spurs not rigged the deck with pay cuts and gone up against a baby with cramps while every other star in the league was injured the past few years in 2014

[kennethgriffin]

Ewing is a champion to me no matter if he won a ring or not. He was a warrior: great defensively, among the goat shot blockers, great post game, the best shooting touch for a center and solid rebounder. Ewing battled as hard as he could and his plastic knees just couldnt make him sustain it for longer :cry:



and this is why nobody can take you seriously. youre just as bad as ESPN for voting lebron the top champion performer at the espys this year


:oldlol:

[imdaman99]

Knicks likely get 1 more game in the Finals. I don't see them beating the Spurs, it's not as if Ewings knees were not already shot. I remember seeing Zo driving around him for an emphatic dunk a few times a game. Spurs in 6. 99 was not a what if year for them, it was 94 :(

[SCdac]

They'd be better, but how much is debatable. Ewing's #'s had dipped in the playoffs leading up to his injury.

mind you, the Spurs also beat teams with: Shaq, Garnett, and Sheed Wallace

Duncan averaged 29 PPG , 11 RPG , 2 BPG , .51 FG% / .81 FT% to sweep the Lakers out of the playoffs

In their last 25 games going into the playoffs Spurs were 21-4 and they had an elite, grind em out type defense.

[smoovegittar]

As much as I love Pat, there was no answer for Timmy. Robinson would've kept Ewing busy; Who's gonna handle a prime Duncan.

Now, give me a healthy LJ and it's a much closer series.

[bizil]

I wise Pat could have got Spree and Houston AT HIS PEAK! I really think that peak Pat would have won a ring with Spree and Houston. The Knicks EASILY had the better frontcourt than the Bulls back in the day. But their perimeter scoring punch left a lot to be desired.

In 1999, I just think it was the Spurs time to start winning. The Spurs beat the Knicks 4-1. Ewing was past his prime and I don't think he would have been enough to get the Knicks over the hump. The Twin Towers at that point were too beast! Even with it allowed Robinson to COMFORTABLY be the team's second best player.

[CeilingFan#1]

duncans career could have went in the opposite direction had:


ewing been healthy in 1999

kobe and shaq been healthy and if horry could have made 1 shot in 2003

kobe and shaq been still together, horry not make that shot in 2005

spurs not having a free title with mavs 1st round exit and cleveland matchup in 2007


or had the spurs not rigged the deck with pay cuts and gone up against a baby with cramps while every other star in the league was injured the past few years in 2014


You dumb.

[SouBeachTalents]

duncans career could have went in the opposite direction had:


ewing been healthy in 1999

kobe and shaq been healthy and if horry could have made 1 shot in 2003

kobe and shaq been still together, horry not make that shot in 2005

spurs not having a free title with mavs 1st round exit and cleveland matchup in 2007


or had the spurs not rigged the deck with pay cuts and gone up against a baby with cramps while every other star in the league was injured the past few years in 2014


Lol, you can do this for literally every player

[K Xerxes]

Lol, you can do this for literally every player

What if Kobe never got to play with Shaq?

What if reigning FMVP Duncan didn't get injured in 00?

What if 2002 WCF wasn't rigged?

What if KG didn't get injured in 09?

What if Perkins didn't get injured for game 7?

What if some random guy made more shots against the Lakers?