Dude brought the Knicks to 2 Finals trips. You can argue that he wasn’t putting up the same numbers in 1999 but he was old; superstars centers from his era like The Dream and The Admiral were also pretty much busted by 1999.

In the 1994 run, the Knicks could had won the title if not for that Hakeem block and John Starks playing horribly overall. Yes, Ewing shot the ball horribly at .363 (raw), but he was never acclaimed as an offensive superstar anyway. He was always known to be a defensive beast. Hakeem averaged 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 blocks while Ewing 12.4 and 4.3. I’m not saying that Ewing played better than Hakeem; just that defensively, Ewing was still pulling his weight.

The Bulls acknowledged that the Knicks were their nemesis and the toughest nuts to crack in their title runs. Not anyone else, but the Knicks that were led by Ewing. Obviously there is no pity trophy for runner-ups, but there can only be one winning team and basketball is also a team sport; no matter how good Ewing was, he still need his teammates to be good enough.