Kings of the Garden - by Adam J Criblez (Hardcover)

About the Book

"During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the circumstances facing the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association mirrored events transpiring in New York City, when the Bronx burned and hip-hop culture developed from local Black and Latinx youth"--

Book Synopsis

In Kings of the Garden, Adam J. Criblez traces the fall and rise of the New York Knicks between the 1973, the year they won their last NBA championship, and 1985, when the organization drafted Patrick Ewing and gave their fans hope after a decade of frustrations.

During these years, the teams led by Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Bob McAdoo, Spencer Haywood, and Bernard King never achieved tremendous on-court success, and their struggles mirrored those facing New York City over the same span. In the mid-seventies, as the Knicks lost more games than they won and played before smaller and smaller crowds, the city they represented was on the brink of bankruptcy, while urban disinvestment, growing income inequality, and street gangs created a feeling of urban despair.

Kings of the Garden details how the Knicks' fortunes and those of New York City were inextricably linked. As the team's Black superstars enjoyed national fame, Black musicians, DJs, and B-boys in the South Bronx were creating a new culture expression--hip-hop--that like the NBA would become a global phenomenon. Criblez's fascinating account of the era shows that even though the team's efforts to build a dynasty ultimately failed, the Knicks, like the city they played in, scrappily and spectacularly symbolized all that was right--and wrong--with the NBA and the nation during this turbulent, creative, and momentous time.

Review Quotes

In writing this thoroughly researched and extensively footnoted volume, Criblez interviewed dozens of past Knicks players and executives. It's a handsome book, illustrated by 15 or so black-and-white photos, and will fit perfectly on your Knicks shelf.

-- "Posting and Toasting"

About the Author

Adam J. Criblez is Professor of History at Southeast Missouri State University and the author of Tall Tales and Short Shorts.