Former Knicks great Bernard King is like a lot of New Yorkers and basketball fans -- praying that Anthony Mason can recover from a massive heart attack.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news,’’ King told NBC 4 New York on Thursday morning at the Sheraton Midtown. “I just hope he can survive what apparently is very serious.’’
According to multiple reports and league sources, Mason, 48, is fighting for his life after undergoing multiple surgeries over the last few days. Veteran NBA writer Peter Vescey broke the news Wednesday about Mason, who had one All-Star season during a 13-year pro career and was one of the Knicks’ most popular players of the 1990s.
The Springfield Gardens, Queens, product had a fan-pleasing blue-collar work ethic and had come up from the minor leagues and also had played overseas basketball before finally making the NBA.
Mason won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award in 1994-95, a season after helping the Knicks reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973. The Knicks lost to the Rockets in seven games.
When Don Nelson succeeded Pat Riley in 1995-96 as head coach, Mason was at the center of a full-blown controversy. Nelson decided to make Mason the focal point of the Knicks’ attack, going away from perennial All-Star and the face of the franchise, Patrick Ewing. Nelson’s move was unpopular with Ewing and other Knicks and led to his removal as head coach only 59 games into his first and only season in New York.
“For Nelson to do that was amazing,’’ King told NBC 4 New York. “Patrick was still a dominant player in the league at that time. While Anthony was a very good player for the Knicks, Patrick was still one of the best players in the league.’’
Mason, a bruising power forward with a no-nonsense demeanor on the court, was later traded to Charlotte in the famous Larry Johnson deal that helped key the Knicks’ success in the late 1990’s, culminating with a trip to the NBA Finals in 1999, where the Knicks lost to the Spurs. That was the first of Tim Duncan's five title teams.
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Mason later played for Riley in Miami, becoming an All-Star in 2001 as an injury replacement for Grant Hill.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence.
