According to Anthony Mason Jr., his dad went down fighting.
Of course he did, because anyone who watched Anthony Mason scratch and claw his way to the NBA, and anyone who saw him battle on those great Knicks teams of the 1990s, had to know that he would fight to the bitter end.
Sadly, the end came a few weeks after Mason, only 48, was stricken with a massive heart attack. He had been battling congestive heart failure and was in need of a heart transplant.
"As you all would expect our father — Big Mase — put up an incredible fight, dealing with a severe heart issue," Anthony Mason Jr. said in a statement on Saturday.
"Overnight New York City and the world lost a legend, a friend, a brother," he said.
Athough he was never the biggest star on the Knicks during his five seasons playing for his hometown team, "Mase" personified the team. Tough as they come. Gritty. His jump shot had a hitch in it, so it was never a thing of beauty. But he could pass with the best of them and his ball-handling skills were as good as they get.
He also captured the hearts of New Yorkers with his bruising style and blue-collar work ethic that came straight off the playgrounds of Springfield Gardens, Queens.
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You know what else Knick fans loved about Big Mase? He never short-changed his team when it came to effort. Not one time.
"You remember how coach Riley had some high standards," former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy told me over the phone on Saturday from Chicago, where he’ll provide analysis for ABC on Sunday’s Bull-Clippers game. "Well, I don’t remember one time in a practice where coach Riley ever got on Anthony for an effort-related thing. He always played and he always practiced and he always did both incredibly hard."
Today’s players, including some big stars who like to take days off for rest every so often, should give the kind of effort on a daily basis that Mason always did.
"Amen," Van Gundy told me.
Right off the top, you had to admire Mason for the route he took to becoming an All-Star in 2001, when he was reunited with Pat Riley down in Miami. He was drafted by Portland with the 53rd pick in 1988 out of Tennessee State, so to start with, he wasn’t exactly on the fast track for what would become a 13-year NBA career.
Initially, there were stints playing overseas in Turkey and Venezuela. Then he was back in the U.S. playing in the Continental Basketball Association. Then a brief stint over in the Meadowlands with the Nets. Then he got to live his dream and play for the Knicks, starting in 1991 when he first made the team, and then three years later helping it to make the '94 Finals.
"To me, what stands out about Anthony was that incredible perseverance he showed," Van Gundy said. "Not getting drafted very high. Bouncing around the minor leagues. And then finding his way to make a team. Then making the main rotation. Then becoming the Sixth Man Award winner. Then an All-Star. That’s an incredible journey."
Once Riley left for Miami and Don Nelson was hired to take over, Mason’s path took a most unlikely turn. Although Patrick Ewing was still very much in his prime and a perennial MVP candidate, Nelson turned to Mason as his point forward and ran his offense through him. Ewing didn’t like it much and that figured in Nelson lasting only 59 games in his one and only season coaching in New York.
Even when Mason was leading the league in minutes played and setting a Knicks' record in that department, he never liked it when Nelson would take him out of games, even for a breather. He would usually walk to the bench and shoot Nelson a mean look.
"He was like Allen Iverson in that way," Van Gundy said. "He always felt he had been overlooked and he was never satisfied."
But No. 14 was never overlooked by the New York fans. They missed him dearly when he was traded to Charlotte, although the player who came back in the deal, Larry Johnson, quickly turned into a fan favorite. But the Knicks fan who remembers the Riley years and the seven-game Finals series against the Rockets absolutely adored Anthony Mason.
That love affair didn’t end with Mason's death. It only grew stronger.
-- 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.
