Great post HomeTheaterGuy.
I have a feeling many of these JVG supporters weren't around for the Ewing-Riley era. I've seen it since 92.
For the simple fact.... How can they act as if QVG (QuitterVanGundy) "Brang DEFENCE back to NY" lmao NY always ranked as top 1-7 D's under Riley & Ewing. QVG took over for a franchise that was ALREADY great on defense for well over 10 years.
Your also correct... At LEAST 50% of NY fans wanted JVG gone for two reasons. 1) Lack of offensive production. 2) Failed to lead a STACKED roster of Ewing, LJ, Camby, Herb, Dudley, Sprewell, Houston, Ward & Childs to anything better than an 8th seed during the years of MJ & the Bulls as a thing of the past & Reggie & INDY aging over night. Knick fans were not accepting the fact that this coach couldn't have us as top 3 contenders after years of competing under Riley against great CHI & Indy teams! You think the MDA hate is bad? lol imagine being the 8th seed after fans were EXPECTING Riley-Ewing-Oakley-Mason-Starks types of contenders!
STACKED?!?!?!?!
Sometimes your memory of what happened back then seems really selective
Ewing - injured for over half the playoffs
LJ - was not a great player in NY averaged about 12 points for us was never an all star with the Knicks
Dudley - LOL
Sprewell - SF in his first season as a Knick... ring any bells?
Houston - great player
Ward - not even a top 10 pg
Childs - not even a top 20 pg
So, you can argue that we had 3 all stars on our roster (Ewing, Houston, Sprewell) one of whom and our best player had very little impact on the 1999 playoffs due to missing everything from game 5 vs the Heat onwards.
Also you seem to forget JVG BUILT that NY roster of Houston, Sprewell, Camby, Ward, Larry Johnson and most of those moves received HUGE criticism. Sprewell's last move in the NBA before we acquired him was choking out P J Carlesimo... Larry Johnson was always a controversial player with his outspoken religion and had issues with many teammates in his short career... Charlie Ward was still Derek Harpers backup when JVG took over.#
I don't even know what you're trying to say about the 8th seed but whatever it is, is incorrect. We were 8th seed once under JVG in 1999, and JVG's playoff runs went like this:
96 playoffs: lost to the 72 win Bulls in JVG's first EVER season as a head coach
97 playoffs: lost to the Heat after leading 3-1 due to the suspension of Ward, Ewing, LJ, Houston and Starks
98 playoffs: Ewing out for half of the season and half of the playoffs, still beat the Heat but lost to the Pacers who actually were a STACKED team
99 playoffs: NBA finals, Ewing out for most of the playoffs
2000: lost in ECF finals
Damn yeah, its not like his record is 100 times better than MDA, or that he traded for players who would go down in the memories of Knicks fans forever right?