The Knicks: The Only Game in Town

At the risk of deepening the polarization that has rent our precarious democracy to the point of collapse, it must be said, categorically, that the most triumphant moment in the postwar history of New York sports came on the night of May 8, 1970, when the Knicks’ captain and center, Willis Reed, his injured right leg numbed with cortisone and Carbocaine, limped onto the court at Madison Square Garden and, with two precise yet floor-bound “jumpers,” ripped the heart out of the Los Angeles Lakers and propelled his team to victory in the deciding game of the N.B.A. Finals.