1994–95 New York Knicks season

The 1994–95 NBA season was the 49th season for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association. The Knicks entered the season as runner-ups of the 1994 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Houston Rockets in seven games.

During the off-season, the Knicks acquired Doug Christie from the Los Angeles Lakers. In the 1994 NBA draft, the team selected small forward Monty Williams out of Notre Dame University with the 24th overall pick, and selected point guard Charlie Ward out of Florida State University with the 26th overall pick. However, Christie only played twelve games, because of an ankle injury, and Ward only played ten games due to a wrist injury. In December, the team released Doc Rivers to free agency; Rivers later signed as a free agent with the San Antonio Spurs.

The Knicks had a 12–12 start to the regular season, but then won 17 of their next 19 games, held a 30–16 record at the All-Star break, and finished in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 55–27 record, finishing two games behind the top-seeded Orlando Magic, who won the Division title. By earning the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks qualified for the NBA playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.

Patrick Ewing averaged 23.9 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, finished in fourth place in Most Valuable Player voting, and was selected for the 1995 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona, while John Starks averaged 15.3 points and 5.1 assists per game, and led the league with 217 three-point field goals, becoming the first player ever to reach up to 200 three-pointers in a single season. In addition, Charles D. Smith provided the team with 12.7 points and 1.3 blocks per game, while Derek Harper contributed 11.5 points and 5.7 assists per game, along with 106 three-point field goals. Sixth man Anthony Mason averaged 9.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game off the bench, and was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year. Meanwhile, Charles Oakley only played just 50 games this season due to a toe injury, averaging 10.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, while off the bench, three-point specialist Hubert Davis contributed 10.0 points per game and 131 three-point field goals, and Greg Anthony provided with 6.1 points and 2.6 assists per game.

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1995 NBA playoffs, the Knicks faced off against the 6th–seeded Cleveland Cavaliers; despite losing Game 2 at home to the Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden, 90–84, the Knicks won the next two games on the road to win the series, three games to one, and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.

In the Semi-finals, the Knicks faced off against the 2nd–seeded Indiana Pacers for the third consecutive year; despite the Pacers being the #2 seed in the East, and also winning the Central Division title, the Knicks had home-court advantage in this series, since they had a better regular-season record than the Pacers. The Pacers defeated the Knicks in Game 1, 107–105, as Reggie Miller scored eight points in the final 18.7 seconds to bring the Pacers back from a six-point deficit. The Pacers gained a 3–1 series edge, before the Knicks won two straight games to force a seventh game at Madison Square Garden. With the Knicks down by two points in the final seconds, Ewing had a chance to send the game to overtime, but missed his driving layup attempt, as the Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks finished sixth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 810,283 at Madison Square Garden during the regular season. Following the season, Pat Riley resigned as head coach after four seasons with the Knicks, and took over the coaching job with the Miami Heat, while Anthony was left unprotected in the 1995 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies expansion team, and Anthony Bonner was released to free agency, and left to play overseas in Italy.