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Knicks fondly recall the championship they earned 50 years ago; unfortunately, they couldn't be honored for it

The Knicks defeated the Lakers, 113-99, at Madison Square Garden to win the NBA championship, led by head coach Red Holzman, WIllis Reed (#9), Dave Stallworth, and other Knicks on the bench on May 8, 1970. Credit: From the lens of George Kalinsky

The flights had been arranged, the phone calls made and the connections renewed. Fifty years after winning the first championship in franchise history, the members of the 1969-70 Knicks were going to be headed back to Madison Square Garden.

But even before the NBA suspended its season on March 11, the Knicks had to give in to the reality that flying a bunch of former players in their 70s (not to mention Dick Barnett, who is 83) from all reaches of the nation during a growing health crisis was a very bad idea.