Patrick Ewing was upset last week when unwitting security staff at Madison Square Garden asked him for identification in the hallways of a building he called home for 15 years. They were unaware, apparently, that the former star of the Knicks, whose No. 33 hangs in tribute inside the famed arena, was the same man coaching the Georgetown men’s basketball team at the Big East Tournament there.
As a Hall of Fame player, Ewing was always easy to identify: He was the man in the middle, a force at both ends of the court who carved out one of the best careers — if not the best — of any Knick.