NBA 75: Thanks to Willis Reed, Walt Frazier had the greatest Game 7 you may not know about

May 31, 2024

Welcome to the NBA 75, The Athletic’s countdown of the 75 best players in NBA history, in honor of the league’s diamond anniversary. We also will run features such as this one to complement certain players and moments throughout our series.

It’s impossible to miss Walt “Clyde” Frazier. He is a supernova of cool. He has the swag of a Motown act, a Blaxploitation star, a New York hoop legend, new money and the uncle you want to be, all rolled into one package. The soles of his gators are made of clouds, his words dance to the beat of a rhythm of the night. Christmas lights bow to his shine. You don’t miss Frazier.

During the NBA Finals, legendary MSG photographer George Kalinsky, at the airport in Los Angeles, captured one of his most memorable shots of Frazier. He wore a tailored gray suit with horizontal darker gray stripes thicker than his mutton chops. His white fedora with the black hat band matched his white patent leather shoes with the black tips. The black and white patterned cravat around his neck set off was the perfect finish touch for the outfit. Kalinsky remembers it because everyone in the airport was staring at Frazier. It began Kalinsky’s fascination with photographing the Knicks point guard. He was drawn in by the magnetism. People couldn’t take their eyes off Frazier.

That’s the irony of Frazier’s greatest game getting overlooked. In the basketball world’s fascination with big performances that meet the big moments, somehow Frazier’s epic display gets lost. In a Game 7 of the NBA Finals, with six other future Hall of Famers on the court — including names that get no bigger in Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West — it was Frazier who dominated. It was Frazier who rose to the moment: 36 points, 19 assists, seven rebounds and five steals.

Yet, in his most stunning display, he was outshined. The lens of people’s attention was pointed away from his brightness. The storyline, the drama, the lion’s share of the awe, was consumed by Willis Reed, the epicenter of the Knickerbockers’ world. Even after the game, after Frazier had put in a performance worthy of exaltation, all of the attention was on Reed. Frazier’s performance was a footnote in one of the NBA’s all-time dramatic moments.

But Frazier’s performance deserves its own spotlight.

Only 47 players in NBA history have scored 35 points or more in any Game 7. Only eight have done it in an NBA Finals Game 7: West (twice), Baylor, Bob Pettit, Tom Heinson, LeBron James, James Worthy and Frazier.

Only 21 players in NBA history have recorded 13 assists or more in any Game 7. Only three have done it in an NBA Finals Game 7: Magic Johnson (twice), Cousy and Frazier.

Only two plays can claim to be on both lists — Luka Dončić and Frazier. Only one of them did it in the NBA Finals.

This game should be as synonymous with Frazier’s name as his Uptown style, for his performance popped as much as any animal print suit he’s ever worn.

The setting

Reed came into the Finals having been named NBA MVP, having led the 60-win Knicks to the best record in the 14-team league. Reed also earned his fourth All-NBA designation in 1970, his debut on the first team, and made All-NBA defense for the first time. Months earlier, he became the first Knick to win All-Star MVP, a symbol of how the second-round pick and 1965 Rookie of the Year had grown into a superstar. He was the stud big man as the Knicks made their first postseason in eight years, then their first winning season in nine years. Then the Knicks added Dave DeBusschere and won their first playoff series in 16 years.

This was a big deal for the Knicks because the NBA was christening a new era — the post-Bill Russell era. The Celtics legend retired after winning the 1969 NBA Finals, ousting the Knicks twice, in ‘67 and ‘69 along the way. His departure opened up the possibility for someone else to take the NBA throne. This felt like the Knicks’ window to get the franchise’s first title.

In the 1970 playoffs, Reed outdueled Baltimore Bullets star Wes Unseld in the first round and then held his own against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the East finals, propelling the Knicks to the championship round for the first time since 1953, where they lost to the Minneapolis Lakers. This time they took on the Los Angeles Lakers. In the first four games of the 1970 NBA Finals, Chamberlain had his hands full. Reed averaged 31.7 points and 15 rebounds as the series went back to New York, 2-2.

But in Game 5, Reed injured two muscles in his right leg on a drive in the lane eight minutes into the game. The Knicks went on to win Game 5, but Reed was sidelined for Game 6 and Chamberlain dominated: 45 points and 27 rebounds. It set up arguably the most intense anticipation for an NBA Finals game ever. It was a winner-take-all game. It was in the new Madison Square Garden, the $38-million, fourth iteration of the arena that just opened a year earlier. It was against literal and figurative basketball giants. And it was unclear if Reed could play.

The Knicks championship hopes took a blow when Reed was injured in Game 5 of the 1970 NBA Finals. (Bettmann / Getty Images)

Such was the drama hovering below the circular roof while Reed was getting 2cc of cortisone injected into his hip as the Knicks warmed up. Such was the focus when he came jogging out of the locker room to join them.

And then the starting lineups were introduced, and Reed’s name shook the Garden.

“And Willis is getting a tremendous standing ovation,” Marv Albert said on the radio broadcast, emphasizing tremendous in his patented way. “So John Condon waits before continuing with the introductions as the crowd continues to roar for Willis Reed. They are standing and they are cheering. And now, John Condon attempts the rest of the introductions and the other guard …”

The reverberations from the roar about Reed muffled the announcement of the next name. It was Frazier.

He may not have been heard. He certainly wasn’t the scene. But he would be felt.

The moment

This was easily the biggest game of Frazier’s life. He had his 25th birthday during the first-round series against the Bullets. Not much more than a year earlier, he was coming off the bench for the Knicks. But a trade thrust him into a larger role.

In December 1968, the Knicks shipped Walt Bellamy and Howard Komives to Detroit for DeBusschere, the Pistons’ three-time All-Star.

“I remember it like yesterday,” Frazier said. “We were in Detroit. I’m watching the news. At this time, I’m a part-time player. I come in in the second quarter and sometimes in the fourth. Phil Jackson and I would come into the game if we wanted to press and trap because of our defense. And I see the trade. And we traded a guy named Howie Komives, who was starting, and I go, ‘Holy shit, I’m a starter.’ My knees started shaking, man.”

By the 1970s run, Frazier had entrenched himself as a pivotal starter for the Knicks. His role was largely centered on his usual expertise: defense. He had just made his second consecutive first-team All-Defense in 1970 and had to deal with Earl Monroe in the first round of the playoffs.

In Game 1, an overtime win, Frazier, after getting worked for many of the Bullets star’s 39 points, picked Monroe’s pocket twice in the last 27 seconds of the first overtime. That just didn’t happen to Earl the Pearl.

In Game 7, Frazier held Monroe to one basket over a critical 10-minute stretch when the Knicks took over the game.

“I’m tired of dreaming about that cat, man,” Frazier told reporters after the game. “Every night I dreamed about him. It was a regular horror movie.”

In the ensuing series against the Bucks, which went five games, Frazier was way in the back seat offensively. He played more minutes than any Knick but took the sixth-most shots in the series, making just 35.4 percent of them. New York didn’t need much more than his 9.6 points per game to beat the Bucks in five and set up a showdown with the Lakers.

In Game 5 of that series, a new threat emerged. It wasn’t as big of an issue as Reed’s injury. But it would have to be dealt with — guard Dick Garrett. The 6-foot-3 rookie had 18 points in Game 5 as the Reed-less Knicks focused its energy on trying to contain the Lakers’ stars. In Game 6, Garrett hit another 18 points, using his speed and the attention on Chamberlain, West and Baylor to get open looks. Game 7 for Frazier was about shutting that down.

Frazier was a terror defensively. He’d stalk ballhandlers. At 6 foot 4, he had good size so he could be physical and put his body on his man. He also had exceptionally quick hands so dribblers could not make a mistake or fall asleep around him.

Frazier opened the game like he was supposed to: on the Knicks first possession, he dribbled down the left side and hit Reed at the left elbow of the free-throw line. Reed drilled the jumper for the game’s first bucket and the Garden went crazy. And Frazier turned immediately to picking up Garrett three-quarters court. Instantly, the pressure on Garrett was different and apparent. Frazier nearly stole it from him the first time up the court.

The explosion

Walt Frazier was 12 of 17 from the field in Game 7. (Focus on Sport via Getty Images)

This is what Frazier did, hound opposing guards and spread the ball around to the Knicks collection of weapons. That’s all the Knicks wanted from the 24-year-old.

But early in the game, Frazier got aggressive. He used a pump fake before a pull-up jumper to get Lakers small forward Keith Erickson in the air and drew a foul. He then did the same to Garrett. The four free throws got Frazier into a nice groove.

He hit a pull-up from the free-throw line. From the left elbow, he rose over Garrett for another jumper and got the foul. Two possessions later, Frazier brought the ball down the left side, rejected a screen from Reed and drilled another jumper over Garrett, all net for a 26-16 Knicks lead. Frazier had 11 points almost before the 19,500 fans could settle in their seats.

“When I left the locker room,” Frazier said, “Holzman would always say — like, we were playing the Bullets, he’d pull me aside and say, ‘Hey, Clyde, forget about offense. Just focus on defense on Earl (Monroe).’ So this night he told me, ‘Clyde, hit the open man. Get everybody involved.’ So when I went on the court, that was my philosophy, get the ball around. But as the game progressed, I was the open man. I’d come off a screen, there I was, open.”

Though he was just in his third year out of Southern Illinois, this wasn’t Frazier’s first big playoff game. He went 1 of 8 with 2 points in his postseason debut against the 76ers in 1968. He bounced back immediately, dropping 25 with seven assists and seven rebounds as Knicks won its first playoff game in the new Garden. The next year, in Game 1 of the Eastern Division finals against Boston, Frazier went off: 34 points on 15-of-31 shooting with eight assists and seven rebounds. He had a triple-double in Game 3 of that same series — game-high 26 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists — as the Knicks won and stayed alive in the series.

But this was a Game 7. This was for the championship. This was about the Knickerbockers ending their decades-long title drought and joining the ranks of the accomplished franchises. And it proved to be Frazier’s moment.

He hides behind Reed screen and pulls up over Garrett for another jumper. Then he uses a transition opportunity to get Garrett isolated on the baseline and shoots right over him. Frazier had 15 points in the opening quarter, had drawn three fouls on Garrett and had the Knicks up, 38-24, after one quarter. The uniqueness of it all was highlighted by Jack Twyman, the six-time All-Star from the Cincinnatti Royals who transitioned to color commentary after his Hall of Fame career.

“The Knickerbockers have departed from their previous strategy of not allowing Frazier to shoot,” Twyman said on the tape-delayed broadcast. “He’s shooting, he’s going for the basket, he’s looking at the basket and they didn’t do that up until this game in the playoffs.”

Despite Reed not giving them much of anything offensively, and certainly not his usual dominance, the Knicks offense was still humming on the back of Frazier.

He didn’t sacrifice defense for offense, either. In the second quarter, having already neutralized Garrett, Frazier took over with his defense.

The first bucket of the second quarter came after he doubled down on Chamberlain, stealing the rock and starting a fast-break that ended with a Bradley layup. Midway through the second, while West was bringing the ball up, Frazier left his man and lunged at West like a viper. Stole the ball and was gone the other way in a blink. His layup rolled around the rim twice before dropping, plus the foul as West tried to make up for his turnover. The Knicks led, 51-31.

After a breather, the Knicks led, 60-37, when Frazier returned. He went to work on Johnny Egan, drawing a foul. Then took a rebound coast-to-coast, beating Erickson after a hesitation dribble and blowing past a lumbering Chamberlain for an easy layup. After a timeout, the Lakers went to Baylor in the high post by Frazer left his man again and stole it from Baylor, converting the breakaway layup at the other end. The Knicks’ lead was up to 29.

Frazier wasn’t the monster the Lakers had been preparing to slow. DeBusschere was the head of an offensive committee with Reed sidelined. But Bradley, guard Cazzie Russell off the bench, Reed’s backup Nate Bowman, reserve forward Dave Stallworth all seemed to eat on offense before Frazier, who was setting the table. But it was clear after the Knicks lost by 22 in Game 6 they’d need more scoring.

But with Frazier as the aggressor and threat to score, the Knicks became even more potent. They made 24 of their first 40 shots. Frazier punished the Lakers, who often left him isolated on one defender or didn’t pick him up aggressively when he brought the ball down the court. As 19 assists proved, he still spread the ball around.

West started the second half defending Frazier, who opened the second half with three straight drive-and-kicks. The Lakers star was a bit bigger than Garrett and not as easy to shoot over, but Frazier could get by West.

After a three-point play by West cut the Knicks’ lead to 20, Frazier went right back at him, drawing a foul on a baseline pull-up. Moments later, West waived off the post-up man so he could have space to take West off the dribble. Frazier missed the baseline pull-up but picked Garrett’s pocket on the ensuing transition for another breakaway layup. Following a New York defensive stop, Frazier sized up Garett again. This time, Garrett was pesky with his pressure. But Frazier rose over him on the left wing and rattled in the jumper, plus the foul.

On the final possession of the third quarter, Frazier had West on an island on the left baseline. He was setting up his turnaround jumper but, in mid-air, saw the trap coming and zipped a pass to Dick Barnett, whose jumper beats the buzzer and gives the Knicks a 94-69 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“This was one of the best games I’ve ever played in and it’s just the way I felt I had to play before the game started,” he told reporters after the game as he wiped champagne off his face. “I felt I had to score at least 20 points and play great defense because I didn’t really expect Willis to play.”

Reed did play and provided one of the most iconic moments in NBA history at Madison Square Garden, but it was Frazier who had the game for the ages though it lives in relative anonymity.

But that’s fine though because Frazier is a dichotomy. Clyde is an alter ego, a flamboyant character born to personify the confidence he needed early in his career. It stuck as part of him loved the attention, the connection it gave him with people and the signature style that would become his brand.

But still in there, always there, was Walt. The humble, kind, quiet guy from Atlanta who was just fine being one of the guys and out of the spotlight. Clyde is happy to revisit his amazing performance. But Walt, he doesn’t mind it being overlooked.

The setting

The moment

The explosion

Related reading