3. Patrick Ewing, Center
The agony that the New York Knicks went through back in the day trying to get past the likes of Jordan and the Bulls had to drive their fans insane. The Knicks were one of the teams in the Eastern Conference that got closest to winning at least one or two titles, but couldn’t get past Jordan in his hay day.
Even while Jordan was playing baseball, the Knicks were not able to beat Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals in the mid-1990’s. But there were still a number of accomplishments that the Knicks were able to nab for their individual stars during the 1980’s and 1990’s, especially for Hall-of-Famer and big man Patrick Ewing.
The first overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft out of the Georgetown Hoyas basketball program was lauded as the savior of the Knicks franchise at the time. And he was to a certain degree. But he just couldn’t quite get them over the hump, and injury issues riddled much of his career.
Nonetheless, Ewing would still be a seven-time All-NBA honoree, 11-time All-Star selection, three-time All-Defensive Team selection, and the 1985-86 Rookie of the Year. He was the Rookie of the Year one season after Jordan was in 1984-85.
Ewing owned a pretty dismal 13-30 regular season record against Jordan. He did still post solid per game averages, including 22.0 points per game, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.6 blocks. Ewing also owned a 8-19 playoff record against Jordan and the Bulls during his career.