Feb. 17, 1963 - The Cinncinati Royals assured themselves of at least a tie for the third and final playoff position in the Eastern Division of the NBA today using strong defense to beat the last-place New York Knicks, 109-98, before 8,349 fans at Madison Square Garden. Coach Charley Wolf’s team broke away from the Knicks in the second half. “This was the third straight game in which we’ve held the opposition to less than 100 points,” said Wolf, “and we’ve won 7 of our last 9 with good defense. The best example of the defense we’ve been displaying was the work Oscar Robertson (pictured #14) did on Richie Guerin.” Big O held Guerin to 6 points in the Knick star’s 23 minutes of action. Guerin entered the game needing only 13 points to become the 16th NBA player ever to score 10,000 points. That milestone will have to be achieved some other night.
