Nov. 12, 1964 - You would have thought Willis Reed had thrown the game away. He was the last Knick to clump his damp uniform on the floor, the last to shower and, when he walked out of the dressing room a half hour after his team had lost in overtime to the Lakers tonight, 132-123, he still showed the disappointment.
He should have been able to feel better. He had played all 53 minutes, led all with 38 points and 22 rebounds. But there was that awful defeat, the Knicks’ sixth in a row.
Reed is a symbol of the new Knicks, the best of the symbols. He, Jim Barnes, and Howie Komives have made the Knicks less than patsies at least. The three rookies can’t understand losing so much, the memories of winning school seasons fresh in their minds.
The Knicks, who trailed tonight 55-38 late in the first half, were leading by four with 23 seconds to go, by two with 11 seconds, and they had possession.
“I know what people say, and part of it is true,” said Willis. “Maybe it will take a long time for us to become a winning club, but it was impossible to blow tonight’s game. It was just unbelievable. I can see the whole court in front of me now, and I just knew we weren’t going to lose. Where we were, no team can lose.”
Tom Gola was dribbling the ball from the backcourt after Jerry West had scored to bring the Lakers within two, 116-114, with 17 seconds to play. The other Knick guard, Johnny Egan, thought Gola was being hemmed in by West and Dick Barnett. Just as Gola broke past the pair, Egan’s signal for a timeout was acknowledged by referee Mendy Rudolph’s whistle.
Egan compounded his misjudgment with a serious error. After the timeout, Gola threw the ball in with 11 seconds to play. He threw it to Egan, who lost it in front of the Knick bench and coach Eddie Donovan.
“My best dribbler made a rare dribbling mistake,” said Donovan. “West and Barnett were pinching Johnny from both sides. But they didn’t touch him. When he went to put the ball down, it hit his knee and rolled to us.”
“Us” were out of bounds, and the Lakers took possession and immediately called time with nine seconds left to score a tying basket.
“I know this isn’t the same as college,” Reed, the rookie from Grambling, said. “You play more here and expect to lose more. But not like this.”
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