One of the most bizarre moments in NBA playoffs history occurred in 1997 during the Eastern Conference semifinals series between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks.
The Knicks led the 3-1 when everything changed after guard Charlie Ward got into a scuffle with Heat forward P.J. Brown.
Because the benches cleared, the Knicks played without Allan Houston, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and John Starks in Game 6. Starks and Johnson also missed Game 7 while Brown was the only Heat player banned two games.
The Heat eventually won the series in seven games.
"We had a really good team that year," Ward told Back In The Day Hoops On SI. "These things do happen, whether it's injury. In our case, we had the fight that broke out. Anything can happen in a series. We were trending in the right direction. We were up 3-1 at the time of the fight. You never know what have happened long term. The brawl kind of brought us down but it fueled them."
Ward and Brown are forever linked because they started the brawl. It began when Brown reacted to Ward trying to box out on a free throw attempt. Brown then body-slammed Ward into the stands.
Ward said there was never any bad blood between the two. In fact, they have remained friends over the years.
"P.J. and I, it was more of a in-the-heat-of-moment kind of deal," Ward said. "We still were friends. We were going to chapel together. It wasn't anything like that, even after the game. Even here later, he supported a couple of my football programs as well. It was no hard feelings. It was just a Miami-New York thing. It was a thing at that time, where the competitive juices got the best of everyone."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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