Remembering John Starks & ‘The Dunk’

The NBA Playoffs have long been a breeding ground for iconic basketball moments, with some of the most recognizable plays in basketball history emerging from the most pressure-packed moments of the game.

The 1993 Eastern Conference Finals provided one such moment when New York Knicks guard John Starks posterized Michael Jordan, instantly turning himself into a basketball icon.

Getting the full picture of the Knicks' season makes Starks' career moment even more gratifying. New York enjoyed an excellent campaign, winning 60 games en route to claiming the first seed in the Eastern Conference.

Center Patrick Ewing was the team's focal point, with Starks arguably being the second most important player because of his world-class defensive ability. The Knicks defeated the Chicago Bulls three times during the regular season, infusing confidence into fans that they could win what seemed like an inevitable playoff collision with the Bulls. 

While defense was Starks' calling card, he was no slouch with the ball in his hands. He averaged 17.5 points and 5.1 assists per contest, playing a steady, reliable role on both ends of the floor. Adding a little flair to his game was the fact that Starks was a well-known high-flier, participating in the NBA Dunk Contest in the middle of the 1992-93 season. 

If there was any franchise that exuded intimidation, it was the 1990s Bulls.

Chicago was coming off two straight titles, both of which had been helped by MVP seasons from Jordan. Even without the first seed in the East, the Bulls had an aura of invincibility about them. New York's three regular season victories over them did little to change that perception, with Chicago entering the Eastern Conference Finals as -150 favorites despite opening the series with two games in Madison Square Garden. 

Even as the betting favorites, the Bulls were unable to steal Game 1 on the road. The Knicks overcame a four-point halftime deficit, closing the gap behind a massive game from Ewing in which he scored 25 points and snatched 17 rebounds.

Starks contributed his own 25 points, shooting 8-of-14 from the field. He displayed the efficiency that the entire Bulls roster lacked. Jordan led Chicago in scoring with 27, but he only shot 10-of-27 from the floor, largely because Starks harassed him for the majority of the contest. New York secured a 98-90 win, showing some cracks in the armor of the seemingly superhuman Bulls.

If Game 1 boosted New York's confidence, Game 2 almost certainly had it going through the roof.

The two teams headed into the locker room for halftime all tied up at a score of 49 apiece. A strong third quarter, particularly on defense, allowed the Knicks to open up a 14-point lead, their biggest of the series. As one might expect from Jordan and the seasoned Bulls, that deficit did not faze them one bit. Chicago drew within three points with just under a minute to go, nearly promising to bring things down to the wire. 

With the clock reading 55 seconds and the Knicks leading 91-88, Starks brought the ball up, looking to initiate offense in a critical possession. As the guard dribbled to the right wing, Ewing came up to set him a pick that would allow him to drive into the teeth of the defense. Instead, Starks exploded to his right, driving downhill and hammering home a ferocious dunk over Chicago center Horace Grant and Jordan himself to extend the lead to five.

It was an immortal moment, one that would become one of the finest in New York's playoff history for its timeliness and pure athletic achievement. The Knicks managed to hold on behind that bucket, securing a 96-91 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, it was all downhill from there. The Bulls seemed to take their deficit personally, rattling off two straight double-digit wins and proceeding to survive a nail-biter in Game 5 on the road. Chicago clinched another Finals berth on its home floor in Game 6, crushing the souls of Knicks players and fans alike.

Jordan would go on to win his third ring in a row when the Bulls defeated the Phoenix Suns in six games.

Bragging is typically tough to do without winning, but John Starks can say one thing that very few people in the basketball world can: that he dunked on Michael Jordan and helped salt away a playoff game against him.

While it's true that Jordan was not the primary victim of the posterizing (that would be Grant), much of the basketball world remembers the play as John Starks jumping over Michael Jordan, a perception that will almost certainly remain in the eyes of the public for the rest of basketball history.