Madison Square Garden, ever since the inception of the NBA, has been a playground for visiting superstars.
In the 50s, when the Lakers played the Knicks on the road, New York media wrote the game slogan—Welcome Mikan to the Big Apple City.
Except for the brief few years from the late 60s to the early 70s when Willis Reed led the team to two championships, New York basketball fans could revel in their own glory at this basketball sanctuary. The rest of the time, the Knicks were more like a backdrop in this arena.
You can't really blame early New York basketball fans for not having a sense of belonging with the Knicks. Save up for a rare chance to see a game live, and what you see is either Chamberlain's double 30 or Jabbar's 40+, if not the Magician's big triple-double, then the Big Bird cursing out the entire Knicks team... Until 1989, everything was different...
