Top 50 NBA players from last 50 years: Walt Frazier ranks No. 29
Editor's Note: As part of a new series for his podcast, "What’s Wright with Nick Wright," FOX Sports commentator Nick Wright is ranking the 50 best NBA players of the last 50 years. The countdown continues today with player No. 29, Walt Frazier.
Walt Frazier’s career highlights
- Seven-time All-Star
- Four-time first-team all-NBA, two-time second team
- Seven-time all-defensive first team
- 1968 All-Rookie team
Walt Frazier has one of the most famous nicknames in sports. More people, in fact, know him as "Clyde." Which makes it fascinating that his signature performance, among the most illustrious in basketball history, is mislabeled.
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New York Knicks legend Walt "Clyde" Frazier was four-time first-team All-NBA, seven-time all-defensive first team and had one top-five MVP finish.
Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals is affectionately known as the Willis Reed Game after the legendary Knicks center and reigning league MVP played through a muscle tear in his thigh. He gutted it out for 27 minutes and made two shots early, which stood as his only four points in the blowout win over the Lakers.
Frazier had 36 points, 19 assists and seven rebounds.
"With respect to James Worthy, with respect to LeBron James, it’s the greatest Game 7 performance in NBA Finals history," Wright said.
With respect to Reed, who was awarded Finals MVP, history gets it wrong sometimes. Frazier averaged 18-8-10 in the series, outperforming the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor — and Reed, who was dominant in the first four games but tallied just 11 points and three rebounds in the final three, one of which he missed because of the injury.
It wasn’t the last time Frazier showed his mettle without Reed.
Two years after clinching the Knicks’ first title, the gritty point guard guided them back to the Finals. With Reed limited to 11 games, Frazier averaged a career-high 23.2 points while shooting 51.2% in the regular season and 24.3 points on 53.6% in the playoffs. His brilliance sparked an upset over the top-seeded Celtics in the conference finals but wasn’t enough to upend a historic Lakers squad that set NBA records for consecutive wins (33) and total wins (69).
Frazier’s heroics the following year helped produce another title run.
In Game 4 of the 1973 Eastern Conference finals, he went for 37-9-4 and played 57 minutes as the Knicks prevailed in a double-overtime thriller to go up 3-1 over Boston. A week later, Frazier’s team highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds along with seven assists were the catalyst for a Game 7 win on the road. New York then narrowly dispatched L.A. in a Finals rematch, with Frazier playing 46 minutes per game and again making a strong case for an MVP award that again went to Reed.
While Frazier’s prime wasn’t especially long and his career averages might appear more good than great, he paced the Knicks in scoring five years in a row.
"And keep in mind he’s doing that while being one of the best defensive guards of his era," Wright said. "Any of his offensive numbers, you have to combine with the fact he was an all-time great perimeter defender."
Only Gary Payton has earned more all-defensive first-team selections among point guards. Frazier's 5.9 rebounds per game are the fifth-most at the position.
Such two-way proficiency made Frazier one of the most complete players of his era and kept New York in perennial title contention. In 1974, after Reed played out the final 19 games of his career, Clyde led the Knicks back to the conference finals. It marked the sixth straight year they were one of the last four teams standing.
Over 93 playoff games, he averaged 20.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists while shooting 51.1%.
"Some amazing postseason results," Wright said. "He is of course also the best-dressed man in sports broadcasting."