Anthony Mason, the 6’7″ forward who won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1994-95, died of heart failure on February 28. He was 48. Mason was diagnosed with congestive heart failure just this month.
Mason personified the combination of skill and power that drove the Pat Riley-coached Knicks to success in the 1990s. The Knicks played a hard, defense-focused brand of ball and Madison Square Garden was a league hotspot throughout Mason’s time in New York. The team–featuring Mason, John Starks, Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley–went to the NBA Finals in 1994, losing to the Houston Rockets. Mason also made the NBA All-Star team while playing for Riley on the Miami Heat in 2001.
In the history of @nyknicks, no one embodied NYC better than #AnthonyMason. A great spirit gone too soon. pic.twitter.com/QeW1RB1ezo
— Rashad (@RashadDrakeford) February 28, 2015
