New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, commonly referred to as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City, New York. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1946 as one of the founding members of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which became the NBA after merging with their rival, the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949. The Knicks are one of only two teams of the original National Basketball Association still located in its original city (the other being the Boston Celtics). The "Knickerbocker" name comes from the pseudonym used by Washington Irving in his book A History of New York, a name which became applied to the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of what later became New York, and later, by extension, to New Yorkers in general. The Knicks were successful during their early years and were constant playoff contenders. Beginning in 1950, the Knicks made three consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, all of which were losing efforts. Subsequently, the team began to falter and it was not until the late sixties when Red Holzman became head coach did the Knicks begin to regain their former dominance. Holzman successfully guided the Knicks to two championship titles in 1970 and 1973.