In 1994, the world nearly saw the New York Knicks win their first NBA Championship since 1973. The Patrick Ewing-led (and John Starks let-down) squad fell short to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets in seven games. (Starks shot 0-11 from three-point range and 2-18 overall in Game 7; the Knicks have not come especially close to winning the Larry O’Brien trophy since.) Not that that’s what the ’94 NBA Finals are ever remembered for. On June 17, 1994, with the best-of-seven championship series tied 2-2 and the Knicks on the precipice of a home victory, most NBC affiliates carrying game five went split-screen: half Knicks-Rockets, half Al Cowlings driving O.J. Simpson down various Los Angeles freeways at slow speeds ahead of a heavy police escort. Simpson claimed to hold a loaded gun to his own head in the back of his white Ford Bronco, saying he was going to kill himself.…