Scoring Champions

In the NBA the scoring champions is the player that has the highest points per game average in a given season, the player has also to play at least 70 games (out os 82) or have at least 1400 points, this rules have been stablished since the1974-1975 season, until the 1968-1969 season the scoring champion was the player with most total points. We must also bring to light that the players whom won the scoring title beforethe 1979-1980 season didnt score any 3 pointers, bacause the 3 point line was first implanted in that season. Wilt Chamberlain still holds the record for most points in one season with 4029 and also the record for best average with 50.4 points per game, both achived at the 1961-1962 season, he also deteins the record for points per game as a rookie with 37.6 in the 1959-1960 season. If we only considerer the players that are still in activity on the NBA, Kobe Bryant has the highst point total (2832) and the best average (35.4), both achived in the 2005-2006 season.

The player with most scoring titles in the most unexpected, Mr. Michael Jordan with 10 titles, him and Wilt Chamberlain are the only players to win 7 consecutive titles. George Gervin and Allen Iverson have 4 titles each. George Mikan, Neil Johnston and Bob Mcadoo have won 3 titles each. Paul Arizin, Bob Pettit, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O´Neal, Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant have each won 2 times the title. 

How important realy is for a team having a scoring champion in the squad? Since the 1969-1970 only three players were able to get the scoring title and the NBA title in the same season, Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 with the Bucks, the great Michael Jordan from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998 with the Chicago Bulls and Shaquille O´Neal in 2000 with the Lackers (Shaq is the only scoring champ that didnt make any three point field goal in his winning season (considering only the era of the 3 point field goal ). The 2009-2010 season scoring champion was Kevin Durant with 30.1 points per game for the Thunder, he also became the youngest scoring leader in NBA History at 21 years and 197 days old. 

You can see the list at http://www.nbauniverse.com/awards/nba_scoring_leader_year.htm

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T-Mac 62 points

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T-Mac

Tracy McGrady: 13 points in 33 seconds

Anderson Varejão

Anderson Varejão (Colatina^[1], 28 de setembro de 1982) é um jogador brasileiro de basquete que atua na NBA. Atualmente joga no Cleveland Cavaliers, da NBA.
Anderson foi escolhido pelo Orlando Magic no Draft de 2004, mas passou para o Cleveland Cavaliers em 23 de julho de 2004. Graças a seu interessante penteado, ganhou vários apelidos e o apoio da torcida.
Seus numeros na NBA (ate 9 de dezembro de 2008) são, por jogo: 467 jogos 24,2 minutos, 6,6 rebotes,1,2 assistências,0,9 roubadas de bola e 8,3 pontos totaliza até agora (dezembro de 2008) 3034 pontos.
Com a seleção brasileira, Anderson já ganhou vários títulos, inclusive o da Copa América de Basquetebol de 2009 realizada em Porto Rico, sendo cotado inclusive, para ganhar o prêmio de melhor jogador da competição.
Foi revelado pelo Clube de Regatas Saldanha da Gama.

[editar] Começo da carreira

Iniciou sua carreia nas categoria de base do Saldanha da Gama (ES).
Entre 1998 e 2001, atuou pelo Franca Basquetebol Clube. Time com mais de 50 anos ininterruptos de tradição que o revelou para o basquete mundial. A cidade de Franca já foi considerada a capital do basquete, título que atualmente pertence à cidade do Rio de Janeiro, devido ao domínio do Clube de Regatas do Flamengo no esporte. Em Franca, o nível de jogo de Varejão cresceu bastante, guiando o jogador para o Barcelona da Espanha.

Tiago Splitter

Tiago Splitter Beims^[1][2] (Blumenau, 1 de janeiro de 1985) é um jogador de basquete brasileiro que atua como pivô.
Iniciou sua carreira no Ipiranga, clube poliesportivo de sua cidade natal Blumenau. Transferiu-se ao basquetebol espanhol com pouco mais de 15 anos de idade.^[3], equipe da cidade de Vitória, situada na província de Álava, comunidade autônoma do País Basco, Espanha. Ele foi escolhido pelo San Antonio Spurs na primeira rodada no Draft de 2007 da NBA, mas decidiu não ir para os EUA porque recebeu uma oferta financeira oito vezes maior do clube espanhol - a NBA opera com um regulamento que impõe um teto salarial aos jogadores considerados novatos.^[4]
Em pesquisa realizada pelo site oficial da NBA com os gerentes de suas 30 equipes, em 2008, o pivô brasileiro foi apontado como o terceiro melhor jogador do mundo, entre os que não atuam na liga americana, percentualmente empatado com o segundo colocado, o espanhol Juan Carlos Navarro^[5].
Em junho de 2010, Splitter ganhou o prêmio de melhor jogador (MVP) da temporada regular da Liga Espanhola de Basquetebol (ACB). Consolidando a boa temporada, também foi eleito o MVP das finais, quando sua equipe conquistou o título. Ele é apenas o segundo jogador em toda a história da Liga ACB a ganhar estes dois prêmios (o pivô lituano Arvydas Sabonis os ganhou na temporada 1993/94).^[6] Neste país, casou-se com a espanhola Amaia Amescua.

NBA
Em 2010, Splitter assinou contrato com o San Antonio Spurs, da NBA, a liga profissional de basquete dos Estados Unidos.^[7].

 Irmã

Em fevereiro de 2009 Tiago perdeu a irmã, a também pivô Michelle Splitter, vítima de leucemia.^[8]

 Seleção Brasileira

Atua na Seleção Brasileira de Basquetebol adulta desde 2002 quando disputou o Campeonato Mundial de Basquetebol de 2002. Obteve a medalha de ouro com a equipe nos Jogos Pan-Americanos de Santo Domingo de 2003.

Nenê

NENÊ #31Estatísticas desta temporada Equipe: Denver Nuggets Posição: Ala/pivô Data de Nascimento: 13/09/1982 Altura: 2,10m - 6.11 Peso: 117,9 kg/ 260 lb País de Origem: Brasil Cidade Natal :São Carlos (SP) Ano na NBA: 4

INFORMAÇÕES PESSOAIS:

• Tem o apelido de "Nenê" por ser o mais novo em sua família e o mais novo de sua turma quando criança.
• Tem seu próprio website: www.nene31.com
• Jogou futebol quando criança e foi convidado para treinar em clubes profissionais quando era garoto.
• Toca bateria.
• Cresceu tendo Michael Jordan e Magic Johnson como ídolos.
• Tem 2,30m de evergadura
• Coleciona bonês de beisebol
• Tem um poodle preto chamado Puffy
• Programa de TV favorito - "Friends"
• Filme Favorito - "Men of Honor"
• Ator favorito - Will Smith
• Refeição favorita - feijoada
• Gosta da música de Luther Vandross
• Considera Pele a personalidade histórica que mais tem vontade de conhecer
• Tem um irmão e uma irmã

OS DESTAQUES DE SUA CARREIRA PROFISSIONAL:

Temporada (2004-05): O Nenê jogou como um total de 55 partidas, das quais somou 528 minutes de jogo. Ele conseguiu um novo recorde pessoal no dia 15 de abril de 2005, quando fez 15 rebotes contra a equipe de Memphis. Nesta temporada, ele teve médias de 9.6 PPJ, 5.9 RPJ e 23.9 minutos por jogo. NBA
• Selecionado na primeira rodada (sétimo no geral) pelo New York Knicks.
• Minutos mais tarde foi trocado com Mark Jackson e Marcus Camby com o Denver por Antonio McDyess e Frank Williams (25ª escolha do draft 2002).
• Selecionado para jogar o 2003 got milke? No desafio dos novatos, ele teve um recorde de 6 pontos, 4 rebotes e 2 assistências em 18 minutos.
• Na temporada 2002-03, teve 9 duplo-duplo pelos Nuggets, incluindo duas vezes fazendo 20 pontos e 10 rebotes.
• Foi selecionado para o 2003 got milk? E no primeiro time dos novatos.
• Em maio de 2003 foi convidado pelas Nações Unidas para participar da campanha contra a Aids. Brasil 2002:
• Demonstrou grande potência durante os Jogos da Boa Vontade de 2001 disputado na Austrália. Na partida contra a equipe dos Estados Unidos que ganhou a medalha de ouro.
• Obteve oito pontos, sete rebotes e cinco bloqueios antes de chegar ao limite de faltas quando ainda faltavam 18 minutos. Brasil acabou caindo na prorrogação em 108 a 106.
• Foi peça fundamental da seleção do Brasil, ajudando que o pais conquistasse a medalha de bronze nos Jogos da Boa Vontade.
• Com apenas 18 anos (temporada 2001-02), jogando pelo Vasco da Gama conseguiu.
• Ter medias de 7,9 pontos e 5,9 rebotes em 20 minutos por partida

Leandro Barbosa

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Season MVPs

2009-10	LeBron James	Cleveland
2008-09	LeBron James	Cleveland
2007-08	Kobe Bryant	Los Angeles Lakers
2006-07	Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas
2005-06	Steve Nash	Phoenix
2004-05	Steve Nash	Phoenix
2003-04	Kevin Garnett	Minnesota
2002-03	Tim Duncan	San Antonio
2001-02	Tim Duncan	San Antonio
2000-01	Allen Iverson	Philadelphia
1999-00	Shaquille O'Neal	Los Angeles Lakers
1998-99	Karl Malone	Utah
1997-98	Michael Jordan	Chicago
1996-97	Karl Malone	Utah
1995-96	Michael Jordan	Chicago
1994-95	David Robinson	San Antonio
1993-94	Hakeem Olajuwon	Houston
1992-93	Charles Barkley	Phoenix
1991-92	Michael Jordan	Chicago
1990-91	Michael Jordan	Chicago
1989-90	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers
1988-89	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers
1987-88	Michael Jordan	Chicago
1986-87	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers
1985-86	Larry Bird	Boston
1984-85	Larry Bird	Boston
1983-84	Larry Bird	Boston
1982-83	Moses Malone	Philadelphia
1981-82	Moses Malone	Houston
1980-81	Julius Erving	Philadelphia
1979-80	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Los Angeles
1978-79	Moses Malone	Houston
1977-78	Bill Walton	Portland
1976-77	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Los Angeles
1975-76	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Los Angeles
1974-75	Bob McAdoo	Buffalo
1973-74	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Milwaukee
1972-73	Dave Cowens	Boston
1971-72	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Milwaukee
1970-71	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Milwaukee
1969-70	Willis Reed	New York
1968-69	Wes Unseld	Baltimore
1967-68	Wilt Chamberlain	Philadelphia
1966-67	Wilt Chamberlain	Philadelphia
1965-66	Wilt Chamberlain	Philadelphia
1964-65	Bill Russell	Boston
1963-64	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati
1962-63	Bill Russell	Boston
1961-62	Bill Russell	Boston
1960-61	Bill Russell	Boston
1959-60	Wilt Chamberlain	Philadelphia
1958-59	Bob Pettit	St. Louis
1957-58	Bill Russell	Boston
1956-57	Bob Cousy	Boston
1955-56	Bob Pettit	St. Louis

The Finals

It’s not always the incredible plays that make the Finals unforgettable. For some, it’s the meal after or the championship parade that brings back the fondest memories.
The NBA Finals have certainly provided their share of indelible moments over the years. For Sam Perkins, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1991 Finals against the Chicago Bulls, one such moment could also be classified as inedible.
The 1991 Finals represented a changing of the guard in the NBA as Michael Jordan and the Bulls captured the first of six championships. But before Jordan was to wear the crown shared by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas in previous years, he would have to get by Johnson, who brought the Lakers into Chicago Stadium for Game 1 eyeing an upset.
With Chicago nursing a two-point edge late, Perkins nailed a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left to give the Lakers a one-point lead. Byron Scott then added a free throw to give the Lakers a hard-fought 93-91 victory. At the time, it appeared to be the defining moment in Perkins’ career. What Perkins strangely remembers most about Game 1, however, is what transpired a few hours later when he and a group of friends walked into a Chicago restaurant hoping to enjoy a postgame meal.
While Perkins waited for what he was told would be approximately 10 minutes, an employee at the restaurant recognized him as the guy who had just hit the game-winning shot a few hours earlier. Mysteriously, the wait for the table began to grow.
“One of the guys who worked at the restaurant saw who I was,” recalled Perkins. “I heard him saying to some of the other people who worked there, ‘Hey that’s the kid who hit the shot, that’s the guy.’ And suddenly the wait went from 10 minutes to almost an hour.”
He was eventually given a table and went on to enjoy what, at the time, had to be an extremely satisfying meal. Perkins’ digestion would soon worsen as the Bulls regrouped and posted four straight victories to earn their first NBA title. Afterward, reservations were made for many more Finals appearances by Jordan and Co.
Here are a few fond memories from those who watched and played in the Finals.
Rick Fox (watching the Bulls vs. Lakers in 1991): “I went to Game 1 in Chicago, when I was at pre-draft camp (Fox was drafted by Boston in 1991), and the Bulls lost that first game, but they won the championship. But I remember being behind the basket and watching Michael score 36 points. Being a North Carolina guy, I ran into him after the game, and I remember thinking he’d be so dejected at the fact that they lost the first game. Instead he had nothing but confidence. They went on to win the next four, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
John Salley (a member of the Detroit Pistons when they won in 1989 and 1990): “My favorite part of the Finals is finally winning it. This is probably the craziest comment you’re going to get, but the best part of the NBA Finals is the next morning after you’ve won. Because you don’t remember you won the night before. I literally woke up and thought I was late for practice. I forgot it was all over. And in 1989, when we won, I remember I took a shower and put on a clean shirt – one of our championship shirts – and went downstairs and danced with Downtown Julie Brown at the postgame party. That was important.”
Julius Erving (on winning in both the NBA and the ABA): “I think the two Finals that I would recall as being the most significant to me were the second one in the ABA and the first one in the NBA. In the first two games against the Nuggets, I opened up with 48 and 45 points on back-to-back nights, but we split the games. And both of those teams (New Jersey and Denver) went into the NBA, of course ours was intact, and proved to be worthy competition for a long time. And then in 1983, sweeping L.A., sweeping with Andrew Toney and Mo Cheeks and Moses Malone on the team. That was interesting because our team was very dominant, but because we had gone to the Finals three times previously and not winning, there was nothing that could be taken for granted or left open to chance. And I really didn’t until there was no time on the clock. That was big because there’s a very thin line between success and failure. So for me, I think the ’83 championship, going 12-1, collectively reaching our goal, was the most memorable.”
Larry Bird (on defeating the Lakers in the 1984 Finals): “I’d have to say in 1984 beating the Lakers and Magic, sort of getting a little revenge on him after what happened in college in 1979. The one thing that sticks in my mind is when we got beat by 32 out in L.A. in Game 3 and then in Game 4 when Kevin McHale, while he was coming back on defense, clotheslined Kurt Rambis. That play seemed to turn the whole series around.”
Robert Horry (a member of the Houston Rockets when they beat the Orlando Magic in 1995): “I think setting the record for steals (seven on June 9, 1995) for me personally, was my most memorable Finals moment. That was something I was happy about. I know one game Scottie Pippen was getting close to (breaking) it, and I was saying, ‘Don’t throw it toward Scottie, don’t throw it toward Scottie.’ But the record wouldn’t have meant anything if we hadn’t won the series. Winning the series and getting that record is what sticks out in my mind.”
Don Chaney (on the 1969 Finals, won in seven games by the Boston Celtics over the Los Angeles Lakers. Bill Russell and Sam Jones retired after this series, and Chaney was in his rookie season): “The Celtics had finished really low (fourth place in the Eastern Division) in the standings but ended up in the Finals against the Lakers. It’s the seventh game, the game would be over and they would win the championship. They had balloons in the ceiling, they had the champagne in the locker room. They were celebrating a victory before the end of the game. We won that game. It was one of the greatest disappointments for one team that I had ever witnessed before. The odds were against us, finishing where we did and going up against one of the better teams in the league and with them being at home in the seventh game. And we took it away from them. You could just see the disappointment in their faces, not just the players but the fans as well. It was a great competitive series. But that one was special, because the odds were against us and we walked away with the ring.”
Bill Walton (on the Finals in general): “In basketball, there are two moments where everything is different and that’s at the championship parade and at the Hall of Fame. The relationship with your coach is different that day. The whole world is different on those days and if you can capture one day in your life, it would be at the championship parade because of that incredible sense of achieving your goal. It’s your whole life coming together in one day.”
Michael Jordan (on the 1998 Finals): “The last championship was the hardest because everyone expected us to win, and then when everyone expects it, that makes it harder. The best game was the last game because Scottie Pippen didn’t play much and we had to win it or go to a Game 7 in Utah. I will obviously always remember the last shot, but that was just the end of it. The whole game is something I will never forget because it was a very hard game to win.”
Marv Albert (on Jordan against the Portland Trail Blazers in 1992): “I remember him looking over – it was myself, Mike Fratello and Magic Johnson doing the game – and we had talked to him before the game about shooting threes. Michael’s one of these guys who would say, ‘Today I’m going to be an assist guy,’ ‘Today I’m going to do this’ – you know, control the game. I guess Bird could do that also. And he said he felt he had to shoot threes. And then he comes out and hits six, and he gave that expression when he looked over to the table, he shrugged, like, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ That was a major moment.”

MJ vs MJ

Four NBA greats dish out advice on dealing with the Finals spotlight for the first time
First-time jitters. No one is immune. Be it a date, job interview or athletic competition, the first time can be the toughest time. To make life a bit easier for first-time participants in this year’s NBA Finals, we sought advice from some of the modern era’s premier players and coaches concerning how a first-time Finals player should handle the pressure.
LARRY BIRD
PRESIDENT OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS,
INDIANA PACERS
FIVE-TIME FINALS PARTICIPANT AS A PLAYER WITH BOSTON CELTICS;
FIRST TIME: 1981
“The first thing I would tell (a new finalist) is that it’s so hard to get to the Finals, but that the only thing anyone remembers is whether or not you win. I came in second two times, but nobody ever says a word about that. They only want to talk about your success. If you get to the Finals and come in second, nobody cares.”
Asked if he remembered the intensity level of his first Finals experience as being notable, Bird replied, “Oh, yeah. The intensity is there. It seems like everybody in the whole country knows who is playing. It’s an ultimate feeling, but it’s a lot of pressure, too.
“I would tell first-time Finals players that, mentally, they’ve got to stay in the game. Emotionally, they’ve got to stay in the game. You can’t get too high over a victory or too low over a loss. You just got to keep plugging away, knowing that with four victories you will be world champions.
“In terms of preparation, unlike the regular season, you really have time to prepare for the other team, because in the Finals, you are going to see them game after game. I always feel the preparation is the key, and in the Finals, you should know everything that your opponents are going to do.”
Was Larry Bird, the great competitor, at all scared during his first Finals?
“Scared?” he responded incredulously, his light blue eyes seemingly blazed, if that’s possible. “I’ve never been scared in my life. I always thought we were going to win.”
Beginning when?
“Before we started.”
PHIL JACKSON
COACH, LOS ANGELES LAKERS
10-TIME FINALS PARTICIPANT, ONCE AS A PLAYER WITH THE NEW YORK KNICKS, SIX TIMES AS A COACH WITH CHICAGO, AND THREE TIMES AS A COACH WITH LOS ANGELES;
FIRST TIME: 1973
“What we like to tell players is that, even though (the Finals are) not like practice, you build things from practice that you can take to games. And, if you remember the poise and execution training that’s really an important part of our program, then you can take that to the Finals or to any critical games and perform properly. If players lose their concentration or their poise, then trouble arises.
“The method (of maintaining poise and concentration) is very simply to always carry with you the basic fundamentals: That you always have to be a threat for a shot, that you always have to keep the ball in a protected place, and that you use your footwork to clear your opponent. Those little, simple things that you teach at the very beginning are the things that take a player the farthest. Focusing on the fundamentals brings you back inside your body and that makes you centered.”
Jackson was asked what made him more nervous, his first Finals as a player or as a coach?
“Definitely as a coach,” he said. “I was much more nervous as a coach. When you play, your body is involved. You’re running. You’re energized. You’re playing the game. You may lose focus or track on the floor, but your energy is a function of what you are doing. As a coach, you are just participating through your mind.”
“In my first Finals as a coach (1991),” Jackson continued, “we came into the first game as nervous as can be, and we lost the first game. Everybody said we weren’t ready for the Finals, but we felt good about where we were. We went back and watched (game) film and concentrated on what had gotten us to that point.
“We felt good because we had a shot to win it. We had played a veteran, experienced (L.A. Lakers) playoff team and they had given us their best shot and we had responded. And even if we didn’t win with that response, we felt as if we were capable of winning it.”
MICHAEL JORDAN
GUARD, CHICAGO BULLS
SIX-TIME FINALS PARTICIPANT AS A PLAYER;
FIRST TIME: 1991
“I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.”
As for his first Finals (in which the Bulls beat the Lakers, 4-1), Jordan recalled, “It surprised me that I was able to overcome the fears of playing in the Finals. Everybody back then said that you needed to go there a couple of times to get a feel for it. The first game we lost a close one and we didn’t play that well, but we gained confidence from a (home) loss. We didn’t play well at all. They played good basketball, and yet we still had a chance to win. So all we had to do was play good basketball, and the next thing you know it happened.”
Is there some way you can help a new Finals player keep his focus and not get distracted?
“It’s hard,” Jordan said. “You pretty much got to do it yourself. You can try to give them ways to relax, but, when you venture against an unknown, it’s hard to maintain confidence.”

ISIAH THOMAS
GUARD, DETROIT PISTONS
THREE-TIME FINALS PARTICIPANT AS A PLAYER;
FIRST TIME: 1988
“The first thing I would tell any first-timer is that you have to be mentally prepared and mentally strong. When you’re playing for the championship, it’s not about your skill – it’s about your will. Everybody at that stage of the game is physically gifted, so it’s about how mentally tough you are.
“The second piece of advice I’d give them is to not be afraid of the big crowd or be intimidated by all of the media around you. Because when you walk out onto the floor for the first time and you see the media herd from around the world, your natural response is to think, ‘Oh my god, there are going to be so many people watching.’ You really have to stay focused on the game and what you are there for.”
Can a player learn to focus and get mentally tougher?
“It’s possible. You have to sustain concentration on your opponents.”
Did Thomas, a ferocious competitor, have a method of doing that?
“I just stayed in my hotel room and watched tape. I never got involved in the atmosphere of the Finals. My first Finals we’d played the Lakers, and we went out there and won Game 1 and lost Game 2. But we wanted to make sure we didn’t get caught up in the whole Hollywood atmosphere of Los Angeles. The people there tried to suck us up into that; they sent limousines to our hotel to take us to the Playboy Club and to parties. But we didn’t go for it. Instead, 24 hours a day I was thinking about the opponent I was going to play against.
“I used a lot of visualization in terms of who I would be guarding and who would be guarding me. When I was walking down the street for, say, lunch, I’d imagine those individuals in front of me. I’d imagine going around them.
“Most of the time I was guarded by Byron Scott and Magic Johnson. But whenever I got on a roll, Michael Cooper would guard me. Preparing for him, I’d visualize myself as being George Gervin, because Gervin was a player who gave Cooper problems. So I’d try to imitate some of the things that Gervin did when he came off a screen – how he got his feet square and set and shot the ball. But when I was playing against Byron, I’d visualize different moves. I knew I’d have to break him down off the dribble, get into the lane and use penetration. With Cooper, I wasn’t able to do that.”

Miami Heat's key pieces evoke memories of the L.A. Lakers of old

The makeup of the Miami Heat's key pieces evoke memories of the L.A. Lakers of old
You can’t blame Pat Riley if his Heat making the NBA Finals caused him to feel a little déjà vu.
A 37-year-old Riley coached a 23-year-old star guard and a 35-year-old veteran center to The Finals in 1982.
It’s 2006, and while Riles might have a little bit of gray adorning his slicked-back coif, he once again has a 24-year-old star guard and 34-year-old veteran center on a team of his that is playing for the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The coach is hoping that Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal can lift the Miami Heat over the Dallas Mavericks the same way that Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar carried his Los Angeles Lakers back in the day.
“There's a bond there, there's no doubt,” Riley said of Wade and O’Neal. “I think there's just so much respect there for each other, and it also works on the court.”
Like Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson, O’Neal and Wade harbor respect for Riley, the same intense X’s-and-O’s guy he was back when Ronald Reagan was in office, but Flash and Shaq are hardly carbon copies of Magic and Kareem.
By 1982, his third season in the league, Earvin “Magic” Johnson already had a collegiate national championship and an NBA championship under his belt. At 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds, he was a point guard the size of a power forward and the toast of the league, having downed the Philadelphia 76ers in the ’80 Finals and garnered the series MVP in the process.
He did not win Rookie of the Year -- that trophy rests in Larry Bird’s possession -- but his ability to play all five positions on the court led to rings in back-to-back years as a member of Michigan State and the Lakers.

Wade, a 6-foot-4, 212-pound combo-guard, finished his third NBA campaign sixth in MVP voting. Where Magic had size, Dwyane has quickness. His baseline-to-baseline abilities led his Marquette team to the Final Four and his Miami squad to three straight playoff appearances.
During Marquette’s tournament run, Wade dropped a triple-double on Kentucky in the Elite Eight, joining Johnson as one of only four players to ever record a triple-dip in the NCAA tourney (the others were Cincinnati’s Oscar Robertson and Utah’s Andre Miller).
He has not tasted success quite as fast as Johnson, however. While Johnson and Bird were the featured gems of their ‘79 rookie class, Wade was initially overshadowed by fellow ’03 picks LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
It was James that went No. 1 overall and won the Rookie of the Year, and it was Anthony’s Syracuse Orange that won the NCAA title by taking out the Kansas squad that bested Wade and Marquette in the Final Four
But just as Johnson won on the biggest stages, putting him slightly ahead of Bird in the race for bragging rights in the neophyte stages of their careers, Wade has outperformed James and Anthony in the playoffs thus far.
While James did not make the playoffs until this season, and Anthony’s Nuggets have gone 3-12 in the three playoff series he has played in, Wade's is a different story. As a rookie, he helped lead Miami to its first playoff series win in four years. Last year, he reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals and was arguably a rib injury away from beating the Pistons. And now he sits just four victories away from his first NBA championship.
Three years into each of their pro tenures, Johnson and Wade shared the same responsibility on their teams -- Be a playmaker. And lucky for both of them, they had a dominant, seasoned man in the middle making it a pleasure to go to work every day.
The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that played with Magic in ’82 and the Shaquille O’Neal that plays with Dwyane in ’06 are comparable in the fact that both players were enjoying the latter stages of brilliant, shining careers.
Abdul-Jabbar was in his 13th season when the 1982 Finals tipped off. His accolades -- Rookie of the Year, two-time scoring champion, two-time NBA champion with one Finals MVP and six league MVPs -- were staggering.
O’Neal is in his 14th season and he too was ROY and a two-time scoring champ, but he differs from Abdul-Jabbar slightly: Shaq is a three-time NBA champion with three Finals MVPs and one league MVP.
At 7-foot-2, 267 pounds, Abdul-Jabbar seemed to be all appendages, his lengthy arms and legs sprouting from his jersey like tree branches. His patented move on offense, the “skyhook,” relied on agility and grace.
Shaq, meanwhile, with his 7-foot-1, 325-pound frame, is all tree trunks. He uses his meaty arms and powerful legs to help him execute his go-to move on offense, a move that doesn’t have a melodic nickname that can be placed in quotation marks. O’Neal’s bread-and-butter is a back-you-down, put-the-leather-in-the-iron-with-ferocity exercise every time down the court (although he has had to tone down the physical play in recent years to stay out of foul trouble and stay on the court).
No matter the method, the results for Abdul-Jabbar and O’Neal were the same. They were truly elite members of the game whose production was matched only by their consistency.
But, like an aging Abdul-Jabbar needed Johnson to get back to the highest level and often deferred to his pupil’s rapid development as a marquee player, O’Neal needs Wade to reach his goal of winning another championship.
Comparing his current crew with his tandem of old, Riley said: “I mean, Magic and Kareem I think is equal, but I also had (James) Worthy and (Byron Scott) and (Michael) Cooper and (Bob) McAdoo. You talk about a great team, but I think that they're similar. So I've been very fortunate.
“I wouldn't say that one (duo) is better than the other. I love those guys in L.A. I want them to talk to me when I get old. These guys (in Miami) will always talk to me because I'm paying them (laughter).”
This is Riley’s ninth trip to The Finals -- seven with the Lakers, one with the Knicks and now one with the Heat. He has four championships as a head coach thus far, and if he is to earn his fifth by beating the Mavericks, he will need Wade and O’Neal to accomplish what Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar did back in 1982.
And, if they do, it will be déjà vu all over again.

1971 Bucks

With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson, it’s no surprise that the Bucks won the 1971 Finals. What’s surprising is Milwaukee was in only its third NBA season
His name wasn’t pulled from a hat, nor was his triumph and place in Milwaukee Bucks history the result of a famous coin flip.
R.D. Trebilcox of Whitefish, Wis., was one of 45 fans who suggested the name “Bucks” for the NBA’s newest expansion franchise in 1968. More than 14,000 fans had participated in the search to find a suitable nickname. What won Trebilcox the car was the reasoning behind his choice: “Bucks are spirited, good jumpers, fast and agile,” he said.
The famous coin flip actually came a year later when the Bucks, after winning 27 games during the inaugural1968-69 season, won the rights to draft Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Suddenly, Trebilcox’s vision for the Bucks began to take shape.
In the spring of 1970, the Bucks traded for Oscar Robertson, forming the “KO Combination,” a tag coined by Eddie Doucette, the team’s colorful radio broadcaster. Robertson had already logged 10 brilliant seasons in the NBA without attaining his ultimate goal of winning a championship. Though not as “fast and agile” as he once was, he still owned the game’s highest I.Q. and a burning desire to be a champion.
Through the expansion draft in 1968, trades and the college draft, the team secured the rights to Jon McGlocklin, Greg Smith, Bobby Dandridge, Bob Boozer, Lucius Allen and Dick Cunningham. Smith and Dandridge were the “good jumpers,” able to run the floor and give the team opportunity baskets. McGlocklin, in addition to owning an accurate outside stroke, played the game with “spirit” and passion. Boozer, Allen and Cunningham provided outside shooting and depth. Head coach Larry Costello was brought in straight from his playing days in Philadelphia to give the team direction in 1968. In only two years, all the pieces had been assembled to make a run at a championship.
After winning 56 games in 1969-70 and losing to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Division Finals in five games, the Bucks, now with Robertson in the fold, had the look of a championship team in 1970-71. And they didn’t disappoint.
The Bucks won 66 games during the regular season, which included streaks of 20 and 16. They marched through the first two rounds of the playoffs with an 8-2 record, dispatching the San Francisco Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers in five games to advance to the Finals against the injury-riddled Baltimore Bullets. The Bucks completed the sweep of the Bullets on April 30, 1971, in Baltimore behind 30 points from Robertson and 27 points from Abdul-Jabbar, who was named Finals MVP.
“We were the team of destiny,” said McGlocklin, who retired in 1976 and has served as the analyst on Bucks’ broadcasts since. “The way the year went, the way we played, the lack of injuries, everything about the year, you could tell it was our year. And you felt that all year long.”
In the exhibition season, the Bucks were a perfect 10-0, as Robertson was starting to get a feel for his new teammates. It was understood that Robertson wasn’t brought in to merely blend in; he was brought in to take control and provide leadership. With Abdul-Jabbar manning the middle, the Bucks had a young star who could score and rebound. With Robertson now guiding the ship and the rest of his mates falling in line, the bar was raised even higher.
“Here was somebody you dreamed about, and now he was a part of the mix,” said Dandridge, who was drafted in 1969 along with Abdul-Jabbar. “Oscar could really be the floor leader and didn’t have to score all the time. It was a perfect marriage.”
Robertson’s scoring average, often above 30 points during his years in Cincinnati, dipped to 19.4 as he spent his time getting the ball to Abdul-Jabbar, who led the league in scoring (31.7) and was named the league MVP.
The team gave new meaning to the word efficiency and the emphasis on execution made Milwaukee one of the greatest offensive teams in league history. The Bucks led the league in scoring, yet were only 12th in field goals attempted. And they were the first team in league history to average better than 50 percent from the field. Abdul-Jabbar was the go-to guy, but there was more than enough to go around as Dandridge (18.4) and McGlocklin (15.8) also put up respectable numbers.
“It was the most complementary team that I’ve been around,” said Doucette, a 32-year veteran of the basketball airwaves. “Man per man, it wasn’t the most talented group, but when you put them on the floor together, they all had a specific role and played it beautifully. They proved that if you had a team of role players with a couple of stars, you could win.”
While they performed flawlessly together on the court, the players weren’t particularly close off of it. Abdul-Jabbar was very private by nature and kept to himself. Robertson was the old-school veteran who didn’t shy away from being vocal. Some of the younger players, such as Dandridge and Smith, gravitated to Robertson and looked to him for guidance. Allen and Abdul-Jabbar had gone to school together at UCLA. McGlocklin and Robertson were both from Indiana, played together in Cincinnati and were only four years apart in age. In all, it was a blend of players at different points in their careers, but they knew how to get the job done as one unit.
“It wasn’t the kind of team where we all went out together and did that kind of thing,” McGlocklin said. “We all had our own lives, but when we came together on the court, everything was checked at the door and we took care of business and were unified on the court.”
In their playing days, McGlocklin and Dandridge considered themselves to be polar opposites. Today, they enjoy a warm friendship.
“Everybody had their individual personalities,” said Dandridge. “But at no time was there any bickering about who had the ball, or who should score because we basically knew that between Oscar and Kareem that they were the foundation of the offense and defense. But they were unselfish and made good passes and they shared the ball and I think everyone understood the importance of all players involved.”
It also helped that Costello and Robertson were on the same page as to how the team should play.
“Costello had the best center in the game at the time, he has the best guard and he took advantage of it,” Doucette said. “Unlike a lot of coaches who have a tendency to over-coach and try and get too cute, Costello took advantage of the pieces he was given.”
The Bucks had figured their greatest challenge in 1971 would again come from the Knicks, who’d won the championship in 1970. When Baltimore upset New York in a grueling seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bucks’ Finals opponent was the Bullets, who had little left in their tank.
Wes Unseld had sprained his ankle badly at season’s end and was supposed to be out for the season. Somehow, he hobbled back for the playoffs. Forward Gus Johnson had sore knees and missed two games in the Finals. Earl “The Pearl” Monroe was also forced to sit out two games with an assortment of injuries.
In the first game of the series, Robertson was able to set the tone, thanks in part to the actions of an overzealous Baltimore rookie named Fred Carter. The youngster had just completed a fine rookie season with the Bullets and he drew the initial defensive assignment on Robertson. Nicknamed “Mad Dog,” Carter was able to block one of Robertson’s first shot attempts and became a little too proud of his accomplishment.
“When Mad Dog blocked it, he started running off at the mouth and Oscar’s eyes started to get big and the true essence of the Big O surfaced,” Dandridge recalled. “He made the mistake of firing Oscar up.”
Robertson finished the game with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Carter managed only six points, four assists and no rebounds. By the time the fourth game rolled around, Baltimore was a beaten bunch.
“In Game 4, Earl Monroe and I kind of got into it a little bit, just a pushing, shoving thing,” McGlocklin said. “Leading up to that, his frustration was so obvious. You could tell the whole team was frustrated because they couldn’t get it together after a tough series with New York.”
Baltimore shot better than 40 percent in only one game of the series, and in only two quarters did they score more than 30 points. After Game 4 and the championship securely in hand, Robertson called it “a great team effort. I felt confident the whole game. It was just a great year.”
The Bucks had come further, faster than any expansion team in the history of major pro sports. In fact, they were so good so fast that the city of Milwaukee was caught by surprise.
“It all kind of happened so quickly,” remembered Jim Foley, who was Milwaukee’s publicity director at the time and now is the radio voice for the Houston Rockets. “There was genuine excitement when Kareem came on board, but I don’t think anyone expected us to win so soon.”
The Bucks weren’t an automatic sellout in Milwaukee Arena. The team’s traveling party consisted of eight people during the Finals. To fill out the celebration party after they won Game 4 in Baltimore, the Bucks invited Bullets personnel to join them. The media coverage at the time was scant. Milwaukee had two major papers, the Journal and the Sentinel, and each sent one beat writer. There wasn’t much evidence to prove that the city had embraced the Bucks. But the next day, the team flew back to Milwaukee and was welcomed by an enormous crowd at Mitchell Field. That’s when it started to sink in. It wasn’t that the people didn’t care; the Bucks had caught the city off guard.
“It snuck up on the city,” McGlocklin recalled. “They weren’t ready for it and probably didn’t appreciate it for what it was until years later.”
The city may have been a little slow in its reception, but what the 1971 championship did was to solidify the Bucks’ place in the NBA and Milwaukee as a legitimate sports town.
“It gave the people of Milwaukee a little identity in the sports world,” said Robertson, who retired after the 1973-74 season. “Usually the big city tickets like Chicago, L.A., New York or Philly get all the recognition.”
The Bucks won 63 games the following season, then 60 in 1972-73. Abdul-Jabbar asked for a trade and was swapped to the Lakers in 1975. Still, the Bucks had already laid a solid foundation that resulted in 17 trips to the playoffs in the 20 seasons following the championship.
“That was a pretty darn good team,” said Jerry Sloan, who played with Chicago at the time and now coaches the Utah Jazz. “Everybody knew Kareem and Oscar. But it was also McGlocklin, guys like that. Dandridge was a great player. I don’t know if they got the credit they deserved. Like any team, it was the other guys, too.”
Including one R.D. Trebilcox, who was the first to predict the Bucks’ greatness.

1969 Boston Celtics at LAL

Though past their prime, the 1969 Boston Celtics taught the Los Angeles Lakers – and their brash owner – a painful Finals lesson in successfully defending their NBA crown
When the Boston Celtics walked into the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on May 5, 1969, to take on the Los Angles Lakers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, they gazed upward and stared in disbelief.
Thousands of balloons were suspended in netting just below the ceiling, several hundred feet above the playing floor. It was the idea of the late Jack Kent Cooke, the Lakers’ owner, to have the balloons released as part of the hoopla when the Lakers clinched their first championship since the franchise moved to Los Angeles from Minneapolis a decade earlier.

Tribute to a Legend: Red Auerbach Winning Combo: Auerbach and Russell Bill Russell discusses Auerbach More former Celtics on Auerbach Bob Cousy | John Havlicek Tom Heinsohn | Tom Sanders

Cooke also had arranged for the University of Southern California marching band to be on hand for the anticipated celebration. Needless to say, the Celtics were not amused. Red Auerbach, the major-domo of the Celtics, took one look at the balloons and his blood began to boil.
“Those things are going to stay up there a hell of a long time,” he seethed.
This is the 37th anniversary of a lesson Cooke learned, although the rest of the NBA had discovered it over the previous 13 seasons when Boston was fashioning what is arguably the greatest dynasty in professional sports history: Don’t give Auerbach and the Celtics any extra incentive to beat you. This was a team that won eight championships in a row and 11 in 13 years, a record unmatched in any major pro sport, but one that is sometimes overlooked amidst the global media hype that surrounds today’s champions. John Havlicek, who played on six of those title-winning teams and later earned two more championship rings, tells a story that puts Boston’s accomplishments in perspective.
“I was at a golf tournament and someone came up to Bill Russell and asked him what he thought about the Chicago Bulls three-peating,” said Havlicek. “He said, ‘Not much.’ And it wasn’t any disrespect. But the Celtics won eight in a row, nine out of 10, 11 out of 13. When you try to measure up to those numbers, you look at other accomplishments a little differently.”
Auerbach and Russell were the constants of the Celtics’ dynasty, two larger-than-life figures who were there from start to finish. Auerbach, the mastermind who always seemed a step or two ahead of the opposition, came to Boston in 1950 at the age of 33 and coached the team to its first championship in 1957. After a loss to the St. Louis Hawks in the Finals the next season, he guided Boston in its eight-year reign from 1959-66 before becoming the team’s general manager. Russell, the 6-10 center whose defense and shotblocking revolutionized the game, played on nine title-winning teams before he was named player-coach when Auerbach left he bench. After Philadelphia unseated Boston in 1967, he led the Celtics to championships in 1968 and 1969.
Auerbach and Russell are forever linked. It was, after all, Auerbach’s ability to maneuver the Celtics into position to land Russell in 1956 that laid the foundation for the dynasty. Boston was slated to pick sixth, with no shot at the All-America center from San Francisco, but Auerbach wouldn’t sit idly and watch someone else select the player he figured might be the cornerstone of a championship team.
Auerbach recognized that Minneapolis, scheduled to draft third, needed a center to replace George Mikan and knew he had to move Boston up to the first or second slot. Rochester, picking first, had an outstanding young center in Maurice Stokes and figured to have little interest in Russell. So, Auerbach turned his attention to St. Louis and offered Ed Macauley, a two-time All-America center at St. Louis University who was eager to return to his hometown, and the rights to Kentucky All-American Cliff Hagan, if the Hawks would draft Russell for Boston. The deal was done, and while St. Louis would reach the NBA Finals four times in the next five years and win the title in 1958, Auerbach had the foundation of his dynasty.
With Russell as the hub, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots and intimidating opponents, Auerbach kept replenishing the roster around him. When Bob Cousy retired in 1963, K.C. Jones was well groomed to succeed him. Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, Satch Sanders and Frank Ramsey, key figures in the early part of the dynasty, gave way to Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Don Nelson and Bailey Howell.
By 1969, however, Boston’s age was showing. The Celtics had finished fourth in the NBA’s Eastern Division with a 48-34 record. Russell was 35 and playing on knees that hurt so much he was unable to practice with the team. He could play only in games. Sam Jones was also 35 and had announced it was his last season. The leading scorer was Havlicek at 21.6 points, and while he was just coming into his prime, several of the Boston players seemed to be wearing down late in the season.
When the playoffs started few expected Boston to successfully defend its title. Cooke certainly didn’t. Not even after Boston had advanced to the Finals with a 4-1 series victory over a Philadelphia team that had won 55 games despite trading center Wilt Chamberlain to Los Angeles before the season, and a six-game victory over New York, which had swept division champ Baltimore in the opening round.
That set up a Finals matchup against Cooke’s Lakers (55-27), champions of the Western Division, and a team that featured three of the all-time greats. If the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., had an elite wing, a place where only the best of the best were granted entry, Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor would be in there.
And all three had enjoyed big seasons. Chamberlain had led the league in rebounding (21.1) and field-goal percentage (.583) and had averaged 20.5 points to provide an inside scoring threat to complement Baylor’s 24.8 points and West’s 25.9 points. In the final week of the regular season, the Lakers had thrown down the gauntlet by pounding Boston 108-73 in a game that was nationally televised.
“Most of the years we played, they were better than we were,” West reflected many years later. “But in ’69 they were no better. Period. We were better. Period.”
The Lakers showed it at the start of that series. West poured in 53 points and also handed out 10 assists as Los Angeles took the opener 120-118, then came back with 41 points as the Lakers captured Game 2 118-112 with Baylor scoring his team’s final dozen points.
The Lakers were rolling, but the next two games were to be played on the pock-marked parquet of Boston Garden – an arena that held more than its share of demons for all visitors, but especially for the Lakers, who had been victimized by the Celtics in six of the previous 10 championship rounds. Strange things seemed to happen to the Lakers in Boston. Was it a leprechaun who deflected the eight-footer that Frank Selvy missed at the end of regulation in Game 7 back in 1962, a shot that would have given the Lakers the game and the title? It was a shot Selvy, who once scored 100 points in a college game, would normally hit nine times out of 10 – but not that time. Not in Boston Garden.
This time, however, it was the Celtics whose luck seemed to run out when the Lakers’ Keith Erickson accidentally poked Havlicek in the eye during the third quarter of Game 3. Boston had led through the first half, but Los Angeles came back to tie the score in the third quarter and seemed o the verge of taking a 3-0 series lead after Havlicek was helped to the bench by player-coach Russell. But somehow the Celtics regrouped, urged on by the crowed at Boston Garden, and Havlicek came back to lead a fourth-quarter rally that carried Boston to a 111-105 win. Hondo scored 34 points, including several clutch free throws in the final period when his left eye was closed shut because of the injury.
If the Lakers had missed a good opportunity in Game 3, they squandered a golden one in Game 4 two days later. Neither team played well in a game marked by 50 turnovers, but with 15 seconds left to play, the Lakers held an 88-87 lead and had the ball out of bounds, needing only to get it in and run out the clock for a 3-1 series lead. But Boston’s Emmette Bryant stole the inbounds toss after a timeout. He inbounded the ball to Havlicek, who found Jones behind a Howell screen. Jones lofted an off-balance 18-footer with three seconds left that rattled the rim, first hitting the front part of the iron and then the back before nestling through the net. Boston had escaped with an 89-88 win and the series was tied.
Each team held serve in the next two games. West’s 39 points and Chamberlain’s 31 rebounds led Los Angeles to a relatively easy 117-104 win at the Forum in Game 5, then the Celtics bounced back to post a 99-90 decision at the Garden and even the series once again. For the third time in eight years, a Boston-Los Angeles Finals was headed to Game 7, but this time, the Lakers would have the home-court advantage. There would be no leprechauns to help the Celtics, or would there?
Perhaps inspired by the sight of the balloons and seeking to silence the USC band, the Celtics raced from the gate to a 24-12 lead, hitting eight of their first 10 field-goal attempts. The Lakers closed the gap to three points at halftime, but Chamberlain, who never fouled out of a game in his NBA career, drew his fifth personal in the third quarter and the Celtics stretched out to 91-76 lead going into the final period.
Then it was Boston’s turn to run into foul trouble. Jones fouled out and Russell and Havlicek picked up their fifth fouls as the Lakers cut the lead back down to single digits. With 5:45 to play, Chamberlain went up for a rebound, came down complaining of pain in his knee and asked coach Bill van Breda Kolff to take him out. Still the Lakers’ comeback continued as West, who would finish with 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, hit a basket and four free throws to make it 102-100. And with three minutes to play, Chamberlain’s replacement, former Celtic Mel Counts, nailed a jumper to pull his team within one.
At this point, Chamberlain indicated he was ready to go back in, but van Breda Kolff demurred. The coach said later that he did not want to disrupt the Lakers’ comeback, though many wondered if perhaps he was angry that Chamberlain had taken himself out with an injury. But, in any case, he elected to keep one of the game’s true scoring machines on the bench with the championship on the line.
The Lakers never caught up. The key basket came when Nelson scooped up a loose ball at the foul line and tossed up a shot that hit the back iron, bounced high up in the air and then plummeted straight through the net, as if guided by a leprechaun perched on the backboard. Moments later, the Celtics had a 108-106 victory and their 11th championship.
West, who was named the Finals MVP, the only time the honor has gone to the member of a losing team, was crushed by the defeat. So was Baylor, who called playing the Celtics “the ultimate challenge. They were the best.”
Cooke, meanwhile, was left with a dilemma: What do you do with thousands of inflated balloons? Auerbach was right, they did stay up in the ceiling a long time.

Lakers 1887

When Pat Riley guaranteed his Lakers would repeat as NBA champs in 1988, he was controversial, calculated and, most of all, prophetic
Before they had finished popping the champagne corks or had time to dry the bubbly residue from their smiling faces, the 1987 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers were brought down to earth with one declarative sentence by their erudite coach.
“I guarantee you we will repeat as champions next year.”
Pat Riley said it, right there in the Forum dressing room that night of June 14, 1987, as his team was celebrating its six-game conquest of arch-enemy Boston in the Finals. No NBA team had repeated as champions in 18 years. Not the great Celtics teams of John Havlicek or Larry Bird; not the mesmerizing Knick teams of Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe or even the fabulous Sixers teams of Julius Erving and Moses Malone. But, in the euphoria of the moment, Riley made his promise.
Talk about putting a damper on a good party.
“We hated it when he said it the first time,” Magic Johnson recalled. “We felt like we couldn’t really enjoy what we’d just won.”
Months passed, a new season started, and Riley’s bold proclamation remained about as popular with the troops as a three-hour practice on an off day in the Big Apple.
“He’d sent us the letter he always sent over the summer,” Johnson said, “and it was the same thing: The pressure’s on. He talked about how nobody has repeated since the Celtics in ’69 and this was our chance to separate ourselves from everybody, to become known as one of the all-time great teams. It was like, ‘Dang, what’s he doing to us? Why can’t he let us feel good about this before focusing in on next season?'”
Riley, a calculating man who rarely does anything without a purpose, wasn’t whistling in the dark. The guarantee was born of reflection, not emotion.
“I know a lot of people thought I was saying it in jest at the time,” he said. “What happened was, I looked back and read articles about the common denominator in why teams couldn’t win it again. What I found was that coaches, players, management, everyone connected to the organization would not take responsibility. They’d say, ‘We can do it if we’re healthy, if we’re unselfish,’ and so on. They were rationalizing, giving themselves a crutch to fail.
“I didn’t want to do that. So I knew exactly what I was going to say when they put the microphone in front of me in the dressing room that night. It was premeditated.”
Having dropped his bomb in the afterglow of victory, Riley repeated his words at the parade in downtown Los Angeles the following day, just in case anybody missed it.
The players rolled their eyes with expression that said, “Why is that crazy Riley doing this to us?”
The mood hadn’t changed much once the 1987-88 season opened. The Lakers privately hadn’t forgiven their coach for putting the onus on them with the most-publicized guarantee since Joe Namath at Super Bowl III.
In an effort to bring everyone together, the coach called a team meeting. But first, he needed an ally. Riley knew where to run. He sought out the floor general.
“All he needed was one of the guys to get on board with him,” Johnson said. “So Riles pulled me aside and said, ‘This is going to set you aside from (Larry) Bird. He hasn’t won two titles in a row.’ He knew me. He knew all I needed to hear was Larry, and I was gonna jump.”
Riley, the master psychologist, was working the no-respect angle for all it was worth.
“In ’88, nobody was even giving us consideration for being a great, great, great team, possibly the greatest of all time,” he said. “I told the guys, ‘Until you win back-to-back, they’re not going to do that. If the criteria for greatness is we have to win back-to-back, we have to take responsibility for the challenge.’
“I said, ‘We’re not going to back in. We’re not going to give ourselves excuses for failing.’ I wanted to put the pressure on them. A challenge is nothing more than raising the ante. I was challenging them not to shrink from the responsibility of being great, of being given consideration as the greatest team of all time.”
When Magic took up the theme and ran with it, it carried twice the impact.
“He told the guys, ‘We don’t want to be just another team. We want to be greater than great,'” Magic said. “When he explained it like that, I was like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense; we can get with this now.’ We got among ourselves and said, ‘OK, let’s go ahead and make a run at this thing.’ We had done everything else. We’d won four titles. But we hadn’t been part of history.”
And so, the quest began in earnest.
Kicking into gear, the Showtimers put together the league’s best regular-season record (62-20), a full eight games better than Central Division champion Detroit. This would prove critical down the road, guaranteeing – there’s that word again – home-court advantage for L.A. throughout the playoffs.
Did they ever need it.
After sweeping San Antonio 3-0 in the opening round, the Lakers were pushed to seven games by Utah in the Western Conference Semifinals, taking Game 7 at the Forum, 109-98. In the West Finals, Dallas stretched L.A. to the limit, as well, before falling, 117-102, in Game 7 at the Forum.
Chuck Daly and Detroit, meanwhile, were knocking out Washington, 3-2, blasting Chicago, 4-1, and whipping the Lakers’ old rivals from Boston, 4-2, in the East Finals.
Now the stage was set: Showtime vs. Bad Boys. Flash vs. Crash.
“It was our high-scoring offense against a team that set the standard defensively,” Johnson said. “You had to be mentally tough to play against them, and we were. You had to hit them back, and we did. We weren’t that all-finesse team everybody talked about. We had the talent, we loved to run, but we also had a toughness we didn’t get much credit for.”
The toughness took physical and mental forms.
The Pistons rocked the Lakers in Game 1 at the Forum behind 34 points from Adrian Dantley, who hit 14 of 16 from the field. Isiah Thomas (19 points, 12 assists) was outshone statistically by his good buddy Magic (28 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds), but the Magic Man couldn’t bring the Lakers back and they fell hard, 105-93.
“It had been a struggle all through those playoffs,” Riley said. “Nothing came easy. I think our ’87 team might have been our best team. We had come to maturity and we were a great, great, great team. The next year, ’88, we still had that maturity, but we’d aged a year. That team wasn’t quite as great as the ’87 team.”
But it was good enough.
With James Worthy dominating Dantley and setting the tone with 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, the Lakers rebounded to take Game 2, 108-96. Magic (23 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds) and Byron Scott (24 points) riddled Detroit’s superb backcourt trio of Thomas, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson.
As the scene shifted to Michigan for three games, the Lakers had a renewed sense of purpose. Worthy outscored Dantley, 24-14, and A.C. Green (21 points, eight rebounds) also had a big effort. Thomas (28 points, nine assists) busted out at home, but it wasn’t enough to offset Magic and Scottt, each of whom had 18 points with Magic distributing 14 assists. The Lakers rolled, 99-86.
“Big Game James came into play in a big way,” Riley said. “We’d always gone to Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) in the post, but it got to the point where James became our primary post player. We went to him over and over, and he delivered.”
Abdul-Jabbar, showing the wear and tear at age 41 and frustrated by the pounding of the Bad Boys, had only 35 points and 10 rebounds through three games.
His big moment, however, was coming.
With Dantley springing back to life and decisively taking his individual battle with Worthy, 27-7, the Pistons slugged their way back in Game 4 with 111-86 knockout. Johnson, with 23 points, was just about the sum total of the Lakers’ attack. The scoring balance belonged to Detroit, which got 16 points off the bench from Vinnie “Microwave” Johnson, 14 from James Edwards and solid defense and rebounding from the young lions, Dennis Rodman and John Salley.
Dantley, the ex-Laker, again asserted himself in Game 5, with 25 points to outscore Worthy by 11 in a 104-94 Pistons triumph. It had become apparent that this was the critical matchup in the series, more so than Abdul-Jabbar vs. Bill Laimbeer or Magic, Scott and Michael Cooper vs. Thomas, Dumars and Johnson in the backcourt.
Johnson and Thomas, close friends for years, became embroiled in a Game 5 altercation after Magic, angered over Detroit’s aggressive style slammed Thomas to the floor on a drive through the lane. Thomas jumped up and pushed Johnson back before order was restored. But the blood clearly was boiling.
To make good on Riley’s guarantee, the Lakers had to come home and win twice. Detroit had a margin for error, but the Pistons were not at full strength. Rick Mahorn, baddest of the Bad Boys, had a back ailment that was severely limiting his ability to wreak havoc inside. That left it up to the kids, Salley and Rodman, to play crucial minutes down the stretch.
“It was classic, as far as I’m concerned,” Dumars said. “You had a proud champion holding on, and a young team coming at them. What I remember about the series was how every play seemed so important. There was just so much going on. I was on Magic all series, and he was just wearing me out with that big body of his. I don’t think people realize how strong he was inside.”
Mahorn also has some painful memories of the series.
“What I remember most, really, is laying on my stomach on the floor by the bench,” he said. My back was out. I gave it my best shot, but I just couldn’t do the things I wanted to do. That’s the way the ball bounces, I guess.”
It bounced the Lakers’ way in Game 6 at the Forum, in spite of one of the most memorable individual performances in Finals history by Thomas.
Dragging a sprained ankle down the court, Isiah rang up 25 points in the third quarter alone on his way to an amazing 43. Thomas’ heroics had the Pistons ahead by one with 14 seconds left when a whistle sounded. It still hasn’t stopped ringing in the ears of the Pistons who were there that night. The Lakers were going to their old warrior, Abdul-Jabbar, and as he made his inside move, a foul was called on Laimbeer. As is often the case when a close call is made, the Pistons argued that the foul was a phantom call.
“Look at the tape,” Mahorn said. “Maybe the air got him. None of us did.”
Abdul-Jabbar went to the foul line, a 74-percent career free-throw marksman at playoff time, and drained the two biggest freebies of his life. When Dumars missed on the move from the lane on a broken play, the Lakers had held on, 103-102, spoiling a night that almost had belonged to Thomas.
Worthy once again was Big Game James with 28, doubling Dantley’s output, and Magic (22 points, 19 assists) was Magic. The Lakers won it at the foul line, going 35-of-43, compared to Detroit’s 22-of-27.
In Game 7, Detroit jumped out quickly and led at the half, 52-47. The Lakers were going to Worthy, and he was responding. In the third quarter, they busted it open, outscoring Detroit by 15 with a 36-point eruption. In one of the all-time Showtime explosions, the Lakers hit their first 10 shots of that fateful third quarter.
“It was going down to the last minute,” Riley said. “The way the whole playoffs had gone, we knew that.”
The Pistons had one last push in them, and they forced the Lakers to perspire all the way to the finish before succumbing, 108-105. The series ended with Magic flinging the ball the length of the court as time expired.
Worthy had enjoyed the game of his life, producing his first career triple-double: 36 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists. Dantley had been held to 16 points, with Dumars’ leading the Pistons. Big Game James was rewarded with the Finals MVP award, his first.
“James had always been a little deferential to Kareem, deferential to Magic,” Riley said. “I remember how committed he was in that series, especially in Game 7. He was big, alive, doing it all. I think that game definitely took him over the top as a great, great player.”
The Lakers were the last true fast-break team to win the title. The Pistons, who would go on to seize the next two NBA crowns, became the new model with a grinding, defensive style.
“Detroit came in and changed and whole culture of the game,” Riley said. “We were a wide-open, running, athletic, fast-breaking team. They were defense first, rebound, slow it down, keep the clock to your advantage, win in the 80s and 90s. That’s the direction the game went.”
The guarantee, the season and the marathon playoffs were a grind for the Lakers. It had been the longest season ever by an NBA champion – 115 games. In the regular season and playoffs, the Lakers had won 77, which led to another guarantee by Riley in the afterglow of the repeat.
“I guarantee you one thing,” he said as the champagne flowed, “we will enjoy this all summer.”
Before he could make any promises of a three-peat, Abdul-Jabbar, the venerable “Captain,” stuffed a towel in the coach’s mouth.
The Lakers had joined the all-time elite. The Pistons would win back-to-back, and the Bulls would eventually win three straight titles. But the Lakers were the ones to break the long spell without back-to-back champs. They made good on Riley’s guarantee and, thus, became one of the great, great teams of all time.