Fatal Ish: Video: CBS Sports: NBA 1978-Los Angeles Lakers @ Washington Wizards: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Highlights

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This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on WordPress

Interesting video about Kareem, considering that the Bullets won this game and the Lakers lost. But the person who did the video decides to show Kareem’s highlights in this game. But again in this video, you see how great a player that Kareem was. Not just as a scorer in the post, but the great defensive player and rebounder that he was. And how big, tall and strong that he was. Where you got a tank in Bullets center Wes Unseld, who was built like a defensive lineman. And yet Kareem was consistently getting great position against Big Wes in the post.

This game is one of those deals that the other team’s great player can have a big game. As long as we win the game and Kareem’s teammates aren’t killing us as well. What you see here is the Bullets without a traditional center anyway. The Bullets tallest player at least in their starting lineup was Elvin Hays. A 6’9 strong power forward, but a power forward and someone who didn’t play center as their first position. But would play center to give Wes Unseld a break. Unseld was the Bullets center and a great defender, rebounder and passer, but he was 6’6 maybe 6’7. Sort of like the Charles Barkley of the center position size wise. And Kareem could easily shoot over both Bullets big men.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1990- Detroit Pistons vs Portland Blazers: ‘Game 5 Best Plays’

Source:CBS Sports– the Pistons trying to win their 2nd straight NBA Finals, in game 5 of the 1990 NBA Finals.

Source:The New Democrat

“1990 NBA Finals – Detroit vs Portland – Game 5 Best Plays. The best highlights from the 1990 NBA Finals Game 5.”

From Gear Master

The Blazers probably peaked a season too early in 1990 and not prepared to play in the 1990 NBA Finals mentally as far as knowing what it took to win the NBA Finals. And they were playing a very veteran team in the Pistons who had just played in four straight conference finals and playing in their third straight NBA Finals and going for their second straight NBA Finals Championship.

The Blazers having not even being to the conference finals with this group before reaching the 1990 NBA Finals, against a very experienced, deep and intelligent Pistons team for the NBA Championship in 1990. So this was a matchup of a very good experienced team in the Pistons, with a great player in Isiah Thomas and a great head coach in Chuck Daly. Vs. a young and very talented Blazers teams, without a lot of big game experience. And that showed up a lot in at least four out of the five NBA Finals games.

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Merkin Muffly: NBA 1983-ECQF-Game 3- Atlanta Hawks @ Boston Celtics: Highlights

Source:Merkin Muffly– the Hawks & Celtics at the start of their NBA playoff rivalry in the 1980s.

Source:The New Democrat 

“Deciding Game 3 of 1983 Celtic/Hawks, Ainge gets bit by Tree Rollins. Bird holds Dominique to 1 of 6 shooting.”

From Merkin Muffly

The Hawks and Celtics had a pretty good rivalry with each other in the 1980s, especially in the late 80s where they seemed to meet in the Eastern Conference Playoffs every year. The Celtics won every series including 83, but 85, 86 and 88 as well, but the Hawks played them very well even at the Boston Garden and even won some games there.

The Hawks probably should’ve won the 88 series and I believe had a better team. They were up 3-2 in that series, with the opportunity to close out that series at home. But lost both games.

The Hawks in the late 80s always looked like they were going to make a real run at the NBA Finals in the regular season, but always failed to even get to the Eastern Conference Finals.

A difference between a good team and a very good team: the good team has potential, the very good team consistently moves on in the playoffs. And at least plays for conference championships.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1975- Washington Wizards @ Buffalo Braves: Bob McAdoo’s 50 Points

Source:CBS Sports– the Wizards and Braves in the 1975 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Source:The New Democrat

“Bob McAdoo puts up one of the best playoffs scoring performances ever. He scores 50 points, despite the fact that the Bullets have a four defender rotation on Big Mac. McAdoo also crashed the boards as he had 10 in the 3rd quarter, I don’t know how much he could have had for the whole game. A well-deserved standing ovation from the noisy Buffalo crowd, an out-of-his-mind Oscar Robertson screaming while announcing the game and the series tied at 2-2 after McAdoo’s career game. April 18, 1975.”

From Lamar Matic

Anytime there’s a choice between having the player who scored the most points in a game and the team that scored the most points in a game, especially a playoff game, I would always take the team.

When one player scores fifty points and his team loses, it generally means he was doing most of the scoring for his team in that game. And that his teammates weren’t doing much damage to the other team. Classic example of Michael Jordan vs. the Boston Celtics in the 1986 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, where he scored sixty points in back-to-back games, but the Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls in both games and beat them badly.

That is how you defended Bob McAdoo when he was with the Buffalo Braves. You guarded him tough and you tried to stop him. But not to the point where it would free up other Braves to beat you with open shots and layups.

Now it so happens that the Braves won this game and Big Bob was able to put the Braves on his back. But the Bullets won this series, because they had a better team, even if the Braves had the better player in the series.

Good teams, or in the Bullets case very good teams, if not great teams, generally beat teams that have a great player, if that player doesn’t have a very good supporting cast around him.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1985 – Eastern Quarterfinals Game 2 – Chicago Bulls @ Milwaukee Bucks: Highlights

Source:CBS Sports with this 1985 Bulls-Bucks playoff game from the Milwaukee Mecca.

“Rookie Michael Jordan has to carry his Bulls team in the 1985 Eastern Conference Round One second game against the Bucks almost single-handedly (with some help from Orlando Woolridge). MJ faces a lot of traps, double teams, which allow him to distribute the ball and find open teammates. Jordan runs out of gas in the second half though as he only scores 9 points in the last 24 minutes of the game.”

From Lamar Matic

I don’t want to say the 1985 Bulls were a one-man team in 1985, because forwards Orlando Woolridge and David Greenwood, as well as center Jamal Oldham, were also good players. But even as a rookie, you see Michael Jordan doing most of the work both on offense and defense, for the Bulls just to make this game close. At least that’s what you see in this highlight video.

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The NBA History: NBA 1979-Christmas Day-Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks: Highlights

Source:The NBA History– The 76ers and Knicks from 1978.

“Dr. J, Henry Bibby, ”Jellybean” Bryant and Doug Collins took the floor against Earl ”The Pearl” and the Knicks.”

From The NBA History

You can also see this post on Blogger.

Philadelphia-New York, is a great rivalry in any sport. Eagles-Giants in the NFL, which is probably the best one. Flyers-Rangers, in the NHL, Phillies-Mets in MLB and yes the 76ers-Knicks in the NBA. Which today is not nearly the rivalry it was twenty-five or thirty years ago. But it was a big deal in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But now both franchises, especially in the 76ers case, haven’t been very good for a long time. The 76ers, have only been to the Conference Finals twice since winning their last NBA Finals in 1983. And the Knicks have struggled just to make the Eastern Conference Playoffs for the last ten years or so.

As far as this game, the 76ers were still one of the best teams in the NBA at this point. They lost in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1978 and got to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1979.

Dr. J Julius Erving, certainly the best forward in basketball at this point and arguably the best all around player in the NBA as well at this point. Trying to lead the 76ers under head coach Billy Cunningham back to the NBA Finals. This was a bit of a homecoming for The Doctor who played for the Nets on Long Island. And the fact that he now played for the 76ers in this game was on Christmas Day, 1978 and they Sixers won big, made this game much more special.

What is also interesting about this game, is that Bob McAdoo, one of the top power forwards in the NBA in the 1970s was playing for the Knicks in this game. That were a pretty bad team in the late 70s. After leaving Buffalo in like 1976, he ends up playing for like three teams in four years. Here’s one of the best players in the NBA at this point getting shipped around from bad team to bad team in the late 70s. Before finally finding a home where he could finish his career with in Los Angeles with the Lakers in 1982.

There was a lot of talent on both teams in this game, especially for the 76ers, but they were clearly the better team.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1988-Chicago Bulls @ Detroit Pistons: Fourth Quarter

Source:CBS Sports – The start of a great NBA rivalry.

“NBA 1988 Chicago Bulls vs Detroit Pistons”

From CBS Sports

You can also see this post on Blogger.

The Chicago Bulls weren’t that bad in 1988, they were actually good winning fifty games, but were still developing as a team and still not good enough to beat a team like the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bulls had Horace Grant developing at power forward with Charles Oakley still having that position, who was very solid and very good for them. But the Bulls by the late 1980s were moving to become a quicker, more athletic, trapping type of team on defense. That moved the ball a lot on offense to the open scorer.

The Bulls traded Oakley in the offseason. And made Grant their starting power forward for the next season. Scottie Pippen wasn’t even starting for the Bulls during the 1988 season.

So the Bulls were still about Michael Jordan on offense, with Orlando Woolridge as their second option. Who at times was very good, but not a great player.

And the Pistons were one of the teams that they had to get by in the Central Division to accomplish what they wanted, which was to win the NBA Finals. And this was the start of the Bulls-Pistons rivalry, which is still alive today, but not as strong.

The Pistons in 1988 were an NBA Finals contender, but better than they were in 1987. Because they had already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals and lost it and knew they were very close to what they wanted which was an NBA Championship.

And if Isiah Thomas doesn’t sprain his ankle of game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals, who knows maybe they win the championship that year. The Celtics were getting older and no longer had a good bench and the Pistons already knew they were good enough to beat the Celtics.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on Blogger.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1990- Eastern Semifinals Game 4- Detroit Pistons @ New York Knicks: Closing Minutes

Source:CBS Sports– The Pistons trying to take a 3-1 series lead over the Knicks, from 1990.

“Detroit Pistons mascot HOOPER was inspird by General Platt’s words on “American Idol&qut and decided to jon in with his pants on the ground too.”

From Triamino 1976

The 1990 Pistons and Knicks two very tough physical defensive rebounding teams, that played hard, but played well with skill especially the Pistons who won the NBA Finals that year. The Knicks were an inconsistent team that year. The difference in this series was that the Pistons were the ultimate team and unit of the NBA in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Not heavily relying really on anyone to do a lot of scoring, especially.

The Pistons had 5-6 guys who were all capable of getting 20 points any game. With Mark Aguirre, Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, James Edwards, Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, etc. They played so well as a team both offensively and defensively, that it forced their opponents to cover everybody and have to be concern with everybody that important time on the team.

The Knicks, we’re a much different team, that had solid talent and had the best center if not big man in the game in Patrick Ewing. But he was their only great player and All-Star. If he had a bad game the Knicks, probably lost. He could have great games and the Knicks could still lose, because he was only one who stepped up.

When you look back at the New York Knicks of the late 1980s and early 1990s, I think you almost have to come away with a new respect for Pat Ewing and Pat Riley, because they accomplished so much without having a lot of talent other than themselves. They had several other good players, but Ewing was their only consistent All-Star. The fact that they beat the Boston Celtics in the 1990 playoffs got to play the Pistons in semifinals, tells you how far Ewing was able to take them.

This series was really about a great team in the Pistons, who went 9-10 deep every night, with probably eight of those players able to start for most good teams in the NBA. When you’re talking about bringing Dennis Rodman and Vinnie Johnson off the bench. Rodman is now in the Hall of Fame and he’s a guy who wasn’t even a double-figure scorer in his career. But that says a lot about the quality of teams that the Pistons, where it wasn’t about guys scoring, but about winning. And beating teams with several guys scoring and everyone playing great defense. And that was the difference in this series. A great team in the Pistons, versus a great player in Pat Ewing. With a lot of average talent backing Patrick up.

You can also see this post on Blogger.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1978- Eastern Conference Finals Game 1: Washington Bullets @ Philadelphia 76ers: Elvin Hayes Highlights

Source:CBS Sports– Bullets backup center Mitch Kupchak.

“Elvin Hayes – 1978 ECF Gm 1 – (28pts 18reb 6blk 4stl) vs. 76ers”

From Basketball Composition

This was back when the Bullets and 76ers were pretty good rivals. Because both teams were always in contention for the Eastern Conference championship and NBA Finals. But this rivalry was all but gone by the late 1980s when the Bullets became perennial losers.

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CBS Sports: Moses Malone Feature With Washington Wizards (1987)

Source:CBS Sports– interviewing Wizards center Moses Malone in 1987.
“Interview with Moses Malone mid-season after trade to Washington Bullets.”

“Interview with Moses Malone mid-season after trade to Washington Bullets.”

From NBA Trades

The worst move that Harald Katz ever made running the Philadelphia 76ers (and there might be a David Letterman top 10 list of bad moves that he made running the 76ers) was trading Moses Malone to the Wizards. They were called the Washington Bullets back then, but trading Moses and not getting anything in return with Jeff Ruland who had a bad leg before that trade told 76ers fans and perhaps the rest of the NBA that the 76ers were not only no longer NBA Finals contenders, but they weren’t interested in being contenders. Especially with 1987 being Julius Erving’s last season.

A healthy Moses Malone with the 76ers in 87 and finishing his career there with Charles Barkley and you add a small forward to come after Dr. J and the 76ers would have remained not just a playoff team in the late 1980s and 1990s, but they would have remained a contender for the NBA Finals.

The 76ers after trading Moses have never been the same since. They were a solid playoff team in 1989, 1990 and 1991, but the fell back and missed the playoffs in 92 and then make another trade with Charles Barkley and were essentially a last place team for the rest of the 1990s.

And after two great seasons personally that Moses had for the Wizards in 87 and 88, the Wizards make a bad move themselves by not resigning Moses who was 33 at that point and probably had another 3-5 good years left in him. But that’s on Abe Pollin who at least in the 1980s was only interested in making the NBA Playoffs and putting enough people in the seats at the Capital Centre to make a profit for his team.

The Wizards keep Moses to go along with Jeff Malone and a young and very talented, but undisciplined player in John Williams, Bernard King would have still been there and Wizards would have at least remained a consistent playoff team in the 1990s.

I’ve never figured out how come Moses played for six NBA teams. I mean he is one of the top 4-5 NBA centers of all-time. Maybe only Wilt Chamberlain was a better rebounding center than Moses. Arguably the best center of the 1980s. Certainly in the Eastern Conference and you could argue about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Moses for the NBA as a whole. And yet the team he played the most games with was the Houston Rockets which was for six seasons. Even though he’s known as the great low-post player both offensively and defensively and the great rebounder and for bringing another NBA championship to the 76ers.

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