Basketball
‘Big Smooth’ was fortunate enough to win both a NCAA Championship with the North Carolina Tar Heels in 1982, and win a Gold Medal with the 1984 Olympic squad. Perkins was selected 4th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1984, right behind his college teammate Michael Jordan. While he did make it to three NBA Finals with three different teams over his 17 year career, he never won that ring. Happy Birthday Sam.
Flashback to June 14th, 1995 where the Houston Rockets finished the sweep of the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals. It was Houston’s second championship in a row, and it was especially cool because they became the first 6th seeded team to go all the way. Hakeem was his dominant self throughout the playoffs, but it was the Rockets supporting cast to came up big time & time again. Read all about the Rockets run through the playoffs in Blaze # 7. This was also unfortunately the last season they wore these uniforms before switching over to the cartoon rocket uniforms of the late 90’s.
I know I’m a day late, but Congrats to those 1991 Bulls who on June 12th, 1991 pulled out a victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to complete a 4-1 series win over the L.A. Lakers. This was the first Championship for the Chicago Bulls Franchise. They would go on to win five more in the next seven seasons. This was also the first NBA Finals I can remember watching as a youngster. I was 10. That Saturday my family had to go to my cousin’s High School Graduation at the West Palm Beach Auditorium, so I had to try and tape the beginning of the game before we could get home. I can totally remember writing ‘Game 5-Bulls vs Lakers’ on the label of that VHS tape.
While at the University of Oklahoma Wayman Tisdale became the first collegiate player to be voted as a consensus All-American his Freshman, Sophomore, & Junior Seasons. The ‘Southpaw Sooner’ was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the # 2 pick in the 1985 draft. Right behind Patrick Ewing. He had his best season in 1989-90 while with the Sacramento Kings where he averaged 22.3 points & 7.5 rebounds a game. RIP Wayman.
Glen Rice led the 1991-1992 Miami Heat to the young Franchises first playoff appearance. The Heat squeaked in as the #8 seed in the East with a 38-44 record where they were swept by the Eventual Champion Chicago Bulls. That season ‘G-Money’ averaged over 22 points a game, and was second in the league in 3 pointers made with 155. Happy B-day Glen!
May 16th 1995 - Game 5 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers & San Antonio Spurs. Nick Van Exel buries a 3 pointer with .3 seconds left in OT to give the Lakers a 98-96 win on the road. Nick the Quick also sunk a three at the end of regulation to force overtime. The Spurs would go on to win the next game and series 4-2.
Thurl
May 7th, 1994. The Denver Nuggets become the first #8 seed to upset a #1 seed in the NBA Playoffs.
OTD - April 24th, 1994 The ‘Admiral’ David Robinson pours in a career high 71 points! It was the last game of the ‘93-’94 season and the Spurs were in Los Angeles to play the lowly Clippers. Robinson was in neck to neck race with Shaquille O’Neal on who would win the scoring title that year. During the game David’s teammates kept feeding him the ball even though the game was basically meaningless & out of reach. He went 26-41 from the field and shot 18-25 from the free throw line in a 112-97 Spurs win. The 71 points allowed him to claim the title over Shaq by a mere 6 points. It was also the Highest scoring total for a player in San Antonio Spurs history. The ‘Ice-Man’ George Gervin had scored 63 back in 1978 when he won the scoring title.
On This day March 20, 1989 the Los Angeles Lakers retire the #33 for C Kareem Abdul-Jabar the all time leading scorer in NBA History.
Celebrating the Birthday of Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd who turned in an epic performance during the 1987 Western Conference semi-finals against the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. Down 3-0 in the series the Warriors hoped to avoid the sweep. Sleepy scored a record 39 points in the 2nd half with another record 29 points in the 4th quarter alone on his way to 51 for the game.
Search for this on Youtube. Killer highlights!!
The three time defending champion of the 3 point contest (90,91,92). Who during the1993 shootout was forced to wear a generic NBA uniform because he was blackballed by the league and a free-agent at the time. A force for good.
