Basketball
Golden State Warriors southpaw sharpshooter Chris Mullin had five consecutive seasons where he averaged over 25 points per game. (‘88-89 - ’92-93) Those were also the only 5 seasons of his 16 year career that Chris was selected to the All-Star Squad. Happy Birthday Chris!
I mostly remember Antoine ‘Big Dawg’ Carr when he was the 6th man for the Utah Jazz, rocking the orange tinted shades, as they battled the Chicago Bulls in the ‘97 & ‘98 NBA Finals. Amongst his sixteen seasons in the league there was one season that stood out from the rest. Well, scoring wise at least. As a member of the 1990-91 Sacramento Kings, Antoine averaged 20.1 ppg while scoring over 1,500 points.In fact he never had over 1,000 points in any other season during his career. Happy Belated B-day Big Dawg!!
The New York Knicks selected hometown point guard Rod Strickland with the 19th pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. Many saw it as a confusing pick because they already had Mark Jackson at Point Guard who was reigning NBA Rookie of the Year. Rod teamed up well with Jackson but, only played a season and a half with the Knicks before they traded him to the San Antonio Spurs for Hall of Famer Maurice Cheeks. Happy Birthday Rod!
Happy Birthday !!
June 29th, 1994- With the 1st pick of the NBA Draft the Milwaukee Bucks select Forward Glenn Robinson out of Purdue. The ‘Big Dog’ went on to average over 20 ppg in seven of his eight seasons as a Buck. Glenn is the second place all-time leading scorer in team history, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
My wife came through with some killer thrifting finds. Sports Illustrated from 1977, 1990 Upper Deck & 1992 Stadium Club
June 26th, 1991 The Charlotte Hornets select UNLV forward Larry Johnson with the 1st overall pick in the NBA Draft. Two of his ‘Runnin Rebel’ teammates joined him as lottery picks. Stacy Augmon was picked 9th by the Atlanta Hawks, while point guard Greg Anthony was selected 12th by the Knicks.
‘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.
