Who are the best basketball players who ever played a game in Pgh?
- Thread starter MarshallGoldberg
- Start date
Damn, OK it's a more impressive list than I realized.
Four NBA games were played at the arena:
October 29, 1993
Chicago v. Philadelphia
October 28, 2004
Cleveland v. Altanta
October 11, 2005
Cleveland v. Boston
October 25, 2006
Dallas v. Cleveland
Sadly, basketballreference.com doesn't have stats going back to the 1993 pre-season. Barkley and Jordan would be major additions to this increasingly impressive list.[/QUOTE]
The OP mentioned this game, but there was also a preseason game in October 2008 played at the Pete between the Celtics and Cavs. Pretty impressive matchup as both teams went on to win 60+ games that year. Lebron played for Cleveland and Garnett/Pierce/Allen all played for Boston. Here's the recap http://www.espn.com.au/nba/recap?gameId=281014005
I was doing some gameday stuff at the time for the Pitt Athletic Department which allowed me to sit court side for every game. I got tapped to perform a similar role for the Celtics/Cavs game. Even if you're aware of the gap between college and pros, seeing it up close was staggering. One of the most impressive athletic feats I've ever seen is Ray Allen shooting threes during warmups.
Kobe Bryant. Saw him play at the 96 Mickey Ds game.
Also his Lower Merion teammates. Played against them at Trees.
Also his Lower Merion teammates. Played against them at Trees.
Talked to my 78 year old dad about this, a life long hoops fan (grew up in the city in Philly, played against Wilt. Thought Wilt might have played in Pittsburgh for the Globetrotters around Christmas that one year.)
Anyway he claims he saw Moses Malone at a roundball classic and sat so close to Lefty Drizel (he wasn't sure that was the right coach) trying to talk Moses into going to college.
Anyway he claims he saw Moses Malone at a roundball classic and sat so close to Lefty Drizel (he wasn't sure that was the right coach) trying to talk Moses into going to college.
Not quite answering the question posed but sort of related. I remember it was around 1979 or 1980, there was this exhibition game in the summer played at the Civic Arena featuring some graduating local talent and NBA players. Bruce Atkins from Wilkinsburg just finished a decent career at Duquesne and was playing in the game. People thought he may have a chance at the NBA. I think it was the first or second series and he was guarding Adrian Dantley man on man. Now Dantley was a very good pro, but not at Jordan levels. At any rate he went past Atkins like his feet were stuck in cement. Happened pretty much all night. That's when I realized the talent disparity between the NBA and the local stars at the time.
Heard this from a pretty good source who had a friend at UCLA at the time. He was sitting close to the bench and UCLA was destroying (as was typical) an opponent. Wicks was still in the game and apparently started to hot-dog it a little bit since they had a comfortable lead. Wooden calls time-out, takes Wicks out of the game, and says to him "Son, we don't play N-word ball here at UCLA". Different times back then.
Story I heard on Calvin Murphy. Calvin was about 5'9". It was aid he could pick a quarter off the top of the backboard. Have no idea if that is true.This was in the day before guys like David Thompson got people talking about vertical leap.
Thanks, I wasn’t sure if he did or not. I went to the Cavs-Mavs preseason game at the Pete several years back, the Mavs rested all their stars but LeBron and Shaq both played for Cleveland.
As for going back in history, if you read up on either the Sixers or the Civic Arena you can find that teams played a lot of games away from their home court in the 60s and 70s and the Sixers had some home games at Civic Arena.
If you look at basketball-reference.com for the sixers first handful or so years as the Philadelphia 76ers, you can see which games they played in Pittsburgh at the arena.[/QUOTE]
If you look at my earlier post, you can see some of the players the Sixers faced in those 6 games they played at the arena back in 72-73. Fred Carter was the star of those Philly teams, and when he was working for ESPN about 20 years ago, they used to humorously refer to him as "the best player on the worst team in NBA history".
Calvin Murphy had a chip on his shoulder a mile wide, and wouldn't hesitate to beat a rival player down to the ground, regardless of how big they were. He was widely known as someone not to be messed with. I remember a quote from him when someone asked him about his lack of size. He said he enjoyed being able to slip into crowds as a normal person, as opposed to being some huge freak that everyone spotted from a mile away.
I realized that when I saw Sam Clancy trying to deal with James Bailey from Rutgers. Bailey played for quite a while in the NBA, and was a garden variety power forward. Not a scrub, but nothing special. Sam had nothing for him, so I knew there was no way Sam could make it in the league, having to face guys like him, or better, every night. Really makes you respect the guys like Dantley, and Charles Barkley, who excelled, despite being tweeners.
In an earlier post, someone said Magic played in the Roundball. That's not right. He was SUPPOSED to play but skipped it for the upstart (in those days) McDonald's game.
Also pretty sure Billy Kinght had his huge scoring game, 36 or 38 points AT Pauley Pavillion, not in Pittsburgh. By that time, UCLA no longer played in the Steel Bowl.
A HUGE number of future NBA stars played in the Dapper Dan, but the point made above about the difference between high school or even college stars versus mature NBA players is valid. In these days, with better coaching, nutrition and open competition from AAU/summer Leagues, etc., some kids can compete against higher level professionals. In the 70's and 80's, not so much.
The Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Shaq who played in the Dapper Dan were 50 or 75 pounds lighter and weaker than when they started in the ABA and eventually, the NBA.
The Duke freshmen who played Tuesday night could become all-time greats. But, they aren't yet as good as they will be in a few years.
Also pretty sure Billy Kinght had his huge scoring game, 36 or 38 points AT Pauley Pavillion, not in Pittsburgh. By that time, UCLA no longer played in the Steel Bowl.
A HUGE number of future NBA stars played in the Dapper Dan, but the point made above about the difference between high school or even college stars versus mature NBA players is valid. In these days, with better coaching, nutrition and open competition from AAU/summer Leagues, etc., some kids can compete against higher level professionals. In the 70's and 80's, not so much.
The Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Shaq who played in the Dapper Dan were 50 or 75 pounds lighter and weaker than when they started in the ABA and eventually, the NBA.
The Duke freshmen who played Tuesday night could become all-time greats. But, they aren't yet as good as they will be in a few years.
Magic Johnson played in the same game that Clancy/Banks played in? I was there and don't remember his name being mentioned.
Talking about Maurice Lucas when I was at Peabody HS , the Highlanders were the fav to win the city league . They played Schenley who had two sophs that no one really knew much about , their names were ML and Ricky Coleman . Well suffice to say things didn't work out so well for Peabody that day !
The Roundball Classic was far and away the best sporting event of the yr . US vs Pa . Great memories . Shame it got basdardized .
The yr Tom McMillan ( #1 player in US ) played was great As he led the Pa stars to a W .
The player on that team that had the reputation wasn't Lucas or Coleman, it was Jeep Kelly. The only City League player whose name rang bells on the streets like Kelly's was Kenny Durrett. Even Clancy didn't have the street buzz Kelly did.
Jeep was younger than LM or RC . The yr I’m referring to is 1969 when ML and RC were sophomores . Freshman weren’t eligible to play . Schenley didn’t even win the city league that yr ,I believe Fifth Ave with Dwight Clay ( ND ) did . Peabody was loaded , but couldn’t beat either 5th or Schenley. Sadly Jeep never lived up to his potential .
If you look at my earlier post, you can see some of the players the Sixers faced in those 6 games they played at the arena back in 72-73. Fred Carter was the star of those Philly teams, and when he was working for ESPN about 20 years ago, they used to humorously refer to him as "the best player on the worst team in NBA history".[/QUOTE]
It was a fact that Wilt had his 100 point night in Hersheypark Arena.
It was a fact that Wilt had his 100 point night in Hersheypark Arena.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I think it's pretty widely known that the Sixers were playing in Hershey that night. Every story I've ever read on that game mentions the location.
Yeah, I think it's pretty widely known that the Sixers were playing in Hershey that night. Every story I've ever read on that game mentions the location.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. That's what I said. I wasn't trying to enlighten anybody, just reaffirming that the 76ers played a lot of games outside Philly.
Damn, OK it's a more impressive list than I realized.
Four NBA games were played at the arena:
October 29, 1993
Chicago v. Philadelphia
October 28, 2004
Cleveland v. Altanta
October 11, 2005
Cleveland v. Boston
October 25, 2006
Dallas v. Cleveland
Sadly, basketballreference.com doesn't have stats going back to the 1993 pre-season. Barkley and Jordan would be major additions to this increasingly impressive list.[/QUOTE]
I attended that 1993 Bulls-Sixers game. Philly PA legend Dave Zinkoff was at the microphone. He could have made a Duquesne game sound interesting they way he enunciated:
"Errrrrrrving shooting twooooooooooooo."
Interesting, if true. My biggest memory of that game was that at that time, dunking was illegal, so that every time Wicks or Rowe went in for yet another score at the rim, they would simply go up and drop the ball through with two hands. It was funny to watch even then, when that was what the rules required.
Yes , but a few yrs later . Like I said in another post probably the most gifted athlete I’ve seen in a Pitt uniform . Shame he left after his freshman yr . Bad advise .
You can tell an all-time great when they change the rules to stop him. Kareem and the no-dunk rule, as you pointed out; Wilt and the width of the lane; Mel Blount and the bump and run come to mind as three examples.
My memory isn’t that good , what I do remember was Tom McMillian had a cold and his first shot someone sent into the seats . He dominated from there scoring 37 pts , but Pa lost the game . Turns out Bill Walton wasn’t allowed to play in the game due to Ca. rules prohibiting him from playing .What a shame how good would that have been.!
Walton wasn't real well-known at that time. I think McMillian's rival big in that Dapper Dan game was Len Elmore, Ellmore and McMillian played together at Maryland under Lefty Driesell.
There’s an SI article were you can read about the game on google ..7’3” Tom Burleson , Ed
Sercey , Ed Jones and Tom Sullinger were the opposing big men .
Once again, print is better than my memory. Originally, I had Searcy in the post, then removed him after his profile said he was only 6-6.
Searcy was heavily recruited by Duquesne but went to St. John's.
I knew a football player who had also played hoops in NYC. He said Elmore was probably the best big in New York since Alcindor. Given their later careers, he might have been right.
Searcy was heavily recruited by Duquesne but went to St. John's.
I knew a football player who had also played hoops in NYC. He said Elmore was probably the best big in New York since Alcindor. Given their later careers, he might have been right.
