DENVER - Under Doug Moe, the Denver Nuggets of the 1980s had a very simple philosophy: try to score as quickly and as often as possible. Defense be damned, the Nuggets instead tried to simply put up an astronomical number on the scoreboard and hoped their opponents couldn't keep up. This often worked when the games were played in Denver, where opponents not used to the thin air often wore down in the second half, but it usually didn't work on the road, where teams always need to be able to make a defensive stop to win a game.
Either way, Moe's brand of basketball was always entertaining at the very least. The Nuggets routinely led the league in both points scored and points allowed. And no game displayed their brand of basektball better than their December 13, 1983, matchup with the Pistons.
The two teams started scoring early and often, playing through regulation and three overtime periods. When the dust finally settled, the score was stunning: Detroit 186, Denver 184. It remains the highest-scoring NBA game in history, and the offenseive numbers are jaw-dropping.
Four players - two from each team - reached the 40-point plateau, and 12 players reached double-figures in scoring. Dan Issel scored 28 points for Denver but was outscored by five players on the floor that night. The teams combined to shoot 57 percent from the floor and committed a combined 87 fouls. Four players fouled out for the Nuggets, with Detroit makign 37 of 60 foul shots. If the Pistons had improved their free-throw percentage to 81 percent - a fairly reasonable number - they would have reached 200 points.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of this game was the three-point shooting, or lack thereof. Each team only made one basket from beyond the arc, meaning they had to get all their points inside. Considering the lack of defense exhibited all nigth, that wasn't asking too much.
Showing posts with label Detroit Pistons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit Pistons. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
November 19, 2004: The Brawl
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - As with most explosive moments that have happened on a basketball court, it started with a hard foul. And though it was a foul, it seemed mostly harmless.
Late in a game the Pacers were winning handily, Indiana's Ron Artest fouled Detroit's Ben Wallace from behind on a layup attempt. It was a hard foul, two hands in the back, but not excessively so. Wallace took exception, though, and went after Artest, pushing him with both hands in the face. As expected, especially in games between two rivals as heated as the Pistons and Pacers were at that time, it escalated into a shoving match between the teams.
The typical posturing occurred. There was some pushing, some yelling. Nothing too big. Artest avoided the larger Wallace, laying down on the scorer's table, 10 players between him and his adversary. He had headphones on as he chatted with a radio announcer. Wallace remained mad, still trying to get to Artest.
Then the cup flew.
Before anybody could comprehend what was happening, Artest was in the stands punching a fan. He had been hit by a cup of Diet Coke, and he retaliated by going after the man who he thought had thrown it. Only he thought wrong, ended up fighting someone who had been sitting behind the perpetrator. Either way, a run-of-the-mill NBA brawl had turned ugly quickly.
There was more. Artest's teammate, Stephen Jackson, also went into the stands, not to pull Artest away but to punch somebody else. Wallace went in to try to pull some people off of others. Some fans spilled onto the floor in an attempt to get away from the players, and Pacer Jermaine O'Neal responded by taking a running swing at one.
Ugly wasn't a strong enough word.
The NBA's reaction was swift. Artest was suspended for the rest of the season, Jackson for 30 games. O'Neal's suspension was orginally 25 games, but that was reduced to 15 after appeal. In all, 10 players received a suspension of some kind, and five faced criminal consequences.
The fight destroyed the Pacers. Once favored to go to the Eastern finals, they were now gutted of several key players from their team; the franchise hasn't been the same since. More changes were affected, including increased security between benches and the stands and reduction in beer sales.
Artest specifically became a pariah. After returning from his suspension the next year, he was quickly traded as Indiana tried to rid itself from what happened. To this day, the brawl is the first thing people think of when Artest is brought up, even though he is now an NBA champion with the Lakers. It was one of the truly ugly incidents in NBA history.
HONORABLE MENTION
November 19, 1966: EAST LANSING, Mich. - It was a game that lived up to its hype. No. 1 Notre Dame at No. 2 Michigan State, essentially playing for the 1966 national championship. Michigan State, playing at home, jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Notre Dame cut it to 10-7 at the half, then kicked the tying field goal on the first play of the 4th quarter. Each team had one good scoring chance after that: Michigan State had what would have been an easy touchdown pass foiled when the pass fell short, forcing the receiver to stop to catch it, which allowed the defense to catch him. Later, Notre Dame had a 41-yard field goal attempt that went just wide. At the end of this classic game, Notre Dame had the ball on its own 30 with 1:10 to go. It was a long shot, but they had a chance to drive for the winning field goal. Instead, to the chagrin of everybody watching, coach Ara Parseghian elected to instead run out the clock, choosing to play for the tie rather than risk a turnover that could lead to defeat. The highly controversial decision helped put a damper on what had been a great game, but the decision worked. When both teams finished the season with identical 9-0-1 records, they finished the season ranked in the same order as they had been entering the game: Notre Dame No. 1, Michigan State No. 2. The Irish had won their national championship.
Late in a game the Pacers were winning handily, Indiana's Ron Artest fouled Detroit's Ben Wallace from behind on a layup attempt. It was a hard foul, two hands in the back, but not excessively so. Wallace took exception, though, and went after Artest, pushing him with both hands in the face. As expected, especially in games between two rivals as heated as the Pistons and Pacers were at that time, it escalated into a shoving match between the teams.
The typical posturing occurred. There was some pushing, some yelling. Nothing too big. Artest avoided the larger Wallace, laying down on the scorer's table, 10 players between him and his adversary. He had headphones on as he chatted with a radio announcer. Wallace remained mad, still trying to get to Artest.
Then the cup flew.
Before anybody could comprehend what was happening, Artest was in the stands punching a fan. He had been hit by a cup of Diet Coke, and he retaliated by going after the man who he thought had thrown it. Only he thought wrong, ended up fighting someone who had been sitting behind the perpetrator. Either way, a run-of-the-mill NBA brawl had turned ugly quickly.
There was more. Artest's teammate, Stephen Jackson, also went into the stands, not to pull Artest away but to punch somebody else. Wallace went in to try to pull some people off of others. Some fans spilled onto the floor in an attempt to get away from the players, and Pacer Jermaine O'Neal responded by taking a running swing at one.
Ugly wasn't a strong enough word.
The NBA's reaction was swift. Artest was suspended for the rest of the season, Jackson for 30 games. O'Neal's suspension was orginally 25 games, but that was reduced to 15 after appeal. In all, 10 players received a suspension of some kind, and five faced criminal consequences.
The fight destroyed the Pacers. Once favored to go to the Eastern finals, they were now gutted of several key players from their team; the franchise hasn't been the same since. More changes were affected, including increased security between benches and the stands and reduction in beer sales.
Artest specifically became a pariah. After returning from his suspension the next year, he was quickly traded as Indiana tried to rid itself from what happened. To this day, the brawl is the first thing people think of when Artest is brought up, even though he is now an NBA champion with the Lakers. It was one of the truly ugly incidents in NBA history.
HONORABLE MENTION
November 19, 1966: EAST LANSING, Mich. - It was a game that lived up to its hype. No. 1 Notre Dame at No. 2 Michigan State, essentially playing for the 1966 national championship. Michigan State, playing at home, jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Notre Dame cut it to 10-7 at the half, then kicked the tying field goal on the first play of the 4th quarter. Each team had one good scoring chance after that: Michigan State had what would have been an easy touchdown pass foiled when the pass fell short, forcing the receiver to stop to catch it, which allowed the defense to catch him. Later, Notre Dame had a 41-yard field goal attempt that went just wide. At the end of this classic game, Notre Dame had the ball on its own 30 with 1:10 to go. It was a long shot, but they had a chance to drive for the winning field goal. Instead, to the chagrin of everybody watching, coach Ara Parseghian elected to instead run out the clock, choosing to play for the tie rather than risk a turnover that could lead to defeat. The highly controversial decision helped put a damper on what had been a great game, but the decision worked. When both teams finished the season with identical 9-0-1 records, they finished the season ranked in the same order as they had been entering the game: Notre Dame No. 1, Michigan State No. 2. The Irish had won their national championship.
Monday, June 21, 2010
June 21, 1988: Repeat
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The confettee had barely had time to settle on the floor of the Great Western Forum in 1987 when Lakers coach Pat Riley made a bold prediction. He announced that the Lakers would repeat as NBA champions in the 1987-88 season.
After issuing that challenge to the rest of the league the Showtime Lakers took off, making a highly expected return trip to the NBA Finals. Instead of their seemingly annual matchup with the Celtics, however, the Lakers instead found themselves matched up against the upstart Detroit Pistons in the battle for the championship.
The Pistons made sure to make L.A. work, taking a 3-games-to-2 lead in the series as the teams traveled to Los Angeles for games 6 and 7. In Game 6, Detroit guard Isiah Thomas put on a classic performance, single-handedly bringing the Pistons back from a third-quarter deficit. After scoring 14 straight points in the quarter, though, Thomas rolled his ankle after stepping on a Laker's foot. Returning to the game moments later, and noticeably limping, Thomas resumed his onslaught, ending up with 25 in the quarter and giving the Pistons the lead. The Lakers fought back, though, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sank two free throws with 8 seconds left - despite TV replays showing he wasn't touched, much less fouled - to force a Game 7.
In Game 7, on June 21, Thomas' ankle was in worse shape than it was for Game 6, and he was forced to miss much of the second half. The Lakers turned a halftime deficit into a 90-75 lead in the fourth quarter and they seemed to be on their way to a repeat title. But Pistons coach Chuck Daly put in a small, fast lineup, and the Pistons used the quicker pace to cut into the lead. The final moments of the game featured the teams trading baskets, as the Pistons kept getting within range of the Lakers but couldn't get the basket they needed to take the lead.
The final 15 seconds of the game turned chaotic. After a James Worthy free throw gave the Lakers a 4-point lead (and gave him a line of 36 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists), Detroit came down and made a 3. Needing a foul, the Pistons instead could only watch as A.C. Green dunked it home with 2 seconds left. The Lakers fans apparently thought "2" meant "0," as they stormed the floor. Meanwhile, the Pistons still had to inbound the ball. Thomas got the pass near midcourt, took a couple dribbles around some fans, and ... was knocked to the ground by Magic Johnson. The officials - possibly seeing they had no control over the game - did nothing, letting the clock run out, and the Lakers sprinted to their locker room before anybody could change their minds.
(The final 40 or so seconds are on this clip - but it takes about 10 minutes in real time. Skip to the 8:00 mark to see the chaotic final seconds)
After issuing that challenge to the rest of the league the Showtime Lakers took off, making a highly expected return trip to the NBA Finals. Instead of their seemingly annual matchup with the Celtics, however, the Lakers instead found themselves matched up against the upstart Detroit Pistons in the battle for the championship.
The Pistons made sure to make L.A. work, taking a 3-games-to-2 lead in the series as the teams traveled to Los Angeles for games 6 and 7. In Game 6, Detroit guard Isiah Thomas put on a classic performance, single-handedly bringing the Pistons back from a third-quarter deficit. After scoring 14 straight points in the quarter, though, Thomas rolled his ankle after stepping on a Laker's foot. Returning to the game moments later, and noticeably limping, Thomas resumed his onslaught, ending up with 25 in the quarter and giving the Pistons the lead. The Lakers fought back, though, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sank two free throws with 8 seconds left - despite TV replays showing he wasn't touched, much less fouled - to force a Game 7.
In Game 7, on June 21, Thomas' ankle was in worse shape than it was for Game 6, and he was forced to miss much of the second half. The Lakers turned a halftime deficit into a 90-75 lead in the fourth quarter and they seemed to be on their way to a repeat title. But Pistons coach Chuck Daly put in a small, fast lineup, and the Pistons used the quicker pace to cut into the lead. The final moments of the game featured the teams trading baskets, as the Pistons kept getting within range of the Lakers but couldn't get the basket they needed to take the lead.
The final 15 seconds of the game turned chaotic. After a James Worthy free throw gave the Lakers a 4-point lead (and gave him a line of 36 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists), Detroit came down and made a 3. Needing a foul, the Pistons instead could only watch as A.C. Green dunked it home with 2 seconds left. The Lakers fans apparently thought "2" meant "0," as they stormed the floor. Meanwhile, the Pistons still had to inbound the ball. Thomas got the pass near midcourt, took a couple dribbles around some fans, and ... was knocked to the ground by Magic Johnson. The officials - possibly seeing they had no control over the game - did nothing, letting the clock run out, and the Lakers sprinted to their locker room before anybody could change their minds.
(The final 40 or so seconds are on this clip - but it takes about 10 minutes in real time. Skip to the 8:00 mark to see the chaotic final seconds)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
April 27, 1984: King of New York
DETROIT - Something was missing from the storybook ending. Instead of celebrating with his teammates, being carried off the court in jubilation, and getting ready for the next round, Isiah Thomas laid on his stomach on the Joe Louis Arena floor, head resting in his hands, a look of shock on his face. It wasn't supposed to end that way. Not after what he did.
It seemed nothing could go wrong for Thomas in the final moments of Game 5. Continually getting into the lane to shoot short jumpers and high-floating layups, Thomas willed his team back into the game. When the lane closed up, he shot from the outside, including a game-tying 3-pointer from the top of the key with just seconds remaining. When the smoke had cleared, Thomas had scored 16 points in the final 94 seconds, all despite the fact that the Knicks knew exactly who would be getting the ball and what he would be doing with it.
Everything was going right for Thomas. So why did the ending go so badly?
Becuase for how brilliant Detroit's point guard was, New York's small forward was even better.
There were few offensive forces who could compare to Bernard King in the early 80s. A devestating combination of speed and power, King would fly in for dunks and floaters, daring anybody to stop him. He was dangerous even without the ball, willing to fly over taller defenders to grab rebounds and dunk them home in one motion.
King might never have been better than he was in the 1983-84 season, culmunating in the jaw-dropping first-round series against the Pistons. After a low-scoring Game 1 victory, King eclipsed the 40-point mark in each of the next four games of the series, including a 44-point effort to trump Thomas' heroics in the Knicks' 127-123 Game 5 victory.
King led the Knicks to a Game 7 loss to the future NBA champion Celtics that spring, and his future potential seemed limitless. But his 12 playoff games in 1984 would be his last for four years, as a severe knee injury took away a year and a half from his career, leading to a trade to Washington. While he was still effective for the Bullets, he was nowhere near what he had been pre-injury.
The spring of 1984 may have been the peak of Bernard King's career. Isiah Thomas probably wishes that peak had come a bit earlier.
It seemed nothing could go wrong for Thomas in the final moments of Game 5. Continually getting into the lane to shoot short jumpers and high-floating layups, Thomas willed his team back into the game. When the lane closed up, he shot from the outside, including a game-tying 3-pointer from the top of the key with just seconds remaining. When the smoke had cleared, Thomas had scored 16 points in the final 94 seconds, all despite the fact that the Knicks knew exactly who would be getting the ball and what he would be doing with it.
Everything was going right for Thomas. So why did the ending go so badly?
Becuase for how brilliant Detroit's point guard was, New York's small forward was even better.
There were few offensive forces who could compare to Bernard King in the early 80s. A devestating combination of speed and power, King would fly in for dunks and floaters, daring anybody to stop him. He was dangerous even without the ball, willing to fly over taller defenders to grab rebounds and dunk them home in one motion.
King might never have been better than he was in the 1983-84 season, culmunating in the jaw-dropping first-round series against the Pistons. After a low-scoring Game 1 victory, King eclipsed the 40-point mark in each of the next four games of the series, including a 44-point effort to trump Thomas' heroics in the Knicks' 127-123 Game 5 victory.
King led the Knicks to a Game 7 loss to the future NBA champion Celtics that spring, and his future potential seemed limitless. But his 12 playoff games in 1984 would be his last for four years, as a severe knee injury took away a year and a half from his career, leading to a trade to Washington. While he was still effective for the Bullets, he was nowhere near what he had been pre-injury.
The spring of 1984 may have been the peak of Bernard King's career. Isiah Thomas probably wishes that peak had come a bit earlier.
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