NBA.com
Blog: Bill Russell: Cavs, Spurs Set for NBA
Finals
"I can think of about four or five playoff games similar to LeBron’s
48-point game, going back to ’58 when I got hurt in the playoffs and we lost to
the Hawks in the NBA Finals. In the last game, Bob Pettit had 50 points and
scored 19 of their last 21 points. Remember, Bob Pettit was one of the few guys
that averaged over 20 points and 20 rebounds. That was a great Finals
performance."
San Antonio
legend George Gervin with the trophy.Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Images
George
Gervin on the Finals: One-on-One With the Ice Man
"Gervin is only too happy to reciprocate whether it’s a hug to an
old friend or signing an autograph. But before he walked out to the runway to
guide Slam Dunk One, the Southwest Airlines plane that just arrived from
Baltimore carrying the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Gervin chilled in a back room for a
one-on-one interview and discussed the key to the Spurs success (teamwork),
Duncan, LeBron James, Cavs Role Players, the D-League, Kevin Durant-Ice Man
comparisons and his Finals predictions."
John
Hareas on Hoops: The Top 10 Playoff
Performances
"He calls it his greatest NBA game ever. When 20-year-old rookie
Magic Johnson received the news from Lakers head coach Paul Westhead that he was
the Game 6 starting center replacing injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who was home in
L.A. nursing an ankle sprain, he thought he was kidding. So what was Magic’s
first official act in replacing Abdul-Jabbar as team leader? He took his empty
seat at the front of the cabin on the team plane prior to the Lakers’ flight to
Philadelphia, telling teammates, 'Never feat, E.J. is here.'"
Scottie
Pippen: If I Were Coach..., "The Spurs and Their Motivation To Make History"
"Tim Duncan has been a phenomenal player, but it’s just been a
tremendous ride watching Coach Popovich, a guy who was sort of pulled out of the
front office and pulled into that coaching slot, and how this guy has turned out
to be such a phenomenal coach. Not knowing a lot about him before he became the
head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, he has really done a tremendous job for
that franchise over the last ten years."
Dennis Johnson
grips the championship trophy in 1984.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty
Images
John
Hareas on Hoops: An Appreciation: Dennis
Johnson
"The passing of Dennis Johnson was a great loss for the NBA and the
D-League family. Not only was he was one of the NBA’s greatest players, easily
one of the top 75 of all time and perhaps the most underrated of his generation,
but Dennis Johnson the man touched everyone he encountered, teammates and foes
alike."
John
Hareas on Hoops: Hall Should Call King and
D.J.
"There are 30 players in NBA history who have scored 20,000 or more
points and all are either in Hall of Fame (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt
Chamberlain, Moses Malone) or will soon be inducted (i.e. Michael Jordan, Hakeem
Olajuwon, Karl Malone Reggie Miller). Only Gary Payton, Tom Chambers and Mitch
Richmond among the 30 aren’t locks for Springfield with The Glove having the
most realistic chance to gain entry."