Flashpoint

Flashpoint: Game 3 of ’91 NBA Finals

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This game would prove to be the backbreaker of the series. The Lakers would not be able to recover from this loss. Los Angeles actually had the game somewhat in hand, then Michael Jordan and company made all the plays they needed down the stretch and Los Angeles just needed one more rebound, one more basket, one less foul, and one less turnover. Any of these things could’ve resulted in a Lakers win in regulation rather than an overtime loss. Here are the game notes:

Q1

  • The Forum is lit! Dimly lit….
  • 11:45 Jordan hits the first jumper he attempts
  • Vlade gets 2 early buckets
  • Worthy really is an underrated passer
  • John Paxson jumper been falling all series long
  • Worthy layup on Pippen; then a jumper over Pippen
  • Great ball movement for the Bulls. They reversed the ball across the court to the weak side post for a Pippen layup. No dribbles. Very impressive. Great passing team. Something not talked about enough when they discuss this first iteration of the championship Bulls.

End of Quarter 1

Q2

  • Horace Grant had some post moves. Didn’t really get to show them in the triangle, also had a nice baby jumper.
  • Divac with a beautifully ugly turnaround jumper from 12 ft. People sleep on Vlade still, he was a hooper. 
  • Michael forces a backcourt violation on VLade who can;t advance the ball in 8 seconds. No help with everyone up court.
  • Wild seeing the Lakers being so slow. Riley had them fast breaking at every chance.
  • Levingston Cartwright, Paxson chipping in all series (and after game 1 Horace Grant)
  • Levingston 2 blocks, 4 points. Wichita State in the house!
  • James WOrthy is underrated. He is  aplayer you have to see play to appreciate because stats don’t tell the whole story of what he did. Solid all around game, wasn’t just a scorer. 
  • The forum is buzzing! It dimly lit but it does feel electric. Staples never captured that magic of the old forum, but the same could be said for places like old Boston Garden and old Chicago Stadium, and of course, the Oracle. 
  • Divac picks up a 3rd pivotal foul with 18 seconds left in the half going for a steal. I get the feeling this will somehow contribute to the final score.

End of Quarter 2

Q3

  • Vlade got some damn good foot work. He looks like he should be clumsy, but then he pulls off some crazy up and under or baby jumper in the paint. I keep waiting for him to commit a traveling violation but somehow he manages to keep his pivot foot.
  • I would love for someone to do an oral history on UNC pickup games. That is a story that deserves telling. 
  • Magic with the trademark behind the back post pass into Vlade Divac. Yup! This is who I first patterned my game after. Unfortunately, my handle was too busted to pull off even the semi-flashy stuff…. But this behind the back wrap around…..[epiphany! Magic birthed the Fab Five. Now I see where Jalen and C Webb’s flash came from. Magic being a Michigan guy, it makes sense that they idolized him. WOW]
  • The spacing and cutting from both teams at times is just a clinic in beautiful basketball. Divac passes to a cutting Worthy, who drives to the cup and drops a wraparound pass to Sam Perkins for a dunk. MPPPPPPPPHHHHH! Good Ass Game!
  • Sam Perkins, Vlade Divac, and James Worthy were some really good passing bigs. Seeing a lot of touch passes (especially on the interior) from the Lakers bigs. Worthy had a great touch pass earlier in the 2nd quarter that was a thing of beauty. For all the praise Worthy got for his athleticism, I don’t think Worthy gets near enough credit for being an IQ Player (which you had to be to play for Dean Smith).
  • Vlade hits a crazy turnaround jumper at the tail end of the shot clock. I didn’t realize a jump shot was in Vlade’s repetoire for some reason. But now that I think about it, he was hitting the jumpers out the high post in Sacramento (can’t wait to rewatch those games). Vlade really was a great player. Found space  to catch and finish along with being a great passer. Vlade ends up having 12 points in the quarter alone.
  • Stacy King comes into the game as a #6 overall pick. He was a star with Mookie Blaylock on that Billy Tubbs Final Four team
  • Uh Oh. Vlade to bench with four fouls. The Lakers currently have a 12 pt. lead. I should’ve time stamped this moment. Have a feeling this will be the turning point of the game (and the series).
  • MJ really struggling in the 3rd quarter and the Lakers still can’t really separate.
  • AC Green was really limited offensively at this point in his career. You can see why they eventually let him leave to Phoenix. 
  • Lakers end the quarter only up by 6. Not a good sign for Lakers Nation, but Mike had yet to cement that fear into the rest of the league. He had his share of doubters (and haters––myself included) until after that 93 title, when he proved he was the BIG Dawg of the league. End of Quarter 3
  • 4th QTR Jordan with a push off on Perkins. Basket don’t count. Almost certain that bucket counts in a pickup game. I can see Jordan calling foul. I’m about 90 % sure very few calls went against Jordan in pickup game
  • Perkins with a baby hook at the rim.
  • Jordan almost always makes the right play. Its amazing to watch him makes decisions so quickly and efficiently.
  • Craig Hodges with a jumper. Cartwright with a basketball move and then a jumper. Bulls are cooking at this point. 
  • Levingston with another block. This one on Perkins,. Jordan takes it down and then throws a beautiful look away pass for a bucket.
  • 20-7 run by Chicago ignited by Vlade going to the bench with his 4th foul. 
  • Levingston makes winning plays and does cool little dances in the introduction line. As Bill Simmons would say, “A real glue guy. He was the Deandre Jordan of the 90’s. Speaking of the 90’s.. Beverly Hills 902010!” Levingston scores, and then gets the rebound on the following defensive possession. 
  • Divac picks up his 5th foul with 6:54 left in the 4rd quarter. Two of them were ticky tack fouls, but they were also silly. Lakers depth is very suspect up front, and Vlade should understand how valuable he is to the lineup. There is a difference between aggression and recklessness, and though Vlade would be a smarter defender as he matured in the NBA, it always seemed like struggled with fouls (or maybe that was just when he was guarding Shaq) We’ll have to revisit this when we rewatch the Kings-Lakers 2002 series.
  • Jordan’s jumper is just beautiful
  • Magic goes to the post and immediately goes to work. He loved to pass out of that elbow area with his back to the basket as opposed to the top of the key facing up. He went on a break and went baseline, then hit a spin move on Michael  and tried to dunk on Bill Cartwright who blocked it….. Foul! 2 free throws for Magic.
  • Levingston with a strong put back dunk. (Speaking of Wichita, there’s Don Johnson on the sidelines. Didn’t even know Miami Vice was still on television in 1991. Looks like he went to the game straight from the set because he didn’t have time to go home and change.
  • Magic back into the post, drove back to the middle as if to hook shot, but passes to Worthy for a jumper. Somehow Worthy is better than I remember. And even then I knew he was great. 
  • Lexington out with 2:54 left in the game. MJ gets his first 2nd half breather. Its 88-85 Bulls.
  • Divac with a spin left to the basket and finishes with his right hand. 88-87 This a Good Ass game!
  • Horace Grant with a tip for 18 pts. 
  • 2 long rebounds in a row that fall to Chicago. Jordan makes the Lakers pay by tipping in a missed layup. 40 to 24 rebounds for the Bulls.
  • Perkins with a great move to the cup. 49 seconds left. Bulls up by 1. This was the last year Perkins would be a star player. From 93 to his final year in 2001, Perkins would be a high level role player on the Sonics and the Pacers. (3 Finals with 3 different teams) .
  • 10 years away from the Jackson and Dunleavy rematch in the 99 WCF where Phil is by then coaching the Lakers and they come back to beat Dunleavy’s Blazers (eventually we will revisit this game).
  • Vlade with the And1! With 10 seconds left.  Scottie fouls out with 19 and 14 on his line. Levingston enters the game again.
  • Vlade has 24 and 6 on 11 for 15 shooting. Imagine had he not had to sit because of fouls. Vlade hits the free throw to make it a 2 point game.
  • TV Timeout. Can’t Touch This is playing on the house speakers. I would love to know what was the last NBA arena to finally get with the times and stop playing that song, and most importantly, when. Instead of going to commercial, Mike Fratello and Ahmad Rashad tells us what plays we might see the teams run. 
  • Jordan only has 21 points at this point. Ties it with a deep jumper. He beats Byron Scott to a spot on the floor, and releases it from the elbow of the floor over an outstretched Vlade Divac. Scott gave him too much room, but history has shown if you play Mike too close, he drives right by you. 92-92.
  • Delay of Game. Lakers run their action and with no timeouts, the Bulls know what they are running. The Lakers inbound the ball and Jordan who was guarding the inbounder, runs over to poke the ball from a driving Vlade Divac. He leaves Johnson on the sideline and is able to make the play from the midcourt out of bounds. The Black Cat strikes again! They are going to overtime. End of 4th QTR

OT

  • Elden Campbell enters the game for the jump ball. Seeing his face again reminds me of last summer when I saw him at the hot dog stand at the Denver airport. I wasn’t entirely sure if was him or Reggie McFadden so I just kept it moving. But it was definitely Campbell. McFadden ain’t 7 ft tall. It was just such an odd sight for whatever reason, seeing Elden Campbell eating a Rinky Dinky dog at the Denver Airport on my way back from Chapel Hill.
  • Jordan with a beautiful reverse layup for a 94-92 lead.
  • Another reverse layup by Jordan up and underneath the basket. Now he is just imposing his will on the game.
  • In 50 minutes of play, we have Mike with a 27,7, and 9 box score. Magic with a 22,6, and 10. Play has been clunky at junctures throughout the game, but the role players on Chicago are really stepping up. Magic getting help from the other star support, but the Lakers bench has not been productive, and Byron Scott is barely registering that he is playing. 
  • Jordan with a pretty assist to Horace Grant for another bucket.
  • Not a good possession for L.A. Vlade also fouls out fighting for a rebound. 102-96 Bulls
  • 53 seconds left and it feels like its pretty much over. Lakers out of offensive options. Magic airballs a 3 pointer after no one is open to pass to. 
  • Horace Grant hits a long jumper to ice the game. He’s hype, but you can tell he’s trying to stay composed.
  • Huge L for the Lakers. It isn’t the final nail in the coffin, but this is the closest they will get to beating the Bulls again. They competed, but ultimately didn’t have enough answers for the Bulls role players. Outside of Magic, Perkins, Worthy and Divac, they got no production. They were outmatched from positions 4-9. Bulls are proven to be younger, better, and hungrier. 

Game 5 Next! I’m sure there is nothing better than going into L.A. and celebrating a championship. That had to be a crazy night! Next post I will try to actually use time stamps.

BM

 Bob E. Freeman is a part time teacher, part time writer, and full time basketball junky. When he isn’t involved in some basketball related activity, actively looking for parties to deejay or venues to perform comedy, you can find him banging his head on the keyboard, and trying to finish his backlog of writing projects. For booking inquiries or content proposals, send contact info to bobbymickey@gmail.com

Flashpoint: Game 1 of 1991 NBA Finals

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Basketball in 1991 was my 3rd favorite sport behind baseball and football. I liked basketball but  didn’t yet have the attention span to fully invest in watching a full game. I only knew the star players on each team, and at the time, baseball was still the most popular sport in my neighborhood. I had a Magic poster in my room, A Bo Jackson poster, and 2 Michael Jordan posters. Magic was my favorite player and my dad had even taken me to a playoff game in 1986 when the Lakers faced the Mavericks. I liked Jordan as a player, but the Lakers were always in the Finals growing up, and I’d grown fond of Kareem and his skyhook. 

I was too young to know it, but this series was the passing of the torch. The Bulls would win the series 4-1 and Jordan would become the new face of the league. The Lakers’ dynasty would be completely shut by the beginning of 1992 when Magic would get diagnosed with H.I.V. 

Even though the Lakers would win Game 1, in hindsight, you can tell there was blood in the water with the Lakers front court dominating the Bulls front court and only coming away with a 2 point victory. Anytime I was by myself on a court that summer, you could find me spending at least 20 minutes trying Mike’s left handed layup where he switches mid air (Game 2). By the end of that series, I was just as much a basketball fan as I was football and baseball.

1st Quarter

  • Look folks, it’s the 3 best players from the 1982 UNC title team. Damn near a ten year reunion. James Worthy and Sam Perkins versus Michael Jordan and Scott Williams. 1991 was a great year for Carolina fans. The team made the Final Four. And four former players played in the Finals (Scott Williams was a reserve for the Bulls). I’m sure Coach Dean Smith felt like a proud papa.
  • Vlade Divac starts off by hitting a left handed hook shot. Coming from the Yugoslavian National Team, he was in the first wave of European players to come over to NBA. 
  • During one old broadcast (on NBC I think) one of the play by play guys called Chicago Stadium the loudest in the NBA. Those old buildings had better acoustics despite being dumps. Boston and Chicago and eventually Golden State lost a lot of ghosts on their side when they modernized. Not too many old arenas anymore. None in the NBA at least. Carmichael still stands in Chapel Hill, then of course you have Allen Fieldhouse.
  • Jordan just played the best quarter of basketball I’ve ever seen by one player. He threw dime after dime for some assists, rebounded with aggression, and had some powerful dunks. I can only imagine what those pickup games in Chapel Hill were like in the 80’s and 90’s. Speaking of Carolina players, here comes Larry Drew II’s dad checking into the game for the Lakers.

2nd Quarter

  • WoW! Just found out that Mike Dunleavy was 36 years old at this day in history. Dude looked 46 (no disrespect). 
  • I didn’t realize this, but James Worthy, Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, A.C Green and Sam Perkins were the first players I’d ever seen in person when my dad took me to the Lakers vs Mavericks playoff game. Back when I was in college, a few of us drove downtown to Dallas to see Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. After the show, we’re hanging out by Cafe Brazil, and to my right is a very dapper dressed, Sam Perkins wearing like some huge dress shoes (Looked like Steve Madden) and talking to this beautiful young lady. My friend didn’t think it was him so we decided to yell “Go Tar Heels!” to see his reaction. Sure enough, he turns and looks at us smiling and says “mannnnnnnnn” The funniest part was my friend Teresa yelling “Are you him?” which in 2004 had completely different connotations. Yes. It was him. And 20 years ago, he was HIM. That was a really good night.

3rd Quarter

  • Jordan throws another outstanding dime of a pass, but Horace Grant blows it. Magic immediately takes the ball down to the length of the court and dishes off something nice to Vlade Divac for a layup. Magic put it in a place where only Divac could catch it and still take it to the rim in one motion. Wow! 
  • Watching this series proved that even Magic had his (small) share of goofy turnovers. There were a couple of “my bad” moments where he tried to force in some passes when the play really wasn’t there. Just watching highlight footage of certain players will have you thinking they were perfect when in reality, even the greatest point guard to ever lace em up made a few mistakes. It’s kind of refreshing to see–like watching your favorite comedian bomb once in a while on stage.
  • Pippen blows another would be dime from MJ on a tough layup attempt.

4th Quarter

  • Mike comes back in the game and immediately starts going to work: He immediately gets a layup, goes back down next possession and assists on a basket, makes a steal that leads to a fast break basket. He then proceeds to score on the next 2 possessions.
  • Pippen gets his 5th foul early into the 4th quarter and Jordan picks up his 5th foul with 6:00 to go. 
  • Jordan hangs in the air on a layup attempt just long enough to feed an open Horace Grant on an “and 1” Jordan’s stats at this point are 33 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, and 3 steals. 
  • Perkins hits an open 3 pointer with 14 seconds left to give the Lakers a one point lead.
  • Jordan’s jumper rims out with 2.7 seconds left . Lakers rebound and get fouled.  Byron Scott misses the first free throw and hits the second. Bill Cartwright inbounds the pass to Scottie Pippen who launches it from center court and hits the back rim. 

Final Thoughts:

At this point, the Bulls have to feel confident. They lose by a basket despite their front line getting dominated and Jordan barely getting help offensively from anyone other than Pippen and John Paxson (the blown bunnies that didn’t go in off the dimes by MJ were enough to win by themselves). Sometimes a win isn’t always a win. If I’m the Lakers, I’m happy to take game 1 on the road, but I’m probably thinking as a player, that we haven’t seen the best version of the Bulls yet. Conversely, I’m sure the Chicago locker room is disappointed at losing the 1st game, but feeling extremely confident going forward. 

Next Entry: Game 3 of this series. “Blood in the water”

 Bob E. Freeman is a part time teacher, part time writer, and full time basketball junky. When he isn’t involved in some basketball related activity, actively looking for parties to deejay or venues to perform comedy, you can find him banging his head on the keyboard, and trying to finish his backlog of writing projects. For booking inquiries or content proposals, send contact info to thisagoodassgame@gmail.com

Flashpoint: A few Observations from rewatching the Arizona vs Kansas Sweet Sixteen Game

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Even back in 1997 this was a historic matchup between two elite college coaches. Lute Olson was already known as a good coach from his Iowa days, but he created his own ecosystem down in Tucson when he made Arizona perennial contenders. Meanwhile, Roy Williams was entering his ninth season as a head coach, and had taken Kansas to two Final Fours already, and kept the program afloat as a Midwestern juggernaut. Going into this Sweet Sixteen game, the Jayhawks had only lost 1 game out of 35–giving them a deceiving 34-1 record. The Big 12 wasn’t cracking as a basketball conference yet, with a Chauncey Billups led Colorado finishing second in the standings with 4 losses, and a six loss Tom Penders coached UT squad that was in its final run as an exciting upstart team ( Penders would be gone after the following season). Neither coach had won a National title yet (although Roy was an assistant on the ’82 UNC title team), so this had all the makings of a classic with a bit of tension woven into the Sweet Sixteen storyline.

Arizona would go on to win the game 82-79 and at the time, I remember the media pushing this as another Roy WIlliams’ collapse to fit the narrative that his Kansas teams underachieved during the post season. There may be some truth to that, of course history is much kinder to Roy after he won multiple titles over in Chapel Hill. But in the 90’s, it felt like the media enjoyed those post game press conferences of Coach Roy Williams crying into the microphone, lamenting his players’ lost seasons. But after watching this game the other night, it is obvious that not only did Roy not get outcoached by Lute Olson, but maybe perhaps this 34-2 Jayhawk team may have overachieved. Hear me out for a second.

  1. That Kansas team was not that deep to begin with and had battled injuries the entire year with their star players. Both Jacque Vaughn and Scot Pollard had missed games throughout the season, and going into the tournament guard Jerod Haase was playing basically one handed. When Scot Pollard got into foul trouble early in the 2nd Half (Probably the only real in game mistake Coach Williams made–leaving Pollard in too long after he picked up third foul–4 fouls with 17:50 remaining), it was obvious the Jayhawks were in for an uphill battle.
  2. This was the perfect storm for Arizona, a team with a lot of depth in both their back and front lines. Jason Terry, Miles Simon and Mike Bibby had a field day, creating penetration at will, and no one to guard them. Other than Vaughn (who had his own problems guarding Bibby), there was no one to help out on the perimeter defense. Once Vaughn picked up his 4th foul at 9 minutes, the Arizona guards went on attack mode getting bucket after bucket in the paint. Kansas couldn’t get stops during winning time and Bibby, Terry, and Simon took advantage of no Pollard in the paint and foul stricken Paul Pierce and Jacque Vaughn. No one that Coach Williams brought off the bench could guard anyone in the Wildcats’ backcourt.
  3. Kansas got outrebounded by Lute Olson’s rotating front line of A.J. Bramlett, Donnell Harris, Michael Dickerson, Eugene Edgerson, Bennett Davison. The Zona guards also got their fair share of rebounds, crashing the glass and somehow catching loose balls and caroms, providing second chance possessions that almost always led to points. The quickness of the Arizona players allowed them to jump the passing lanes (Jason Terry broke the team’s season steal records with 85 thefts) and create turnovers. Kansas had 12 turnovers in the first half alone, some unforced, but Arizona’s pressure defense created a lot of problems for Kansas’ thin backcourt.
  4. Kansas’ best players had their worst games of the season. Pollard was rendered ineffective with foul trouble and only attempted a handful of shots at most. Raef LaFrentz only got four first half shots and finished below his season average for scoring. Jacque Vaughn played well, but not as well as the team needed him to play. There were many posessions where Vaughn needed to penetrate and create scoring opportunities, but instead gave the ball up early to a perimeter shooter (even during the final possession). Paul Pierce balled out, keeping the team in the game with timely shots, blocks, and steals. He even created two turnovers during the final stretch of the game when Kansas was down by 10 and clawed their way back to within 1 point.
  5. Bringing me to my next point: Kansas could’ve laid dwn after going down by 10 with 2 minutes to go, but they kept fighting and gave themselves a chance to go into overtime with the final possession. Role players like Billy Thomas and Ryan Roberson hit timely 3 pointers to trim down that big Arizona lead, and had it not been for a blown (wide open) layup by B.J. Williams, and a missed alley-oop by LaFrentz, history might look at this Jayhawks post season run differently.

Kansas really just ran into the perfect storm with a deep and well coached (Olson coached the perfect game and arguably a perfect tournament run) young Arizona team. On paper, it may look like an upset, but Arizona beat 3 #1 seeds to win that tournament–led by a Freshman point guard in Mike Bibby. Providence proved to have been seeded too low with the legendary God Shammgod and a veteran front line of future professional NBA players. Carolina had Vinsanity and Antawn Jamison and Ed Cota. Kentucky was coming off a championship season and had only lost a couple players from their title team. This is one of the best NCAA tournaments of all time and it could’ve gone either way. Even if Kansas had beaten Zona, the road to a title was not a cakewalk by any means.

Bonus Point:

This game featured a lot of future professional players. With Bibby, Pierce, and Terry (future teammates for a spell in Boston and Brooklyn) making respective their marks in the NBA. Vaughn, Pollard and LaFrentz would take journeymen roles and Michael DIckerson made a little noise in his brief NBA career. Simon, Bramlett, Robertson, and Thomas would have a cup of coffe and catch some balls in the league for a spell as well. This Sweet Sixteen game stands the test of time and is one of the Good Ass Games of Good Ass Games for many reasons. It is worth investing the 1 hour and 20 minutes it will take to watch it. But don’t take my word for it; click on the link and find out for yourself.

BM