Cleveland thumped Golden State in Game 4 on Friday night, and almost immediately I was transported back to the spring of 1982.
The site was an auxiliary locker room in the bowels of the old Spectrum, before Game Six of an Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Sixers and Celtics.
To give you some idea of how fierce that rivalry was, take Warriors-Cavs and multiply it by, say, a billion. It dated back to the ‘50s, when the franchise that became the Sixers was based in Syracuse and Dolph Schayes was the star player, continued through the Wilt-Russell battles of the ‘60s and then was rekindled when Dr. J landed in Philly in 1976 and Larry Bird found his way to Boston three years later.
In the ‘80s alone there were dust-ups like this:
And this:
And this:
Anyway, back to the Spectrum’s auxiliary locker room. Boston coach Bill Fitch was making some pregame remarks, and to give you some idea of how times have changed, there were maybe a half-dozen reporters hovering around him. The Sixers, after blowing a 3-1 series lead in 1981, had again gone up 3-1 before losing Game 5 in Boston, and now had another chance to close out the C’s.
I don’t recall exactly what Fitch said about the pressure that would be on the Sixers if they lost that night, but it had something to do with a needle, a sledgehammer and the hindquarters.
Then Boston did in fact win to force Game 7, back in the old Garden. And in one of the signature games in franchise history, the Sixers won, behind the good Doctor, whom everyone remembers, and Andrew Toney, who nobody does:
The point to all this is it’s going to take something extraordinary for Cleveland to make history a second straight season – to come back from 0-3, something no team has ever done in any round of the playoffs, one year after erasing a 3-1 deficit to win the title, which had never happened in the Finals.
Last year the Warriors didn’t have Kevin Durant. They also didn’t have Draymond Green in Game 5, as he was suspended after hitting LeBron below the belt. And Steph Curry was playing on one leg.
This is not to say it’s going to be easy for the Dubs. The Cavs were terrific in their 137-116 Game 4 victory, setting Finals records for points in a quarter (49, in the first), points in a half (86, in the first) and 3-pointers (24). Kyrie poured in 40 points, LeBron had a triple-double and Kevin Love put up 23, including six 3s.
The game devolved into farce in the third quarter, when Green and Zaza Pachulia should have been ejected – Green for drawing what appeared to be his second technical (only to see the one he drew in the first half magically switched to coach Steve Kerr), Pachulia for a groin shot on Iman Shumpert:
Zaza Pachulia with the sneaky nut punch. 👀
— NBA SKITS (@NBA_Skits) June 10, 2017
Conspiracy theorists will seize on this as the league favoring Golden State, but what of the 20 foul shots attempted by Cleveland in the first quarter? Two opposing conspiracies, in the same game? How in the name of Oliver Stone do the sleuths explain that?
At any rate, not the finest hour for the officiating crew of Mike Callahan, Marc Davis and John Goble. But that should not detract from Cleveland’s effort. The Cavs were amazing.
They do that twice more, and we can start talking about sledgehammers and hindquarters. But not until then.
Great shit, Gordie!
Thanks, Gary.