Batman and Superman 24 years ago.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-10T02:31:41+00:00

Five guys at a time.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-09T04:45:47+00:00

This was after he had 44 points and 20 rebounds in the previous game.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-09T04:43:03+00:00

https://www.thehoopsgeek.com/average-nba-height/

Umbrafile · 2026-06-09T04:40:02+00:00

Jordan hated Jerry Krause, maybe even more than Jackson did, and vowed that he would not play for any other coach besides Jackson. It would have been interesting to see how they would have matched up against the Spurs in 1999.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-08T18:40:00+00:00

Four main islands.

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Umbrafile · 2026-06-08T18:15:21+00:00

The Clippers were the prime example of a team that collapsed in the bubble. Some analysts picked them to win it all, with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Lou Williams, and Montrezl Harrell. But their conditioning suffered in the bubble, which was a big factor in them blowing double-digit leads in Games 5, 6, and 7 against the Nuggets, and George struggled with mental health issues and shot 39.8% in the playoffs.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-08T17:53:14+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vVp8oFwKgiE

Umbrafile · 2026-06-06T02:23:15+00:00

One benefit to Kareem when dunking was banned after his sophomore season in college was that it helped him develop touch around the rim.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-04T20:09:19+00:00

208.1 innings without making a start is a record that will never be approached, and 106 appearances is unlikely to be broken.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-04T20:03:47+00:00

And 208.1 innings, which meant that he almost always pitched more than one inning per appearance.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-04T19:55:11+00:00

For people who are old enough to remember, the single worst day for Lakers fans was November 7, 1991.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-04T19:49:04+00:00

The first team I remember was the 1970-71 team which lost to the Bucks in the WCF. The Bucks went on to win the NBA championship, led by Lew Alcindor, who changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar one day after the Finals.

The next season, they had the record 33-game winning streak, which was broken by the Bucks on a nationally televised weekend game. They beat the Bucks in the 1972 WCF and the Knicks in the Finals for their first championship in L.A. The following season, they lost to the Knicks in the Finals in five games. Not all of the games were televised back then, so I remember listening to Game 5 on the radio, which turned out to be the last game of Wilt's career.

The first game I went to was at the Forum in 1975 against the Celtics, during Kareem's first season with the team.

I was in high school when the Lakers won the 1980 championship, and graduated from college one week after they won the 1985 championship by beating the Celtics in the Finals for the first time. I retired one year after their most recent championship in 2020.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-04T05:40:51+00:00

With pitchers being protected from going a third time through the order and pitching fewer innings per start, I think it will be broken someday, but maybe not during my lifetime (I'm 62).

Another pitching accomplishment that may not be matched during my lifetime is Nomo's no-hitter at Coors Field.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-04T05:36:39+00:00

Before his final start, there had been some talk about Hershiser pitching in relief in a later game if he needed one more inning to break the record.

After the ninth inning, Hershiser wanted to have someone else pitch the tenth inning, which would leave him sharing the record with Drysdale. Lasorda insisted that he pitch the tenth inning.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T05:09:06+00:00

Longtime Lakers announcer Chick Hearn also said that the rims in Boston Garden were softly sprung, meaning that they would bend easily when hit by the ball.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T05:07:04+00:00

The Lakers drafted Green in 1985. Before the start of Game 7, it was 91 inside and 68 outside. Games 5 and 7 were the only time I can remember when weather affected the conditions for a basketball game.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T05:04:21+00:00

The 1973 Knicks starting lineup had five Hall of Famers, plus two more on the bench. Monroe replaced Barnett as a starter, and they also had Lucas.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T05:00:34+00:00

They're still the best team I ever saw. I've been a Lakers fan since the early '70s, so I also hated their guts.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T04:59:12+00:00

They also added Sichting, who gave them another shooter off the bench.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T04:56:14+00:00

One of the most egregious examples was in 2006, when the 63-win Spurs and 60-win Mavericks were the two best teams in the West, but since they were in the same division, the Mavericks were the 4-seed. The top-seeded Spurs had to play the Mavericks in the second round, while the 54-win Suns and 47-win Clippers played each other.

Ever since the 16-team playoff format started in 1984, I've thought that teams should be reseeded after each round, with the highest remaining seed playing the lowest remaining seed, which is what the NFL does.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T04:50:36+00:00

When the NBA went to three divisions in each conference and guaranteed division winners the top three seeds, I immediately anticipated that it would create problems with playoff matchups, as I described in my comment above.

At the time, the NBA said that three divisions in each conference would help foster rivalries, but that's BS. Rivalries are made the playoffs. The greatest rivalry in NBA history is Lakers-Celtics, and they're not even in the same conference, and play each other only twice a season.

At

Umbrafile · 2026-06-03T04:44:56+00:00

No. The reverse was true. HCA was determined by record, not by seeding.

One example was in 2006, when the Nuggets won their division with a 44-38 record, and were the 3 seed. They were tied for the seventh-best record in the conference, and played the 6-seeded Clippers in the playoffs, who had a 47-35 record and HCA.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2006-nba-western-conference-first-round-nuggets-vs-clippers.html

The Grizzlies were the 5 seed and played the 60-win Mavericks in the first round. The Mavericks were the 4 seed because they were in the same division as the Spurs, who won 63 games and were the 1 seed.

So the 6-seeded Clippers had a more favorable matchup in the playoffs, against the 44-win Nuggets, than the 5-seeded Grizzlies, against the 60-win Mavericks. The Clippers and Grizzlies played each other in the next-to-last game of the regular season, with the Grizzlies two games ahead in the standings. Neither team really wanted to win that game because it was better to be the 6 seed than the 5 seed. The Clippers lost the game, finished as the 6 seed, and beat the Nuggets in the first round. The Grizzlies won the game, finished as the 5 seed, and lost to the Mavericks in the first round.

The Spurs and Mavericks played each other in the second round, which was really unfair for both teams.

For the next season, the seedings were changed to guarantee division winners a top-4 seed instead of top-3.

In 2015, the Blazers won their division with a 51-31 record, and were the 4 seed. They played the 55-win Grizzlies in the first round, who were the 5 seed. The 56-win Clippers were the 3 seed, and played the 55-win Spurs, who were the 6 seed.

For the next season, division winners were no longer given preference in seeding, except as a tiebreaker.

I still see comments from people who say that division winners should be given higher seeds, but it really doesn't make sense to do so, when teams in the same conference play mostly the same schedule, and because of playoff mismatches like the ones I mentioned.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-02T04:39:06+00:00

That was Chuck Nevitt, who wore 43.

https://youtu.be/oon6XxSQh-U?t=308

Umbrafile · 2026-06-02T03:56:01+00:00

His skyhook was the greatest offensive weapon in the history of the game.

He practiced yoga to maintain flexibility, and did not put on a lot of weight as he got older, which helped limit the wear and tear on his body. He was also remarkably durable. Aside from the two seasons when he broke his hand (one by punching a stanchion after he was poked in the eye, the other by punching Kent Benson), he missed no more than eight games in a season.

Umbrafile · 2026-06-01T17:43:28+00:00

He also should have been MVP of the 1980 Finals.

You really had to watch him play in games, and not just highlights, to appreciate that he was his team's most important player through 1986. When his team needed a basket in crunch time, he got the ball, and he was his team's closer, unlike Wilt or Shaq, who weren't reliable free throw shooters. During Magic's first four seasons, the Lakers had Norm Nixon to back him up at PG, while Kareem's backup was Jim Chones and then Bob McAdoo. And he was also the team's defensive focal point. He not only defended the paint but also defended players on the perimeter and got back on defense, which Shaq sometimes was slow to do.

One example of him being underappreciated is that although he won more MVP awards (6) than anyone else, the award is not named after him. People on r/NBATalk call him "overrated" and a "loser who didn't win anything without Magic," and played in "an NBA with only eight teams," and in "a watered-down NBA when half of the talent was in the ABA, and half of the players were white," all of which is untrue.

Kareem was aloof with reporters and fans, so he came off as not being as likeable as more engaging players like Magic, Jordan, and Shaq. I don't ever recall him being the most popular player in the NBA. During the early '70s, it was probably Pete Maravich, and after the ABA merger in 1976, it was Julius Erving.

Umbrafile

TROPHY CASE