Dr. J - the Special

Lewis was a rookie in '87-88 and only played 8 minutes a game (only 49 games). Scored 4.5 points per with barely more than a rebound. He didn't come into his own til '88-89. He wasn't going to add much to the C's playoff run in '88.

 

This recollection reminds me of still photo in the documentary. The Doctor, while playing for the Nets, is going nuclear on a couple of Spirits and in the background all you see are empty St. Louis Arena seats.

I enjoyed the documentary and have watched it twice. A soundbite on Erving's relationship with Wendell Ladner would have been nice. Then again, they were not teammates long due to Ladner's death.

 

The team that won the title in 1983 went 65-17. Ask most people to list the best teams of the 80s you'll get people talking about the Lakers, Celtics and Pistons before anyone even gives a thought to the 1983 team.

 

Right. That's a case where the phrase "one of the most forgotten...." applies. Tons of teams have won 58 games in a season. Far fewer have won 65.

 

Yeah, 60 is the cutoff for a truly standout season. The Nuggets won 58 games this year and they canned their coach.

 

In 1972-'73, the Celtics won 68 games and didn't even make the finals. Now that's a forgotten 68-14 team. I'd guess a number of 58-win teams have been forgotten.

The 1971-72 Bucks won 63 games and the 1972-73 Bucks won 60 games. Neither team made the finals, and the 1972-73 team lost in the first round. They won 59 the next year and went to Game 7 of the finals. Bucks fans remember a lot more about that 59-win team than the 63- and 60-win teams.

The 1973-74 Celtics only won 56 games in the regular season but won the title. I'm betting Celtics fans remember that team much better than the one from the year before.

Moral to the story: It's all about how you do in the playoffs.

 

If you want more on this stuff, I would highly, highly recommend Terry Pluto's book, "Loose Balls," the best ABA history out there. There is more in there on Erving and Ladner. They might not have been teammates long, but they were tight, and Erving went to Ladner's funeral.

Re Erving and Jordan: Jordan is, obviously, the better player, but I think the reason Dr. J often resonates more with people in their 40s, and beyond (my 10-year-old son has an Erving T-shirt, a T-shirt with the '83 starting lineup in 8-bit resolution, and an Erving pic by his bed) is because Erving was just so much funkier, and so much less prepackaged for general consumption. Plus, a lot of Erving is so mythical because he played at UMass and in the ABA before nobody with no TV cameras around.

 

And didn't Memphis win something like 56 or 57 games this year?

I agree, you need at least 60 wins before you can claim a forgotten season.

Almost every 58-win team is forgotten because it's not impressive enough to be remembered.

 

The Doctor was also far more accessible if you did get close to him. Jordan has always been a prick. He ramped it up as he got more famous and eventually owned the world, but there was never a time when he was going to show up anywhere and just be nice to people.

 

Figured I would throw in my own Dr J story even though not near as cool as most of the other ones on here.

Sixers came to play a pre-season exhibition game in Winnipeg before the 82-83 season. Me and a buddy lined up at the arena for 6 hours to be first in line for tix only to get to purchase and be told the first 12 rows were already gone, we were first in line WTF?

On game day they announce that Dr J would not be playing due to injury. The crowd boos and then cheers to show that we were booing him not playing, not. Booing him.

I was a huge Celtics fanboy so not the biggest Philly fan but thought Dr J was just so freaking cool.

 

65-17 regular season is impressive, but what was really distinguishes that team was the post-season--the way they just steamrolled through the playoffs. Only lost one game the entire playoffs (and just barely) and most games were not even close. Not sure any team has ever made rolling through the playoffs look quite so effortless.

I guess you could sorta analogize the 83 Sixers to the 85 Bears in football. Probably the two most dominant post-season runs I've seen in both sports, but both teams also carry that stigma of only winning one title.

 

OK. I may have overstated my point a tad. Jesus.