George Gervin and David Thompson

[dyedwab]

With Thompson introducing Jordan and Gervin introducing Robinson at the NBA HOF ceremonies, I thrllled to be reminded of a great memory from very early in my basketball watching era

In 1978, Gervin beat Thompson for the NBA scoring title by 7 hundreths of a points. Thompson had dropped 73 in his final game, so Gervin went out and scored 63 in his final game, 33rd in the 2nd Q, and then sat the 3rd Q.

Granted it was individual achievement in a team sport - but man, I remember that scoring battle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...e_Good_Point-0

Wonder if that'll come up at all in Springfield?

[hq2]

I remember that; that was classic. D.T. had an O.K. pro career, but it was never quite up to his college legend. In my opinion, in college only D.T. was in the top 5 players of all time; to almost single-handedly break the UCLA dynasty (against Bill Walton, no less) still stands in my mind as one of the greatest college basketball accomplishments of all time.

[brevity]

In 1978, Gervin beat Thompson for the NBA scoring title by 7 hundreths of a points. Thompson had dropped 73 in his final game, so Gervin went out and scored 63 in his final game, 33rd in the 2nd Q, and then sat the 3rd Q.

Nice snapshot. A bit before my time; I started watching in the late 1980s, and was very late to the party. My understanding of the NBA is therefore limited: Wilt vs. Bill Russell in the 1960s, Magic vs. Bird in the 1980s, and apparently only Dr. J played in between.

[jimsumner]

I think it's a reflection of DT's brilliance as a college player that anyone could evaluate his pro career as just OK. The guy averaged 25 ppg in his first six years, before injuries and substance abuse took their toll.

[dyedwab]

I think it's a reflection of DT's brilliance as a college player that anyone could evaluate his pro career as just OK. The guy averaged 25 ppg in his first six years, before injuries and substance abuse took their toll.

I think this is right on the money. My first David Thompson memories were him as a pro... and my sense of his career was that it was good, but derailed from being great because of injuries and other issues.

But after more than 20 years of following ACC basketball, I can say that I regret not being able to see his career at NC State. It is virtually a universal position that he is the greatest ACC player of at least a generation

[jws]

With Thompson introducing Jordan and Gervin introducing Robinson at the NBA HOF ceremonies, I thrllled to be reminded of a great memory from very early in my basketball watching era

In 1978, Gervin beat Thompson for the NBA scoring title by 7 hundreths of a points. Thompson had dropped 73 in his final game, so Gervin went out and scored 63 in his final game, 33rd in the 2nd Q, and then sat the 3rd Q.

Granted it was individual achievement in a team sport - but man, I remember that scoring battle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...e_Good_Point-0

Wonder if that'll come up at all in Springfield?

It never understood the hoopla over that.

I saw the San Antonio game, and I can name you 20 or more players who were in the league at that time who could have scored that many points against the kind of nonexistent defense that was being played at both ends.

If they'd have done it in a game that was a must-win for both their teams and their opponents, it would be worthy of the acclaim it got. As it is, it just demonstrates that good players can score a pile of points when nobody's guarding them, and when they're not guarding anyone themselves.