Sitting here watching the NBA All-Star game, I couldn’t help but think back to the days when the NBA was great. Sure we currently have D Wade, LeBron, Dwight Howard, KG and Kobe but this is not even close to what we had “back in the day.” I remember when the All-Star game meant fierce competition between Dr. J, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isaiah Thomas, Moses Malone, Dominique Wilkins, George Gervin and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (all in the same year). Those guys fought hard, especially in the All-Star game. These guys play no defense and just stand around letting each other dunk uncontested. I can remember when guys like Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley and Kurt Rambis would patrol the paint. They would shove their own mothers into the stands before they’d let her score uncontested. Guys these days want a foul each time someone gives them a light hand check.
My favorite was always Julius Erving. 6′6 with a 48 inch vertical. The legend of Julius placing a quarter on the top of the backboard was not legend at all. When MJ dunked from the foul line in 85, people remembered when the Doctor did it first; they just forgot how much more effortless it was for him. Erving had such great hang time, body control and grace. At the same time, his power was explosive. Notice the picture to the left. That’s not the second string center for the Clippers … that’s the Chief (Robert Parrish of the Celtics) that Doc is dunking on. It didn’t matter if it was Kareem, Bill Walton or Tree Rollins – Erving dunked on everyone. My favorite thing about the Doctor was how he effected the players around him. He made everyone better. He would steal a pass and throw it down on two or three helpless, awestruck defenders. Then the crowd would go nuts and the other four players on the court with him would fill up with energy and intensity. It was amazing.
Here are a few of Erving’s dunks though I’ve seen tons of Doc’s dunks that were better than any of these. I am enjoying tonight’s game, but I’ve never loved basketball more than in this time period.
