Word: pivotman
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...gold medal by an average of more than 40 points a game. "What's the fun in that?" he asks. Along with other coaching ambassadors, he began traveling the world and spreading the gospel. "Now there are good basketball players in Japan, the Philippines, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon ((a Beirut pivotman carried Syracuse to the last N.C.A.A. final)), all over Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, almost everywhere. We're not going backward; they're just coming forward. I don't think that...
...merest reservation, "Bird is simply the best who ever played this silly game." He includes Center Bill Russell, Cousy's Boston teammate, whose presence had the most to do with the Celtics' eleven National Basketball Association championships in 13 years. By basketball's nature, it is fundamentally a pivotman's game, the expected province of the Los Angeles Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Philadelphia 76er Moses Malone, but Forward Bird forwardly deposed Malone as the league's MVP last season after placing second three straight years. Another incongruity, a slightly troubling one, has to do with the fact that...
...last week as the National Basketball Association's most prolific scorer. Over 13 professional years, Chamberlain amassed 31,419 points, up to 100 at a time. Abdul-Jabbar, 36, is in his 15th season and showing no signs of halting. With a typical display of integrity, the Laker pivotman could not restrain himself from scoring 22 points, one more than needed, in a 14-point victory over Utah in Las Vegas, although the city of Los Angeles had hoped he would set the record there the following night. "I never played for records," he said. "Whatever...
...Diego childhood coincided with U.C.L.A. Coach John Wooden's great Los Angeles success, so Wooden's methods reached Walton long before Walton reached U.C.L.A. He already knew how to play. At 14, Walton had been a 6-1 guard; by 16, he was a 6-10 pivotman. In the N.B.A., where centers are apt to lope foul line to foul line, he ran base line to base line playing all the positions. "I love almost everything about the game," he says, "the life, the players, the crowds. Just being out there, the competition. I missed...
Because of the nature of basketball, centers, however incomplete, are more important than forwards. Bird could be the best player in the N.B.A. at the same time that Robert Parish, Boston's 7-ft. pivotman, is the most valuable one on the team, and that is probably the situation right now. Still, Bird's impact approximates a center's. It used to be said of Bill Russell, "He improves every player on the floor." Now it is said of Bird...