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Erving, with his trademark Afro seemingly moving to its own syncopation, controlled both his body and the basketball in mid-air. Perhaps only Michael Jordan has a greater place in our imagination among those elevated. His ability to soar and play above the rim was - while the latest in a long line of high-flying hoopers, from Elgin Baylor to “Jumpin'” Johnny Green to Connie Hawkins - among the most compelling of all. But it was the flair and the style with which he operated that made him stand out. And his efficiency remains quite underrated - he was a career 51 percent shooter. When Erving retired in 1987, he was just one of three players in basketball history who’d scored 30,000 or more points. He won those two ABA titles along with his lone NBA title in Philly in 1983 after seven straight years of painful postseason losses, including three NBA Finals defeats. ‘Keep your head up - don’t worry about anything, we’re going to get it done.’ Always inspiring confidence that we could get it done.”Įrving is 19th on The Athletic’s list of the top 75 players of all time, with his place in basketball history clear. Doc was always there to lift you - ‘Don’t worry about it, BT, you’ll get the next one,’ stuff like that. Some superstars, they go off on their teammates if they’re not producing or if they’re not having a good night. “I don’t remember Doc raising his voice at the guys,” Taylor said. But Doc was so special,” said Brian Taylor, the Nets point guard when Erving led the team to two ABA titles in four seasons. “I played with some great ones - Bill Walton and David Thompson. J became one of the first Black athletes tapped for national endorsements and seemed to have time for everyone, from fans to media, off the floor.

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Erving was barely noticed at Roosevelt High in Hempstead, N.Y., with only a handful of college scholarship offers - including the one he chose, from the University of Massachusetts, which was hardly a hoops factory.Įrving was the telegenic, genial face of two leagues during his 16-year professional career, carrying the ABA for five seasons with the Virginia Squires and New York Nets before going to Philly and the NBA in 1976 as part of the NBA-ABA merger. We want our doctors to have empathy and humility.

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He worked endlessly on his game while growing up on Long Island, learning how to score with either hand and concentrating as much on rebounding as he did offense. We want our doctors to be elite at what they do, right? Erving was just that. Has there ever been a more perfect nickname? “ Wayyyyy - he rocked the baby to sleep, and slam dunked!” Lakers legendary play-by-play man Chick Hearn exclaimed.ĭecades later, no one remembers Wilkes scored 36 that night, that Philly’s Andrew Toney made the game-winning basket in the final seconds of overtime, that it was a regular-season game in January and not an NBA Finals game in June. And, in one motion, he palmed and cuffed the ball, bringing it past Cooper, down to his waist and then back up, as he rose - with his outstretched arm, a human embodiment of the Jimi Hendrix lyric from Purple Haze: “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky …”Īt this point, Cooper knew what was going to happen.Īnd, Cooper ducked, his head barely missing the backboard, as Erving flew by and flushed the ball home, an inexplicable amalgam of grace and violence, as the crowd at the Philly Spectrum detonated.

At the least, he could challenge it.Įxcept, after that second dribble, Erving inhaled the ball with his massive right hand.

Michael Cooper, being Michael Cooper - the man Larry Bird would later say was the best defender he’d ever faced - could still get to this shot. Cooper, though, was timing his steps to be able to contest a drive by Erving. Two dribbles later, Erving was just inside the free-throw line extended. But Philly’s Maurice Cheeks deflected the pass, and the ball bounced away from Wilkes and to Cooper near midcourt.Įxcept, Julius Erving got to the ball first, cutting in front of Cooper. In the extra session, James Worthy tried a pass to Jamaal Wilkes, the Lakers’ silky small forward. The game, as befitting two of the league’s titans, went to overtime. 5, 1983, Cooper - who’d go on to become an eight-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, and the 1986-87 Defensive Player of the Year - and his Lakers were in Philadelphia to meet the 76ers, whom they’d vanquished in the previous season’s NBA Finals. You can’t blame Michael Cooper for making one of the first recorded business decisions.