Cleveland's Finest. Vince McKee

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ together:

      Our wives would get mad at us after the games because we would sit in the shower for over an hour after the game like a bunch of old women just talking. We would walk out in that cold garage in the Richfield Coliseum and our wives would be like, “What is taking you so long?” It was just an amazing time listening to “Hot Rod” talking about Louisiana or Larry talking about cars, or even listening to Tree Rollins talk about how many kids he had. Gary Briggs, our trainer, was the glue that held us together.

      The fans flocked to the Coliseum to see this unique and unselfish team-orientated basketball. The Coliseum was rocking nightly as the fans gravitated to the players on the court because of their workmanlike approach. The total season attendance was 730,925, a number good enough to finish 5th out of 25 teams in the league. It proved once again that when Cleveland produces a winner, the fans show up to the games.

      The 1988–89 season was the first full season with the core team in place, and it quickly showed as the Cavaliers continued to improve. They managed to win a club-record 57 games, good enough to finish second in the Eastern Conference Central Division. The key factor to the improvement was how well the team bonded. They were friends on and off the court and truly cared for one another. This was a factor in building their chemistry and made them dangerous to any opponent.

      The first-round playoffs matchup was against the Chicago Bulls, a team they had beaten all six times that they faced them in the regular season. With homecourt advantage and the dominant regular season record in place, it seemed that the Cavaliers would easily get revenge for the previous season’s playoff outcome. Sadly, with expectations high, they promptly lost game one of the series at home 88–95. They bounced back with a game two victory of 96–88 and traveled to Chicago with the series tied. The Bulls wasted no time in reclaiming the lead in the series with a 101–94 game-three win. A thrilling game-four overtime win for the Cavaliers sent the series back home to Cleveland for the deciding game five.

      In game five, Craig Ehlo played the game of his life, scoring 24 points, 4 assists, and 4 three pointers off the bench, and gave the Chicago defenders fits all afternoon. His last-few-seconds go-ahead layup gave the Cavaliers a 100–99 lead. Then Chicago called their last timeout to set up a final play. Seconds later, Jordan hit “the shot,” and Cleveland was knocked out of the playoffs for the second straight year by the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan finished with a game-high 44 points, and his game-winning shot would go down as one of the most famous of all time. Larry Nance related why, after such a great season, things went wrong in the playoffs:

      Not to make excuses because the team from Chicago was very good, but injuries hurt us late in the season. I know I had some ankle problems that may have held me out of the next round. I truly feel that when our team was healthy we could beat any team in the league, including Chicago. I’m not making excuses, but I’m just saying we weren’t healthy and they went on to win. It’s just part of life in basketball.

      This was an incredible 1989 season in which the Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls six times but just couldn’t get past them in the playoffs. Craig Ehlo shared what he thought happened during that playoff run:

      We just owned the Bulls that season, as we won a lot more games than they did. We secured the three seed and they had the six seed, which led to the matchup in the first round. It was the first year the Bulls decided to wear black socks and black shoes and it gave them this special mojo. It’s not that Michael needed the extra help, but it seemed to make his teammates play better. We had played poorly in game four and should have lost that game, but Jordan missed two free throws. It allowed us to take that game in overtime and win. It gave Jordan some added fuel as we headed back home for the fifth and final game. Every time you hear Michael Jordan talk about playing against Cleveland, he mentions he hated the fans because it was such a great rivalry, despite the amazing games he had against us. We were such competitive teams, and it led to some great games between us.

      Ehlo elaborated on what happened with “the shot”:

      We had a simple give-and-go play moments before with me and Larry Nance that led to me hitting the go-ahead shot to put us up by one point with seconds to go. The play worked to perfection—all five of us on the court did our job to execute it. The problem was that it left three seconds for the greatest player of our lifetime. To tell you the truth, we did something that we never did before. Coach Wilkens was one of the coaches that kept someone on the vision of the ball, but for some reason he chose to pull Nance off that assignment and called for a double team on Jordan. I think if I had been playing one-on-one with him, I would have played him harder, but because I had the help I may have slacked off a little bit. When Jordan juked Larry on the first move, I ran over to catch him and by the time I got there Jordan was already coming back the other way, so I went flying across him like E.T. across the moon and went right by him. I kept my hand in his face as long as I could, but he had the ability to stop on a dime, pull up, and hit the shot. When I watched it go in, it was the agony of defeat. Those three seconds seemed like slow motion to watch him get that shot off and make that play. When you talk to Michael or anyone with the Bulls at that time, they will all say that shot was exactly what propelled them into their championships.

      The following 1989–1990 season was known for some critical injuries to Daugherty and Nance, as well as a controversial trade. Wayne Embry took a major chance that never panned out when he traded away young phenomenon Ron Harper. On November 16, 1989, the Cavaliers traded Ron Harper and three future draft picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams. It was a calculated risk based on the large amount of hype surrounding Danny Ferry’s amateur career.

      Danny Ferry went to Duke University after being considered one of the best high school athletes in America. He was voted Parade magazine’s “Prep Player of the Year” from DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland. Because Ferry played so well during his college basketball career, many considered him to be the next Larry Bird. He was a two-time ACC player of the year as well as a 1989 NCAA All-American first-team member. Also that year, United Press International voted him College Player of the Year. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers as the second overall pick in the 1989 draft. However, Ferry had no interest in ever playing for the Clippers. Instead, he chose to play in Europe for the Italian League. He continued to excel while playing in Europe, averaging 23 points a game. The Clippers eventually grew tired of waiting for Ferry to come home to play for them, so they traded his rights to the Cavaliers. Once Ferry agreed to play for Cleveland, Embry signed him to a 10-year contract. Sadly for Cleveland fans everywhere, Ferry would go down as one of the biggest NBA busts of all time, because he never lived up to his expectations. He averaged just double digits in scoring twice for his entire NBA career.

      The Cavaliers did manage to make the playoffs that year despite the injuries. They finished with a 42–40 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference Central Division. They ran into Charles Barkley and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. Sir Charles and his teammates eliminated the Cavaliers in five games.

      The 1990–91 season got off to a horrible start because the Cavaliers lacked their full complement of draft picks due to the Danny Ferry trade. Things went from bad to worse as All-Star point guard Mark Price suffered multiple injuries and appeared in only sixteen games all season. Power forward John “Hot Rod” Williams suffered season-long injuries as well, and the Cavaliers finished with their worst record in years at 33–49.

      The 1991–92 season, on the other hand, would be remembered as one of the best in Cleveland Cavaliers history. It was a perfect mix of players in their prime, young players improving daily, and veterans playing with the energy of rookies, blended together with a Hall of Fame head coach. With a full roster all season and confidence growing daily, the Cavaliers cruised to an impressive 57–25 record. They finished in second place in the Eastern Conference Central Division with high hopes to go far into the playoffs.

      The Cavaliers promptly СКАЧАТЬ