Cleveland's Finest. Vince McKee

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СКАЧАТЬ in the series 2–1. Then pivotal game four went into overtime at the Boston Garden. Behind a 32-point performance from Larry Nance, the Cavaliers left Boston with the win. Game five at the Richfield Coliseum was a tight one throughout the first half, with neither team able to pull away. The Cavaliers, behind the halftime adjustments from Wilkens, came out in the second half with full guns blazing. They outscored the Celtics by 11 in the third quarter and never looked back, winning the game and taking a 3–2 lead in the series. Craig Ehlo described how it felt to advance so far so quickly in the playoffs after early exits in previous years:

      The final game of Larry Bird’s career was in the old Richfield Coliseum, and it was very loud. It was a rough go for me because I had torn my MCL about six weeks prior. So when we got into the playoffs, I was still reeling and had to guard Petrović in the first round. Then in the second round I had to guard Reggie, who had been averaging 35 points a game against us. In the finals, we had to face Chicago again, and even with Gerald Wilkins it was a nightmare. I thought we had finally reached the pinnacle of all those years that we had put together before losing in six games to the Bulls.

      Unfortunately, after a great fifth game, many Cleveland fans would like to forget game six as the Cavaliers got crushed 122–91. Nance reflected on reaching the Eastern Conference championship by beating Boston and on the overall atmosphere in the Coliseum that day:

      Derrick Coleman wore me out in the first round; he was very tough. Then it was incredible to beat Boston, with it being Larry Bird’s last ride. I thought that if another team played together as well as we did, it was Boston because they really did play as a team. That series was two great teams out there playing great team ball, which made it very enjoyable. Then we ran into “the man” again.

      A loud crowd packed the Richfield Coliseum on May 17, 1992, to see the final game of the exciting series. The Cavaliers ended Larry Bird’s Hall of Fame career on a losing note when they defeated the Celtics 122–104. Just like many times that season, the win was a total team effort with all five starters scoring in double digits. John “Hot Rod” Williams, who was coming off the bench in that series, also managed to have 20 points. The Cavaliers were off to the Eastern Conference Championship round for the first time since the “miracle season.”

      Waiting for the Cavaliers in the 1992 Eastern Conference Championship round was their old friend Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers managed to make the series interesting by winning a couple of games, but in the end the developing dynasty of the Bulls was too much for the Cavaliers to overcome.

      The following season, Cleveland would reach the playoffs yet again, this time making it to the second round before getting swept by Chicago. The addition of superstar Gerald Wilkins from the New York Knicks proved to be helpful but still not enough to get past the Bulls. Sadly, that series marked the last Lenny Wilkens would spend in Cleveland as head coach. The Cavaliers made the decision after the playoffs to go with Mike Fratello, a former head coach from the Atlanta Hawks turned analyst. It was a move that brought to a close one of the brightest eras in Cleveland basketball history.

      Lenny Wilkens went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He coached in Atlanta, Toronto, and New York before retiring from the bench in 2005. By the time his career was over, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame again, this time as a coach who had won 1,332 games during his tenure. By the time he retired from active coaching, he had the most wins in NBA coaching history (before Don Nelson broke that record in 2010). In 1996, the NBA voted Wilkens as one of its all-time 10 greatest coaches. Craig Ehlo also shares his admiration of Coach Wilkens, saying,

      It was unbelievable, as I had watched him with his Sonics teams. He had a mild-mannered disposition, but he also had a rip-your-heart-out competitiveness in him as well. You may not see it in his body language, but that was the way he plays and coaches. I loved that and that’s exactly what I wanted to be like. I remember I rode with him on the plane the first day I got there, and he was trying to explain to me some of the offensive things we were going to try and do. I remember after that the game when I didn’t play, he called me in and told me I would play the next night, which was a great thing because he really took me under his wing. He made me feel wanted and needed, and it was all because of him having that kind of demeanor. He loved us no matter what because it was a hard-working town and hard-working team. The people of Cleveland still loved us no matter what happened.

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