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Btw, really cool stories about Ice. I wish I was old enough to have seen him play.
Solid, Pierce ain't a hack when he plays D. Specifically when he was younger he was a fantastic defender. McGrady used to be a spectacular defender before he was asked to carry the scoring load for Orlando. He did an amazing Job on Dirk the year before last as well.
Btw, really cool stories about Ice. I wish I was old enough to have seen him play.
I was watching him play when he was with the Virginia Squires. He knew nothing about defense then nor when he arrived in San Antonio. He reminds me of Henry Aaron telling Yogi Berra when he came to bat and Yogi wanted to talk. "I came to bat, not talk," Aaron told Yogi.
Well, The Ice Man may have said that to every coach he had. "I Came to shoot, not stop anybody."
He was a huge liability on defense. But man, could he score. I've never seen so many opposing players and announcers shake their heads as much as when he made one of his patented impossible shots.
From all accounts, he was a great teammate and his smile and personality were infectious - as seen in the many promotional spots he did for the team and the league.
On the court, he was not a fiery leader or an inspirational type guy. In fact, in the early days it was James Silas, not Gervin, who was the man who took over and won games late. Ice, on the other hand, was cool. confident, and a good sportsman who never intentionally showed up his opponents. He was a silent assassin. He was a veteran with all-pro "skins" on the wall. His teammates knew that they were never out of a game because of his prolific scoring prowess.
It's tough to say just what his influence on the game was. I would simply say that it would be that of an unstoppable scorer - perhaps THE most prolific scoring machine to ever wear the black and silver. It may have looked easy to everyone on the outside, but Ice really, really worked on becoming such a great player.
Obviously, Gervin does not have a championship on his resume. While the Spurs were a solid team and a pereninnal 48-53 win team during the majority of his tenure, his teams had only meager playoff success and of course, never reached the ABA or NBA finals.
They did reach the conference finals a few times. The first time was the 1979 Eastern Conference Finals (that's right the Spurs played in the EC back then) against the Washington Bullets. Spurs were up 3 games to 1 and the Bullets came back to win the series in a very, very, poorly officiated and controversial 7th game in Washington. I truly believe had the Spurs advanced they would have beaten the Seattle Supersonics, who went on to win the NBA le that year.
In fact, the only time he played alongside a dominant big man, while with the Spurs, was with Artis Gilmore ('83 - '87). That squad, which featured the fabulous Mike Mitc and Johnny Moore probably had the most consistent playoff success - winning multiple division les and reaching the conference finals two straight years. Unfortunately, those Spurs teams were unable to solve the puzzle that was the LA Lakers and the brilliance of Magic, Kareem, Worthy, et all.
his defense...outscoring his defender 2:1 3:1
Julius Erving said Ice was his favorite player. At a game last year Bavetta saw Ice in the stands before the game. He pointed up at Ice and said, "You were the best, Simply THE BEST !" He could shoot from anywhere. He preferred driving to the basket. He was as good going under the backboard and reversing to the other side as I've ever seen. He got some blocked shots from behind and the occasional steal, but defense wasn't his primary goal ! He was an underrated passer, especially his off the dribble one-handed bullet pass. He was so quick that he could split doubleteams with ease and the finger-roll was one of the most recognized shots in the NBA.
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