Ice is a such a cool nickname
ANd that ice ball photo is really iconic
Slightly off topic : if anyone tells you dUrAnt cOulDn't HsVe pLaYeD in the 80s-90s, show him a picture of Gervin
For me, Gervin is the best Spur player ever. When he was on, no one would stop him. His defense was not great but the Spurs had the bruise brothers to beat other teams up and their was no bail out three point shot in the NBA then. Just an unbelievable talent. I first saw him play against the Bullets in the playoffs when I was a young soldier at Fort Sam. Years later we would become friends. He is one of the easiest guys to get to know of any Spur ever. A great ambassador for the team.
Ice is a such a cool nickname
ANd that ice ball photo is really iconic
Slightly off topic : if anyone tells you dUrAnt cOulDn't HsVe pLaYeD in the 80s-90s, show him a picture of Gervin
I have a NIKE Ice poster from my childhood.
Probably saw Gervin play in person 8-10 times through the years living in the SA area. Hundreds of times on TV. He was much taller than his defender and could contort his body a hundred different ways to get the shot off.
Of course his finger roll was special. He could just flip the ball off the glass and drop it in regularly.
A memory that stuck out for me was the time my dad took me to see the Spurs play at Hemisfair Arena, and George was running a little late getting into the arena - we were a bit early and saw him going into the arena. That does not happen now with the underground access for players or a separate entrance. I think that game took place in early 1979. The opponent - the Kansas City Kings with Phil Ford and Otis Birdsong. Of course the Spurs won.
Another memory was watching him warm up pre-game. His jumper was unique. The ball would kind of rest on his right shoulder a little bit - when he let it go it was totally effortless - swish after swish after swish. The motion offense Doug Moe ran gave him a high volume of shot opportunities. While he could shoot threes if he had to, he could go inside on people with his height. Basically he was an offensive mismatch every night. I saw GG get 45 and Mike Mitc 50 in the same game against the Milwaukee Bucks in 1983, the last very good team the Spurs had with Gervin during the 1982-83 season.
The Spurs are the Spurs of today in large measure due to Ice. David Robinson solidified the Spurs as long term NBA fixture. Duncan brought everything together of course - tons of wins and ultimate PO success. Those three guys are such fixtures and are so important to the franchise and the city.
Wild Bill touched on it. The NBA of the late 70s and early 80s (pre-Jordan) was simply not an interest magnet. NBA FINALS games were tape delayed on CBS. Ancient history. We can watch pretty much any game we want today. The Spurs were not put on national television back then. Usually they would only be on National TV during the playoffs.
I have seen him play. My favorite Spur teams were the league scoring teams with Gervin, Silas and Kenon. They played a more exciting brand of basketball than the later teams although they never won a le. The Hemisfair Arena was the best stadium too for crowd noise.
I don't remember the Finals games being tape delayed during that time.
They were on local TV though.
Sonics Bullets (1978 or 1979) were tape delayed on CBS. Once Larry Bird and Magic Johnson came along shortly thereafter, that was no longer the case. So maybe it was just in the 1970s. The 80's saw huge growth in the NBA.
You are correct on that. It was a very different level of coverage.
I thought the tape delay went through the early 80s too and it wasn't until Lakers-Celtics 84 that the Finals would start being broadcast live. I have some video of the 1980 Finals between LA and Philly taken from a New York station and I think it mentioned "recorded earlier" on the broadcast, and I think the same for the 83 Finals too.
I think you may be right. I remember in high school I was on a spring trip and the finals were tape delayed and I could watch the game late on CBS - it could have been early 80's too.
Iceman could finger roll
I tried to pattern my game after him
I had no chance
God that must have been insane to have been there for that one. Damn, and Ice dropping that 50 on Moncrief.
https://www.basketball-reference.com...203060SAS.html
I know Wilt used to do this finger roll where he'd lean around the defender and flip it in. If I ever get the chance to talk to Ice again I'm going to have to ask him if he was inspired to learn that shot from Wilt, though Ice is the one who perfected it.
I've shared this story here before, but I used to work at Academy Sports & Outdoors in high school / college and Gervin used to come into our store all the time.
He loved looking at all the boating and fishing stuff. Half the time he wouldn't even buy anything, just look around and talk to people. Super nice guy....and obviously one of the greatest Spurs of all time.
Devin Brown also came in once and spent like $400 on tubes/rafts and other swim stuff...seemed like he had a fun boat day planned
Great tribute to an awesome player and person.
I used to sit up in the cheap seats at the old Hemisfair Arena with my dad and watch Ice do his thing. Those were great memories.
I saw him play. He was awesome, but I don't remember all that much as I was a young child with the attention span of a gnat. Ice was just so smooth out there. The one I remember more is Mike Mitc . I remember hid jump shot being pretty darn good at the games I went to. I also recall Artis Gilmore being so damn tall.
Man the upper deck at Hemisfair was scary as a kid, JFC it was steep since they had to build straight up when they added it. Almost felt like you were looking straight down at the players. Even though you were probably a lot closer in Hemisfair I definitely prefer AT&T Center's sightlines if you're in the upper deck. Lower deck at Hemisfair was amazing as long as you weren't behind a column though.
At the Hemisphere Opposing player going into the ‘Bum section would come out bloody
It did feel like you were right over the court! I thought it was pretty cool, though. With a military dad who was always on a budget, I never sat in the lower deck until I was an adult and could pay for it myself. But, you know, as a kid, it still felt awesome to see the game live, no matter where I sat. When we lived in other places the only way to follow the Spurs was to tune in to WOAI at night when the ionosphere allowed you to pick up the AM signal. So you'd get to listen to the game, kind of, mixed with static and the occasional mariachi music from a similar frequency somewhere. So going to a game in person was always such a huge thing, even if it was a long distance view!
I got to take my dad to a game years later to see the Spurs in Denver and got him almost court-side during the Robinson era. He was beaming, man. It was pretty neat. Another memory of the old man I hold on to...
Had this pop up in my youtube recommendations so figured I'd post it
$2.00 seats, $2 parking, $1 Cokes and $1 popcorn. My brother and I would go watch a game for $10 for the both of us. Favorite cheer from the Bums: Rah, rah rah. Zoot, zoot, zoot. Who’s that ass in the referee suit?
Ice was such an incredible shooter, and so good at scoring through contact that he would have dominated in today's NBA with today's rules. I can't really think of anyone with Gervin's level of touch in today's game.
I loved Ice, but in today's game, you HAVE to shoot the 3 with good percentage and volume, or you're relegated to DeRozan status.
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