Sunday, March 23, 2008

Today's (and Yesterday's) Date in NBA History

(Boulder-CO) Today is the 23rd of March and yesterday was the 22nd. Here is what happened in the last two days of NBA history:
March 22, 1960 The Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Celtics in Boston 128-107 in Game 5 of the Eastern Division Finals, a game which featured an NBA Playoff record 169 rebounds by both teams.

March 22, 1991 Phoenix guard Kevin Johnson was honored by President George Bush as the 411th “Daily Point of Light” in recognition of Johnson’s work in helping the youth of his hometown of Sacramento, CA.

March 22, 1994 Philadelphia’s Moses Malone moved past Elvin Hayes into third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 27,314 points, after hitting a third-quarter foul shot in the 76ers’ 125-91 loss at Charlotte.

March 22, 1995 During Atlanta’s 98-84 home loss to Miami, Hawks Coach Lenny Wilkens participated in his 2,737th career NBA game as a player or coach (both regular season and playoff games), passing Don Nelson as the all-time leader in game appearances. Wilkens concluded the 1994-95 season with 2,756 career NBA games as a player or coach.

March 22, 2000 The Phoenix Suns Jason Kidd is lost for the remainder of the regular season after breaking his ankle in a 114-93 triumph over Sacramento at America West Arena. The following day the Suns announced that Kevin Johnson was coming out of retirement to help his former team in its time of need. Johnson, 34, whose career average of 9.2 apg ranks fourth in NBA history, had not played since the 1997-98 season.

March 23, 1955 Moses Malone is born in Petersburg, Virginia.

March 23, 1979 The Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets replayed the final 17:50 of their contest that was originally played on November 8, 1978. Harvey Catchings and Ralph Simpson played for the 76ers and Eric Money and Al Skinner played for the Nets when the game began, but were traded to the opposing teams by the time the game was resumed. It's the only time in the history of professional sports that any player played for both teams in the same game.

March 23, 1992 Atlanta rookie Stacey Augmon scored 32 points to lead the Hawks to a 126-125 overtime win over Golden State at the Omni, and his layup at 7:41 of the second quarter accounted for the 6,000,000th point in NBA history.

March 23, 1994 Isiah Thomas of Detroit became the fourth guard in NBA history to collect 9,000 career assists, after dishing off for six during the Pistons’ 111-107 home win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

March 23, 1999 Dick Enroth, the voice of the Minneapolis Lakers, died of cancer at the age of 80. Dubbed the “fastest-talking sportscaster in the Twin Cities,” Enroth captured the success of George Mikan’s Lakers who won NBA championships in 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954.

March 23, 1999 The Miami Heat, in an 84-81 loss at the Utah Jazz, connect on at least one three-pointer for the 400th consecutive game.

March 23, 2001 The Toronto Raptors recorded an NBA-record 23 blocked shots in a 112-86 win over the Atlanta Hawks, surpassing the 22 blocks achieved by New Jersey against Denver on December 12, 1991. Raptors’ forward Keon Clark had a team-high 12 blocked shots.
Enjoy your day, and Happy Easter!

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