Off topic, but I'm glad Marion got one even after hating him all that time for the Suns.
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Don't forget Walt Williams...
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Nellie on Chris Antsey: "He'll be the best running big man in the league." Hey, he was instrumental in the Mavs erasing a 10-point deficit against Chicago with less than 2-minutes left in Jordan's Bulls' last visit to Reunion in March of '98.
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t was June 4, 1988. The setting was The Forum in Los Angeles, home court for the Los Angeles Lakers, the defending world champions and a team nearing the end of its reign as one of the best in the league's history. The Dallas Mavericks had somehow, almost miraculously, managed to push the Lakers to a final, deciding game in the Western Conference Finals--the winner would face the Pistons for the title of world champ. Those who were at Reunion Arena for games three, four, and six could feel the moment approaching: The Dallas Mavericks were destined to usurp the champs and become the league's dominant team. They had the talent, the drive, the passion, the sheer belief they were better than the Pistons, the Lakers, damn near everybody who wore a uniform and dribbled a ball. Game Seven would be theirs.
And for a while, it was. After six games and two periods, the teams were virtually deadlocked, separated by a mere Kareem Abdul-Jabbar two points at the end of the first half. But in the end, whether by luck, providence, or sheer ability, the Lakers beat Dallas 117-102. With Mark Aguirre sitting on the bench for much of the final period.
Why he sat out remains the subject of much debate. He pulled himself from the game with an injury after bending back two fingers on his non-shooting hand. He says now he wanted to go back in, but John MacLeod--who had replaced Motta, but not his system, not yet--kept Detlef Schrempf in the game. The local media didn't buy it: Aguirre had come off the floor, they insisted, because he could not and would not handle the pressure of being the "main man" during crunch time. No matter that Aguirre scored 24 points in the game; no matter that he had kept them in the game until the Lakers went on a 15-2 run in the final period to seal shut the coffin. The media hung the loss around Aguirre's neck, and he drowned for it.