Prometheus 6

Johnson was a fine basketball player. I think he was even better than any of his statistics indicated because what he brought to his teams and the game was an understanding of what it took to win. The teamwork and effort that he and Gus Williams showed when they were with Seattle was a pleasure to behold.

Johnson had plenty of game even when he was playing at Pepperdine. It's a shame that he was never given more head coaching opportunities in the NBA while mediocrities and covert racists like George Karl are given one team after another to run into the ground.

you've got some history that i don't understand.

first, dj's passing hit me like a ton of bricks, because he revealed to me my own mortality.  of course i'm about 15 years younger than he is, but he's part of the first generation of ball players i remember seeing. and it isn't like he was an nfl lineman with a body too big and a lifestyle now too sedimentary to accommodate it.  this should've NEVER happened.

but when you say you disliked him because you were a knicks fan i don't understand. i remember exactly where i was when bird stole isiah's inbounds pass and flicked it to a cutting johnson.  the celtics-pistons battles of the mid to late eighties were legendary.

i don't remember a simlar knicks-celtics rivalry.  again you're a bit older than i am so i am assuming that i missed something.  did i? 

Yeah, you did.  But I'm 50 years old, so it's to be expected.

I'm about the same age as LKS - but I'm from NYC...the rivalry between the Knicks and Celtics has always been intense. It's roots to my recollection - go all the way back to the beginning. It flows through Red Auerbach (Celts) and Red Holtzman (Knicks) and through pitched battles between Cowens, Havlicek and Sam Jones and all those green-clad legends against the likes of Willis Reed and Dave DeBusschere and Walt Frazier...and it continued right through Bernard King routinely lacing the Celts for 50+. New York and Boston are bitter rivals in everything: Bruins-Rangers! I won't even mention that sport played on the diamond. I didn't hate DJ because I remembered him from Seattle and Phoenix. I'll be writing about this some more - and may share a comparison I've done of DJ and Joe Dumars. Interesting in ways you might not expect.

By the way, when DJ played there were a number of tremendous defensive guards in the NBA.  There really are no players like that in today's game.  Think back to DJ and Sidney Moncrief - Alvin Robertson - Michael Cooper - TR Dunn - Maurice Cheeks - Micheal Ray Richardson - Bobby Dandridge - Don Buse, etc.  This is a different era in terms of defensive guard play.  DJ played in this era and made first team all-defense 6 times and second team all-defense 3 times.   

That's one of the great things about being born and raised on the Left Coast. You don't have to inherit or subscribe to any professional sports rivalries. I liked the Celtics as a team as long as Russell, K.C. Jones, Paul Silas, Havilicek, Heinsohn, JoJo White etc. were part of the team. When Auerbach acquired Larry Bird my enthusiasm for the Celtics completely died down and has never returned.

Bird was a great player - one of the best - but I sensed the Celtics and the NBA were subtly trying to promote the Celtics as the Great White Hope Team and it turned me off. One of the reasons I still like Bird, however, is that he never played into that crap. He just let his considerable game on the court speak for him.

I always liked Bird, Parrish, Johnson and McHale as players but when they suited up in the green and white and put on those black high tops I never rooted for them to win. They could play, though, couldn't they?

BTW, who were the other two guards when Moncrief was playing at Arkansas. Eddie Sutton was the coach and used a three guard offense. If he had had two big men who could rebound they would have won the Final Four in Moncrief's senior year.

I'm about the same age as LKS - but I'm from NYC...the rivalry between the Knicks and Celtics has always been intense.

Yeah, but how interested were you in whoever the Piston's rivals were 10 years before you started balling?

By the way, when DJ played there were a number of tremendous defensive guards in the NBA.

Different game since Doctor J.

New York and Boston are bitter rivals in everything

That's true. I didn't really hate DJ, it was like I wanted the Knicks to win until the Celtics showed up, at which point I wanted the Celtics to lose. And fucking DJ would not comply.

I always liked Bird, Parrish, Johnson and McHale as players but when they suited up in the green and white and put on those black high tops I never rooted for them to win. They could play, though, couldn't they?

Parrish may have been the most underestimated center in the league. And McHale the most underestimated hacker/enforcer...everyone knew he did it, but he was sneaky dan fuk, boy...

Parrish may have been the most underestimated center in the league.

Another boneheaded trade made by the Warriors under the leadership of Al Attles and owner Franklin Mieuli. They drove the Warriors right off the cliff.  

goes back to 1977 in college and the NBA. I have only vague memories of the 1976 seasons. I can't speak for the Pistons...never been my squad...only rooted for them as a proxy. Arkansas trio: Moncrief,Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph. Had to check on Delph...Brewer was damned good, too.

Arkansas trio: Moncrief,Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph. Had to check on Delph...Brewer was damned good, too.

Thanks, bro! I hated to see them lose that year. They had an interesting game. I felt sorry for them and Sutton.