[Imagine you are back in May 1987 and seated at press row in the Oakland Coliseum Arena. The Golden State Warriors, already down three games-to-none against the Los Angeles Lakers, are about to get swept in Game Four of the Western Conference semifinals. After three quarters, the Warriors are down by 14 points, and all the momentum belongs to Kareem, Magic, and their Southland crew.
Then, without warning, Warrior guard Sleepy Floyd awakens in the fourth quarter. So does the Oakland Coliseum Arena as Floyd knocks down shot after shot after shot. Floyd literally wills the Warriors to victory, prompting the team’s radio announcer to proclaim: “Sleepy Floyd is Superman” radio call. By the final buzzer, Floyd records the greatest one-man, fourth-quarter barrage in NBA history with 29 points. It’s a fourth-quarter performance for the ages that wows, then stuns, and ultimately gobsmacks everyone on hand, sending them home on an adrenaline high like no other in recent Warrior memory.
Back at press row, you’ve now got to focus. Pull it together. You’ve got to put that highest of adrenaline highs into coherent English. Subject, verb, object. Your damn editor (and killjoy) needs your story ASAP. That’s what you’ve got here. A half-dozen wowed beat reporters and columnists on deadline, pulling it together and telling the historic tale, in most cases, with poise and eloquence.
I’ll skip bogging down things here by listing the reporters’ names and affiliations. They are readily found just below. Their on-deadline tales weave together into a loose-fitting composite of Sleepy Floyd’s greatest game and quarter on May 10, 1987. In fact, Floyd’s fourth-quarter record holds to this day, though with a weird historical twist. As you’ll read below, Floyd broke Detroit’s Isiah Thomas’ fourth-quarter record. In 2015, another Isaiah Thomas tied Floyd’s 29-point record while scrapping for Boston.
Finally. Although Golden State won to fight another game, the Lakers closed out the series in Game Five, moving on to win the NBA title.]
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Art Spander, Columnist, San Francisco Examiner:
If this was a last hurrah, it was a loud one. If the Warriors are not to return to their home floor, they depart in glory. If sport is moments to remember, think of Eric (Sleepy) Floyd on a day that will be difficult to forget.
For three games and a greater part of a fourth, Floyd had stood on the periphery of success and of triumph, a pain in his injured left hamstring and an ache in his heart. He hadn’t produced. The Warriors hadn’t won. So now, it was down to the final quarter, the end of the season, when parting is not so much sweet sorrow as an indication of unfulfilled dreams.
The journey was about to end for Golden State. The celebration had already started for the Los Angeles Lakers. Basketball may be the ultimate of team games, but teams are composed of individuals. On a memorable Mother’s Day 1987, Sleepy Floyd was the individual who made the difference.
Larry Stone, Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
As the fourth quarter began Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum, there was little hint that Golden State Warrior point guard Sleepy Floyd was about to turn in a performance for the ages.
The Los Angeles Lakers led the Warriors, 102-88, and surely were just 12 minutes away from a four-game sweep of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal playoff series. Only a miracle, it seemed, could stop them.
What Floyd accomplished may not have been a miracle, but you’d have a hard time persuading his teammates, his opponents, a national television audience on WTBS, or the nearly hysterical crowd of 15,025 who watched in disbelief as Floyd single-handedly lifted the Warriors to a 129-121 victory.
Driving to the basket seemingly at will, Floyd scored a playoff-record 29 points in the fourth quarter on the way to a final total of 51 as the Warriors roared past the uncharacteristically rattled Lakers and assured themselves a return trip to Los Angeles for Game Five.
Floyd’s 39 second-half points also were a playoff record, breaking the old mark of 33 by the Lakers’ Elgin Baylor vs. Boston in 1962. “That was one of the all-time shows I’ve ever seen,” said Warrior coach George Karl. “It was the best individual performance I’ve ever seen in the playoffs.”
“Sleepy he was out of this world,” agreed Laker coach Pat Riley. “He just took it upon himself to let our guys know he was a great player. There was no stopping him—period.”
During one of the Lakers’ three increasingly desperate timeouts in the fourth quarter, Karl simply told his players, “Get the ball to Sleepy.”
And they did, over and over. And over and over Floyd drove straight to the basket for a dazzling array of lay-ins and short jumpers. “The basket seemed 10 feet wide on drives and jump shots,” said Floyd. “It’s a helluva feeling, believe me.”
Ron Bergman, Oakland Tribune:
Eric Floyd heard voices yesterday in a fourth quarter that seemed like a noisy dream. Before he woke up, the point guard known as Sleepy had scored 29 of his 51 points in that final period, and the Warriors had achieved at least one victory in the NBA Western Conference semifinal by beating the Los Angeles Lakers, 129-121.
“The basket,” Floyd said after his record-setting performance, “looked 10 feet wide. I’ve never been better at any level.
“I could hear voices in the background saying, ‘Take it! Take it!’ So I just took it.”
S.L. Price, Sacramento Bee:
As both teams left the court amid the chaos afterward, Eric “Sleepy” Floyd made sure to get Michael Cooper’s attention. He pointed at Cooper and said twice, “You.”
Nothing else was needed.
In one of the greatest In-Your-Faces in NBA playoff history, Floyd scored in electrifying and record-setting 29 points in the fourth period and finished with a career-high 51 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 129-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Four of the Western Conference semifinals.
Ron Bergman, Oakland Tribune:
. . . The Lakers started celebrating yesterday at the end of the third quarter. Michael Cooper missed a shot. Guard Byron Scott grabbed the offensive rebound and was knocked down and fouled by Jerome Whitehead. All four Lakers rushed over to help Scott. They held a high-five ceremony at the free-throw line. Many of the 15,025 fans in the Coliseum Arena booed the taunting display.
Scott made one of two, and the Lakers led by 14 at 102-88 going into the final period. “Their arrogance never surprises me,” said Warriors coach George Karl.
“It’s been an interesting series,” said Floyd. “There’s been a lot of talking.”
Gordon Edes, Los Angeles Times:
It may have been the most dramatic payback for a slight since two men first walked 10 paces and leveled their pistols.
And before Eric (Sleepy) Floyd would leave the scene of the greatest individual scoring quarter in the history of the National Basketball Association playoffs, the Golden State Warriors’ guard made sure his nemesis had received the message.
“Coop,” Floyd yelled across the court with 13 seconds left in the team’s 129-121 win over the Lakers Sunday afternoon in the Oakland Coliseum Arena. “Coop.”
Then he pointed straight at Laker guard Michael Cooper. “You,” he said. “You.”
Imagine what Floyd might have done on Mother’s Day if Cooper or any other Laker had insulted his mother.
Dave Newhouse, Columnist, Oakland Tribune:
Whatever he really felt, he wasn’t saying. Oh, Sleepy Floyd offered many explanations about his 51 points—which included NBA-playoff records for most points in one half (39) and one quarter (29)—but they were explanations from the head, not the heart. What he truly was thinking after yesterday’s extraordinary performance, no one knows but Floyd.
Dr. Bruce Oglevie, psychologist, educator, and team consultant to the Warriors, has built a profession studying the motivational tendencies of athletes. Working with NBA teams for 24 years, Oglevie has interviewed between 600-700 players. And he hasn’t met anyone quite like Eric “Sleepy” Floyd.
“Sleepy is an extremely private man,” Ogilvie said following the Warriors’—make that Floyd’s—129-121 victory over the Lakers yesterday.
“He doesn’t need pep talks or hype to get himself going. These things don’t penetrate him, Ogilvie revealed. “I’ve never seen a player stay within himself like Sleepy. My clinical guess is that he rehearses great performances in his mind. This is how he processes (prepares) himself.”
Martin McNeal, Peninsula Times Tribune:
Magic Johnson was holding postgame court as usual. However, this time the smile of which toothpaste commercials are born was in deference to Sleepy Floyd. The Los Angeles Lakers star was explaining the relationship between the Golden State Warriors’ point guard and Floyd’s nemesis Michael Cooper.
Floyd had just scored 51 points, a playoff-record 29 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Warriors to a 129-121 Western Conference semifinal series-extending victory Sunday. He scored most of those against Cooper, who has made the NBA’s first or second all-defensive teams six consecutive years.
It was a necessary description because Magic said the media members had a picture of the relationship as a hate-hate affair, when in effect it was not. “Sure, they respect each other,” Johnson said. “That’s why they are talking to each other so much. It’s like in the playground. You’ve got these two guys talking and talking, and finally they say, ‘OK let’s go get the gym shoes and see who’s got what.’
“That’s the kind of guys they both are,” said Johnson, who should know because he may be the best of all those kind of guys. “Sleepy got the best of Coop today . . . today.”
Ron Bergman, Oakland Tribune:
. . . “All you saw in the fourth quarter,” Karl said later, “was a lot of heart and a lot of guts.”
And a lot of Sleepy, whose 29 points were four more than Detroit guard Isiah Thomas’ previous playoff record set just two days ago in the third-quarter against Atlanta. Floyd, playing without the elastic bandage wrap around his pulled left hamstring, followed a period-opening drive with another drive.
Kurt Rambis was called for goaltending and Mychal Thompson for a foul. Floyd’s three-point play sliced the Lakers’ lead to nine at 102-93. Magic Johnson then lost the ball to Greg Ballard, who fired it downcourt to Floyd for another layup.
Lakers coach Pat Riley called the first of three narrowly spaced timeouts. The crowd noise drowned out the music, and the Warriors Girls looked like the Marcel Marceau troupe.
Chris Baker, Los Angeles Times:
“When you’re on a roll, you get greedy,” said Floyd, who hit 12 consecutive shots in the fourth period. “I was going for it. I didn’t want to be denied. I’ve watched Michael Jordan do something like that. I’ve never been hotter.”
Larry Stone, Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
. . . Just what was going on here? How did the Lakers, certainly the most athletic team in the NBA, let Floyd make them look so silly? At one point, Floyd scored on 10 consecutive drives to the basket. “When he was in his rhythm, our players knew to just get out of the way,” said Warrior coach George Karl. “I just kept saying, ‘This is a show.’”
Early in the quarter, Floyd victimized Byron Scott, but he continued to do the same thing when Scott was replaced by Michael Cooper, considered to be one of the top defensive players in the NBA. “He got to the basket way too many times,” said Magic Johnson. “We weren’t getting enough help on him.”
“Sleepy can finish the drive as well or better than any guard in the league his size,” said Lakers coach Pat Riley. “We just sort of backed off and waited for him to miss. He gets the first step, and once he gets through, he’s a broad jumper. We were kind of standing around, and he blew by us.”
Lowell Cohn, Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle:
. . . So [Floyd] played more savagely than any basketball player you have ever seen. He drove through the heart of the Lakers defense—and no one is supposed to do that. He stole passes. Made impossible jump shots. He dribbled the ball between his legs and scored on reverse layups and sometimes became so excited from the sheer joy of it all that he did a little dance right there on the court as the crowd went crazy and his teammates stared at him in amazement.
Whenever Sleepy got the ball, J.B. Carroll would point at him and yell, “Take it, take it.”
So Sleepy took it.
Later, Sleepy said he played instinctively. He didn’t have to think about what he was doing because the court looked wide-open to him. He could see Lakers, of course, but he could also see huge avenues between them, and whenever he dashed down an avenue, the Lakers couldn’t stay with him. That’s how hot he was.
Purvis Short was sitting on the bench admiring Sleepy, leaping up and slapping hands with whoever was around. Purvis thought he heard George Karl call out some set plays, and that seemed wrong to him with the way Sleepy was transcending the game. So Purvis stood there yelling at Sleepy. “Milk it. Milk it. Go with it. Go until they stop you.”
S.L. Price, Sacramento Bee:
. . . “I just became more aggressive,” said Floyd. “We had to make a run in order for us to win. I felt good in the fourth quarter, and when you’re on a roll like that, you get a little greedy. You want the next shot more than the last one.”
“Sleepy was out of this world,” said Laker coach Pat Riley. “I have only one message for our players, and that is, ‘Keep barking so much, and you’ll get your head bit off.’ He just took it upon himself to let our guys know he’s a great player. He was unstoppable. Period.”
C.W. Nevins, San Francisco Chronicle:
. . . The primary barker has been Michael Cooper, whose conversations with Floyd have been loud and obvious. Cooper claimed he was only “talking to my teammates, calling out weak-side help and stuff,” but it was clear yesterday that Floyd took it personally . . .
“He shouldn’t beat me like that,” Cooper said. “That’s more drives than he’s had all playoffs.”
“He got to the basket way too many times,” Magic Johnson said. “Sometimes maybe, but not that many times.”
So was Cooper guilty of over-barking?
“Eight years I’ve known him,” Magic Johnson said, “and he’s always been the same. He’s always played that way. So now you want me to say it’s bad? He talks, Sleepy talks. That’s just the two of them. Sleepy got the best of him today.”
Was Cooper repentant?
“We got our heads bitten off,” he admitted. “In fact, I’d say we got our ass bitten, but I don’t think it was the barking that did it.”
So what was it?
“Well,” Cooper suggested, “it looks like his (hamstring) injury is healed.”
Dave Newhouse, Columnist, Oakland Tribune:
. . . [Floyd] wouldn’t say what he really felt about Lakers coach Pat Riley’s remark that “if you keep barking so much, you get your head bit off.” Riley referred to his players baiting of Floyd throughout the series, with Michael Cooper the main offender. Floyd said again he regarded the taunting as the “competitiveness of the playoffs,” and nothing more.
However, Ogilivie believes there is more to the confrontations, especially those with Cooper, than Floyd will admit. “That generated some incentive,” the psychologist said. “It’s like Sleepy flipped on a switch in his head, and let God and nature take over.”
Art Spander, Columnist, San Francisco Examiner:
. . . Whatever happens now, even if the Warriors disintegrate in Game Five, the memories of the renaissance season will be pleasant ones. “Win/Lose We Love Our Warriors” read a sign raised high after three periods.
“That sign meant a lot to me,” a weary Sleepy Floyd would say.
Sleepy meant a lot to those fans. He was a man possessed, a hero waiting for a role. “He took it upon himself,” said Lakers coach Pat Riley, smiling with chagrin. “There was no stopping him.”
From Way Downtown 