The $10 Million Gamble to Save Pro Basketball: Bill Walton and Larry Bird, 1980

The Clippers and Celtics paid a fortune to get them. Now, they and the rest of the league can only hope Walton and Bird get back the fans and make pro basketball “The Sport of the 1980s.”

Andy Johnson: An Intentional Foul to Remember, 1959

Guerin started swinging, only to find Johnson a sharper hitter. As the two lunged, ramming into the floor-side crowd, they were joined by all the members of the two squads and disappeared from the view. 

Mitch Kupchak: The Game’s Best Sixth Man, 1979

Because Kupchak is so versatile, he poses monumental problems for opposing teams. “He creates favorable mismatches for us,” says Bullet coach Dick Motta, who likes to compare Kupchak with Jerry Sloan, the hellaciously tough guard Motta coached with the Chicago Bulls some years ago.

Goliath Comes to Tinseltown, 1968-1969

Contrary to popular opinion, the Lakers and their opponents, though agreeing that Los Angeles would be formidable, had reservations about the Super-team label and scoffed at the thought that the Lakers had anything locked up. 

The Wait’s Finally Over for David Robinson, 1989

During two years of watching Robinson serve his naval commitment, watching Robinson in the 1988 Olympics, watching Robinson do color commentary for the networks, watching Robinson play service ball, the Spurs could only wait and dream. And lose.