(Boulder-CO) Today's date is May 5th, and on this day:
'69- Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Sam Jones, two of Boston’s all-time greats, ended their Celtic careers with a 108-106 Game 7 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, giving Boston its 11th NBA championship in 13 years.
'81- Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, anticipating that his jumper from the right of the key during Game 1 of the 1981 NBA Finals against Houston was going to be off target, raced to the right baseline, grabbed the rebound with his right hand, switched the ball into his left hand as his momentum was taking him out of bounds and somehow laid it in the basket. Red Auerbach called it the greatest play he had ever seen, both for Bird’s physical ability to make the shot and his basketball instinct to get into position for the rebound. The Celtics won the game 98-95, and went on to take the series in six games.
'86- NBA legends Rick Barry, Walt Frazier and Pete Maravich were among five men inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
'95- Clyde Drexler scored a game-high 41 points and Hakeem Olajuwon added 40 to lead Houston to a 123-106 win over visiting Utah in Game 4 of their Western Conference First Round series. It marked the third time in NBA Playoff history that a pair of teammates had scored 40 or more points in the same game.
'98- Atlanta's Dikembe Mutombo is named the winner of the 1997-98 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, becoming the first player in NBA history to win the award three times.
'00- Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Bill Musselman died in the morning from complications from amyloidosis, a disease affecting the liver. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. A moment of silence was observed at the Rose Garden on Sunday, May 7 before the Trail Blazers’ 94-75 victory over Utah in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series. The 59-year-old Musselman, a former NBA head coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, was in his third season with the Blazers.
Enjoy your day!
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