Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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75 Stories | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Mike Trudell

As far as regular season games go, you can’t do much better in February than the defending champions visiting prime Dominique Wilkins and his Atlanta Hawks.

The hype must have been intense that night in Fulton County, yet both teams managed to overdeliver.

The outcome was an absolute barn burner stretched over the course of 53 thrilling minutes at the Omni Coliseum. The purple and gold took it by a score of 126-119, but the real winners were those lucky enough to witness it.

How good was the Lakers starting lineup in 1988? Four of them came into the game shooting above 50% from the field. The lone exception was A.C. Green, just missing the mark at 49%.

However, after trailing by six at the end of the first quarter, the Hawks came flying back to dramatically turn it around in the second quarter, and eventually taking a 10-point lead into the final frame.

Wilkins was at the height of his powers that year, averaging a career-high 30.7 points per game.

He rose to the occasion that night too, finishing with 38 (on 42 shot attempts!) but that Lakers team was always a cut above.

L.A. eventually erased the entirety of Atlanta’s lead on a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar skyhook (and-1) with 45 seconds left in regulation, prompting a wild celebration from the bench – including Pat Riley. It was the first time they were in front in the second half.

The Hawks would go on to force overtime, but by then the Lakers had all of the momentum.

Byron Scott scored 6 of his 18 in OT and Magic Johnson hit a dagger three-pointer to put the game out of reach. Earvin posted a mammoth triple-double too: 29 points, 19 assists and 11 rebounds.

You know who else dropped 38 that night? That would be James Worthy, who shot a fantastic 17-of-27 from the field and was perfect at the charity stripe in four attempts.

Green added 17 and 11 boards, while Cap chipped in 12 points to make sure the entirety of the starting five scored in double digits.

The Lakers finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA at 60-12 and wound up defeating the Detroit Pistons in the Finals to earn the 11th title in franchise history – and the final one of the Showtime Era.

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Lakers History: Showtime Prevails in OT Thriller in Atlanta

Joey Ramirez

On Sunday, several members of the Lakers organization completed their journey throughout South Africa as ambassadors of the NBA.

General Manager Rob Pelinka, forward Luol Deng, center JaVale McGee and Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took part in many different charitable initiatives and panels, culminating with the 2018 NBA Africa Game on Saturday in Pretoria.

Cheered on by Pelinka from the sidelines and with McGee in the starting lineup, the World Team faced the Deng-led Team Africa. Both players had solid contributions to their respective squads, with the real winners being the countless kids in the stands at the Sun Arena in Time Square.

It was all good fun in the spirit of competition.

The World Team earned the win led by McGee and L.A. Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari, a graduate of the Basketball Without Borders program. The Italian finished with 23 points and eight boards en route to MVP honors.

On top of getting the W, McGee said he was proud of extending the undefeated streak for the World Team – winners of the 2015 and ’17 editions in Johannesburg.

In the stands, NBA royalty like Abdul-Jabbar and Dikembe Mutumbo also enjoyed the action.

During the days leading up to the game, McGee was very active, participating in several activities throughout the region.

One of them was in partnership with Juglife Water, an organization that promotes access to clean water around the world.

Yet, he saved some time to take part in the viral #InMyFeelingsChallenge based on Drake’s song.

KAREEM &amp; DENG AT THE NELSON MANDELA FOUNDATION

Heading into the weekend, both Abdul-Jabbar and Deng participated at an event at the Nelson Mandela Foundation alongside Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, among others.

It was a panel centered around the topic of innovation.

Both members of Luke Walton’s squad were more than willing to lend a hand.

McGee and Deng participated in an event led by the National Basketball Players Association, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Habitat for Humanity, helping to build houses in Lawley Extension, south of Johannesburg.

Before heading home, McGee also stopped by the Lion &amp; Safari Park.

“It's so fast and agile, it reminds me of myself,” he claimed.

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Lakers in Africa: An Unforgettable Experience for Pelinka, Kareem, McGee, and Deng

Rodrigo Azurmendi

Varios integrantes de la organización de los Lakers completaron el domingo su paso por el continente africano como embajadores de la NBA.

El gerente general Rob Pelinka, el legendario Kareem Abdul-Jabbar y los actuales jugadores Luol Deng y JaVale McGee participaron de distintas actividades caritativas, culminando con el Juego NBA África 2018 el sábado en Pretoria, Sudáfrica.

Allí, con Pelinka como consejero y con McGee en cancha representando al Equipo del Resto del Mundo, y con Deng como figura del Equipo África, los Lakers dejaron su huella en un evento entretenido tanto dentro de la cancha como para los miles de niños presentes en las tribunas del Sun Arena en Time Square.

Está claro que todo fue una mezcla de competitividad y diversión.

El triunfo fue para el Equipo de Resto del Mundo liderado por McGee y Danilo Gallinari. El italiano acabó llevándose el premio al Jugador Más Valioso de la edición 2018.

McGee se mostró orgulloso, además, de mantener el invicto del Equipo de Resto del Mundo – vencedor también en las ediciones 2015 y 2017, ambas disputadas en Johannesburgo.

En las gradas, luminarias como Abdul-Jabbar y Dikembe Mutumbo también dijeron presente.

En los días antes del partido, McGee se mostró muy activo en distintas actividades a beneficio.

Una de ellas fue junto a la organización Juglife Water, que promueve el acceso a agua potable alrededor del mundo.

Y hasta se animó a hacer el #InMyFeelingsChallenge, basado en la canción del último álbum del rapero canadiense Drake.

KAREEM Y DENG EN LA FUNDACION NELSON MANDELA

En la previa del evento principal, tanto Abdul-Jabbar como Deng participaron de un evento en la Fundación Nelson Mandela junto a Carmelo Anthony y otros.

Se trató de un panel que estuvo relacionado con el tema de la innovación.

Ambos miembros del plantel de Luke Walton tampoco quisieron quedarse sin probarse el casco.

El alero y el pivot participaron de un evento conjunto entre la NBPA (asociación de jugadores), la Fundación Nelson Mandela y Habitat for Humanity, construyendo casas en Lawley Extension, al sur de Johannesburgo.

McGee también se dio una vuelta por el Lion &amp; Safari Park.

“Es tan rápida y ágil, me recuerda a mí mismo”, dijo, asombrado.

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Lakers en África: Pelinka, Kareem, McGee, Deng, y una experiencia inolvidable

The Lakers will have a large presence at this year’s NBA Africa Game, as Luol Deng, JaVale McGee and General Manager Rob Pelinka will all play a part in Pretoria, South Africa, on Aug. 4.

Deng served as captain for Team Africa in both of the previous editions of the NBA Africa Game. He was also named Co-MVP in the inaugural 2015 game after scoring 20 points, but did not play last year.

Born in Wau, South Sudan, and having spent much of his childhood living in Egypt, Deng has always been one of the NBA’s premier ambassadors to Africa, participating in numerous league and personal charity initiatives.

McGee — a native of Flint, Michigan — will play his first NBA Africa Game for Team World, made up of players mainly from the United States.

Meanwhile, Pelinka will participate in the game in some capacity, while Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also expected to be in attendance

The game — which tips off next Saturday (Aug. 4) at 8 a.m. PT — will be played in support of the Nelsa Mandela Foundation, in honor of the late South African president and anti-apartheid leader’s centenary.

It will be held at Sun Arena at Time Square, following the 16th edition of Basketball Without Borders Africa.

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Deng, McGee and Pelinka to Represent Lakers at NBA Africa Game 2018

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar UCLA Health Interview

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Magic, Kareem, Worthy, West, Wilt, Riley.

Bird, McHale, Russell, Parish, Cousy, Red.

It doesn’t get more historic, or heated, than the Lakers-Celtics rivalry, which is why ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary series spent five hours exploring what made those matchups in the 1960s and ‘80s so captivating.

All three parts of “Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies” can be seen here for those whose television providers include ESPN.

Below, we take a look at some of the highlights that director Jim Podhoretz and his crew dug into.

Humble Beginnings
When the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, they were greeted at the airport by 10,000 fans. Two years later, the Lakers unceremoniously drove into L.A. around midnight.

Back in 1960, the NBA was nowhere near the global powerhouse that it is today. As Jerry West said, the Lakers would have to drive around from neighborhood to neighborhood in the back of the team van, greeting fans and putting on hoops clinics just to draw an audience of 3,000 on a good night.

“No one knew who the hell we were and no one cared,” Tom Hawkins said. “What the hell was a Laker?”

That all changed when legendary announcer Chick Hearn took over the mic, as the Lakers began drawing 15,000 overnight once he entered the scene.

The issue became defeating the dreaded Celtics, as even Elgin Baylor’s legendary 61-point performance during the 1962 NBA Finals couldn’t deliver the Lakers a championship.

The frustration hit an all-time high in 1969, despite adding Wilt Chamberlain to West and Baylor’s Hall of Fame duo. In Game 7 against Boston, then-Owner Jack Kent Cooke was so confident of his team that he had a giant collection of balloons hung from the Forum ceiling, waiting to drop on a title celebration.

They never fell, as Boston edged out another ring. “It was the lowest point of my life,” West said.

`West eventually did get his ring in 1972, but it came against the New York Knicks, keeping Boston’s record against L.A. pristine.

The Strange Road to ‘82
Two years after a rookie Magic Johnson famously played center in the decisive Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals, the Lakers were back in the final round for a rematch with Philadelphia.

But the path to this point was an odd one, especially for Johnson.

Signed over the offseason to a 25-year, $25-million contract — the biggest in sports history at the time — Johnson made a stunning demand for a trade when he sparred constantly with coach Paul Westhead early in the season.

Instead, Westhead was let go, and Pat Riley — who had recently been working as the color commentator alongside Hearn — was chosen to step in.

But even that wasn’t so simple, as then-Owner Dr. Jerry Buss had also tabbed West as the “offensive coach,” leading to confusion over who was the true leader on a team with seemingly two head coaches. But West quickly quieted that by saying, “I’m going to be working for Pat Riley.”

Meanwhile, Johnson — the man who went on to be one of L.A.’s greatest sports icons — was actually booed by his fans in the team’s first home game, as the Forum crowd voiced its displeasure with his spat with Westhead.

But it didn’t take long for Magic to win them back, as the Lakers swept San Antonio to reach the Finals once again. It seemed all set up for a rematch with the Celtics, whose own fans were getting vocal at Boston Garden.

During Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the first “Beat L.A.” chant erupted. But the 76ers didn’t take kindly to the fans looking past them and upended Boston to reach their own rubber match with the Lakers.

But that series had the same result for the Sixers, as Johnson — the Finals MVP — picked up his second ring by leading his team to the title in six games.

Unleashing Kareem
The year before, the Celtics pulled off a seven-game victory over the Lakers in the NBA Finals. This time around, in 1985, began with another statement, as Boston drubbed L.A. 148-114 in Game 1, as the historic beatdown became known as the “Memorial Day Massacre.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was held to 12 points and three rebounds, took the bulk of the blame, with the national media wondering whether his career was coming to a close.

The 38-year-old could barely keep up on the floor, and Riley let him have it in the following day’s film session, as the coach even put his hand through a chalkboard during a particularly heated moment.

Heading back to the Garden for Game 2, a calmed-down Riley relaxed on one of his strict rules, allowing Kareem to bring his father aboard the team bus.

With his dad alongside him, Abdul-Jabbar proved that he was far from finished, lighting the Celtics up for 30 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists, as the Lakers evened up the series. James Worthy went as far as to say that Kareem looked “like he could fight a grizzly one-on-one.”

Immediately after the game, Riley called his center “the greatest to ever play.”

Abdul-Jabbar kept it going for the remainder of the series, as the Lakers — who had lost all eight previous Finals matchups with the Celtics — shocked the Garden crowd by winning in six games.

”It’s as if there is no one at Boston Garden right now,” Hearn said. “That’s how quiet it is.”

For his efforts, Abdul-Jabbar was named Finals MVP. Having already shown that he had plenty left, he went on two capture two more rings — including in 1987, when the Lakers once again beat Boston to secure a 2-1 head-to-head Finals record against their rivals during the Showtime era.

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Celtics/Lakers: 3 Takeaways from the Latest '30 for 30'

When Shaquille O’Neal was a child, his stepfather, the late Sgt. Phillip Harrison, would quiz him on the greatest centers in NBA history — from Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

With his own legacy as one of the best to play the game firmly established, O’Neal received the top honor that the Lakers have to give, as a bronze statue of him was unveiled at Staples Center on Friday.

And one of those legends that he grew up admiring was there to toast O’Neal’s latest accolade.

“When I look up at that statue, I will see the kind of talented, passionate and generous man that we’ve been building statues to for 30,000 years,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “And we should all be inspired to be our best selves.”

Abdul-Jabbar — who also has a statue along with Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Chick Hearn —  was far from the only member of Lakers lore on hand.

The crowd included the likes of former teammates Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, Gary Payton and Slava Medvedenko, while a horde of Lakers fans outlined the arena, watching on video screens from the “Shaqtown” street festival.

And while longtime Lakers color commentator Stu Lantz hosted the afternoon, O’Neal sat on stage with Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson, Lakers Owner Jeanie Buss and President of Staples Center Lee Zeidman.

The last of that group quipped that he feared the 9-foot, 1,200-pound depiction of O’Neal, suspended 10 feet off the ground, would end up tearing down the whole arena.

The joke stemmed from O’Neal’s tendency to break the hoop with his ferocious dunks. But that was far from the only talent that the 2000 MVP and three-time NBA Finals MVP had on the floor.

Bryant called him “the most dominant player I’ve ever seen,” while Abdul-Jabbar compared opponents guarding O’Neal to “watching those tiny, little biplanes try to take down King Kong.”

Abdul-Jabbar’s teammate and current President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson was too busy traveling for his new role to attend, but he did record a video message, telling O’Neal, “you took the city by storm with your play, but also with your personality.”

The Lakers’ former General Manager (and legend in his own right), Jerry West, grew emotional talking about O’Neal, whom he signed in free agency back in 1996.

In particular, West applauded Shaq for his community work for the city of Los Angeles.

“Behind the scenes, this was one of the most giving human beings I have ever seen in my life,” West said. “He (made) acts of kindness for a lot of people that you will never know.”

O’Neal himself packed his brief speech with humor — ranging from West’s Versace housecoat to former adversary Vlade Divac’s “flopping self.”

But he also had an idea of how he wants people that visit his statue to feel about him.

“I think they would say, ‘Here’s a guy who played with a lot of force,’” O’Neal said. “‘A guy that wanted the crowd to go crazy.’ … I always tried to dunk to intimidate my opponents, but to also make the crowd go crazy.”

Of course, O’Neal had to make the current audience go crazy as well.

Reaching back for the phrase that he used at the Lakers’ championship parades during the three-peat era, he finished his speech with a bellow.

“You know it’s coming,” he said. “Can you dig it?! Can you dig it?!”

Kareem Abdul‑Jabbar