Hoops Has Always Had a Special Place in My Heart
Pivotal points in my life, basketball has been a best friend
Dear grandson,
I want to share with you something very near and dear to my heart. A friend. A close friend. It’s something amazing. Exciting. Inspirational. Something that has always been there for me.
It’s basketball.
My first love.
June 4, 1976: Welcome baby basketball
The romance was born on June 4, 1976. I was an impressionable nine-year-old.
Glued to the tube.
It was Game 5 of the NBA finals. The hated Boston Celtics versus the underdog Phoenix Suns, who just happen to be also a nine-year-old franchise.
A three-overtime thriller. Arguably, the greatest NBA Final game ever played. Phoenix took a temporary lead with four seconds left in the second overtime, but Boston’s John Havlicek appeared to sink a game-winning 15-foot bank shot with no time left.
Sea of green
Green-clad Boston fans poured on the parquet court. The referees cleared the chaos. One second was added to the clock. The Suns’ Paul Westpaul, later to become a head coach, calls a timeout. Phoenix had none and is…
