The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 529 - 32 Luck & Fortune
After the meeting ended, Quinn and Cohen immediately went about collecting votes from the players.
Cohen drafted a very simple ballot that read, "I hereby vote to decertify the National Basketball Players Association, and no longer wish to be represented by collective bargaining."
Then, Quinn and Cohen distributed photocopies to player representatives, who would take the forms back to their teams after the All-Star Game and collect the signatures of all active players, eventually gathering them into the hands of Larry Flesher.
It could be said that this All-Star Game once again became a major node affecting labor relations, but unlike in the past, the chaos off the court did not affect the stars’ performance on the court.
Flesher and the union’s people considered that the NBA was indeed developing well, and whatever the struggle between the players, the ultimate goal was still for both the employers and employees to share in the fruits of victory.
Strikes and lockouts have too great an impact, which would genuinely reduce the league’s revenues and harm the interests of the lower-tier players.
Now it was not the 60s when game incomes relied solely on ticket sales.
Television broadcasts and advertisements accounted for an increasingly large share of revenue, with countless commercial sponsorships. In labor agreements, these incomes were to be shared with the players according to a set proportion.
Moreover, in terms of public opinion, the NBA’s influence was growing ever larger; a strike or lockout would undoubtedly be another blow to the NBA’s image.
Previous drug and violence incidents had already added insult to injury, and an internal struggle over interests would only worsen the public’s perception of the league and its players.
Therefore, facing the employers’ stubborn refusal to compromise, Flesher preferred to self-destruct by threatening the employers with the dissolution of the union rather than choose an All-Star strike or a league lockout.
He and the union president resigned after the fact, sacrificing themselves for the benefit of the other players and the NBA league.
After the meeting, Flesher instructed the stars to perform well in the All-Star Game.
No matter what was happening off the court, the performance on the court, the show dedicated to the fans, was their foundation and should never be neglected.
On the day after the meeting, February 6th, the first day of the All-Star Weekend.
The events included a legends game, a three-point contest, and a slam dunk contest.
To attract fans, the NBA had come up with a variety of features over more than a decade for the All-Star Game.
In the 50s and 60s, the NBA had held veterans’ legend games to enhance the sense of historical continuity, and in the 70s, it changed to one-on-one challenge matches. However, the one-on-one challenge only lasted one year and was not continued, as the audience seemed uninterested in head-to-head matches.
In the 80s, the legends game was restarted, providing those early-era players, who hadn’t earned much in salaries, a chance to make money.
This year, Bobby Jones, Dave Cowens, Rick Barry, Connie Hawkins, Gail Goodrich, Earl Monroe, and other luminaries participated in the game.
Before the game started, there was a memorial event for Pete Maravich, who had just passed away from a heart attack during a basketball training session on January 5th.
The legends game went through twists and turns, with the Eastern and Western teams fighting fiercely, keeping the score tight throughout.
During the game, there was constant conflict between Rick Barry of the Western team and Bobby Jones of the Eastern team.
Because Jones was somewhat younger than Barry, he kept a close mark on Barry, defending him intensely, refusing to let Barry score.
Barry, with his explosive temper, was extremely angry, cursing and questioning Jones, "What the hell are you doing? Are you serious?"
Others tried to calm Barry down, telling him it was just for fun, just a social gathering.
Barry snapped back, "I’m here to socialize my ass. I came to play the game to win, you all know nothing. If I wanted to socialize, I’d join a social club. Why the hell am I playing this game?"
Everyone knew Barry’s temper; what had to be said had been said, that’s just how he was.
Towards the end of the game, Doug Collins, representing the Western team (even though he had always played in Philadelphia, but the Western team was short-handed), hit a buzzer-beating three to tie the game!
This was his first three-pointer of his career, and it took the game into overtime.
But clearly, the veterans of the Western team were not excited; they were nearly exhausted to death and now had to play overtime.
Fortunately, the overtime adopted a sudden death rule—whichever team scored first would win.
Dave Cowens scored first, putting an end to the veterans’ ordeal. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
After the game, in the locker room, there was an outcry among the veterans; Gail Goodrich lay in the bathtub in the hotel for half a day, unable to move. Their old arms and legs really couldn’t handle such a high-intensity game anymore.
But for money, to satisfy the fans’ tastes, when you earn your living this way, you have to do it — the legends game would continue.
After the legends game, the highlight three-point contest and slam dunk contest were next. Bird and Gan Guoyang both participated again, while Jordan was dead set against joining.
This time, Bird was a notch above the rest, and Gan’s increased weight caused his three-point shooting stability to slip. Without even taking off his warm-up suit, dressed in his Celtics jacket, Bird hit the winning shot and took the title of the three-point contest champion, avenging last year’s loss.
Gan Guoyang did not participate in this year’s slam dunk contest, leaving the stage to Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins.
Their showdown undoubtedly became a classic of the slam dunk contests.
However, this historic classic showdown was not without controversy, as Jordan, competing on his home turf in Chicago, received some favorable treatment.
Among the judges of the competition were Tom Hawkins, a retired NBA player born in Chicago, and Gale Sayers, a Hall of Fame running back from the Chicago Bears.
Their bias was clear, they were looking out for Jordan.
In the competition, Wilkins’ first two dunks scored perfect 50s, while Jordan’s first dunk scored 50 and his second dunk scored 47.
Boos filled Chicago Stadium, and the television commentator said, "These judges need the National Guard to protect them to leave Chicago Stadium!"
Entering the last round of dunks, Wilkins executed a spectacular two-handed windmill dunk, but the judges only awarded him 45 points.
Thus, Jordan needed just a score of 48 or more on his final dunk to seize the championship of the slam dunk contest.
The TV cameras focused on Dr. J, Julius Erving, in the stands.
And Jordan attempted the iconic free throw line takeoff dunk.
One of the emblematic dunks of Jordan’s career, ultimately he predictably scored the perfect 50 and triumphed over Wilkins to take the 1988 slam dunk championship, finding redemption as well.
Jordan was undoubtedly happy to win the championship, but the slight regret was that he had beaten Ah Gan, not Guoyang.
No matter what, Guoyang would not agree to participate in this slam dunk contest.
On the way back to the hotel, Guoyang bluntly said, "This is Chicago, you have the home-court advantage, I’m not about to embarrass myself as your stepping stone. You took two attempts to nail your final dunk and still got a full score? And why did Dominique only get 45 points for his last dunk? Rigged officiating!"
Jordan retorted, "You didn’t even dare to participate, so shut up. Plus, you lost the three-point contest to Larry. I’m telling you, Sonny, do you know what that means? It means the luck of the League isn’t with you this year, and winning a championship is going to be tough."
Jordan’s words made sense; it was indeed a tough year for the Trail Blazers.
The wheel of fortune turns; such is the NBA, where rulership rotates, and next year it’ll be at my house.
The road to a three-peat was bound to be incredibly difficult.
By February 7, for the All-Star Game, the players momentarily set aside their union matters and threw themselves wholeheartedly into the performance.
The Eastern Conference’s head coach was Mike Fratello from the Hawks, and the Western Conference was coached by Don Nelson.
Before the start of the game, Western Conference starter Karl Malone wore a number 7 jersey in honor of Pete Maravich.
The game was fiercely contested, evident from the final score, with neither side exceeding 140 points—an unusually low score for an NBA All-Star game.
Isiah Thomas uncharacteristically kept dishing out assists to Jordan.
And Magic Johnson went all out passing the ball to Guoyang, with both sides eager to win.
In the final moments, with the Western Conference trailing by 5 at 131:136, Guoyang suddenly turned it up a notch, sinking consecutive three-pointers to propel the Western Conference into a lead!
With the last shot, as Jordan faced Guoyang’s tight one-on-one defense, his fadeaway jumper to win the game did not go in, and the Western Conference achieved a comeback victory at 137:136!
Scoring 35 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, Guoyang won the All-Star Game MVP award, rendering Jordan’s 40 points in vain as he fell short of hoisting the trophy at home.
This was the second time Guoyang had snatched this honor from the hands of an Eastern All-Star.
The home crowd booed, albeit helplessly against Guoyang.
Ultimately, everyone actually wanted the Eastern Conference to win, but with two three-pointers made, plus your missed game-winner, if you fail to take the chance, there’s nothing that can be done.
After securing the Chicago AMVP, Guoyang told Jordan, "Michael, luck is still on my side. See you in the finals."
[In the 1988 All-Star Game, Jordan failed the last-second shot. Michael always claimed it was the most regrettable missed game-winner of his career, even though it was just an All-Star Game.
"If that shot had gone in, maybe the future of history could have been changed. Sometimes, luck is determined by just such a shot."]
————Excerpt from the biography "Michael Jordan: The Life" by Roland Lazenby, published in 2016.
