Nets/Knicks on NBATV Right Now

[ghoti]

Lots of Nets on both teams.</p>

Great players you may not have seen play.</p>

Maybe the 1984 playoffs?</p>

 

[ghoti]

It's December 25, 1984.</p>

I got the year right, but the Nets played the Pistons in the playoffs and got swept in the first round.</p>

 

[GMJ]

We're we good back then?</p>

</p>

 

[Dumpy]

The Nets were an above-.500 team from roughly 1981 through 1985. They probably averaged around 45 wins per season during those years. In 1984-85, they were 42-40, good for third place; two years earlier, they won 49, which was their high as an NBA franchise until the Kidd era. The Nets averaged almost 110 points per game; scoring was high league-wide, but the Nets still had an above-average offense. They had eight players that averaged more than 10 points a game, and two more that averaged eight points a game. Their turnover differential and rebounding differential were among the best in the league. Their failure was in shooting defense; they allowed opponents to shoot over 50% from the field. They shot 49% percent themselves, but were still a winning team because of the turnover and rebounding differential as mentioned. They were also a TERRIBLE free-throw shooting team. Otis Birdsong, Michael Ray Richardson, and Buck Williams were the primary scoring options, and they also had Daryl Dawkins, Mike Gminski, and Albert King. Birdsong and Dawkins both missed time due to injury. It looks like Birdsong (who was the team leading scorer at 20.6 PPG) missed the playoffs. Michael Ray was dominant at the point: 20.1 PPG; 8.2 assists per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, and 3.0 steals per game. Buck Williams averaged 18 and 12. With all the old guys coming back into the league this year, where is Buck?

 

[Dumpy]

The Knicks were led by Bernard King, who was drafted by the Nets but traded away after a few years after he had problems with substance abuse. I think this game was the one where King may have scored 60 points. Does anyone know who the Nets acquired for him?</p>

</p>

edit: it seems as though the Nets acquired someone named Rich Kelley, a then-25-year-old seven-foot center coming off a year where he scored 15.7 PPG with 12.8 RPG. He never approached those numbers again.</p>