March 14, 2022 • 27 mins
Hosted by Sarah Kustok, NBA Flashback is the podcast that takes you back to the best moments in NBA history through exclusive archival audio from the NBA vault, along with new interviews with the players and coaches who were in the building.
In this episode of NBA Flashback, we go back to April 9th, 1978 and relive the final day of the regular season when George Gervin and David Thompson had the greatest scoring battle in NBA history... they just weren't playing in the same game. We talk with Gervin's teammate on the Spurs, 3-time ABA All-Star, the Whopper, Billy Paultz about what separated George Gervin from other great scorers, the Iceman's off court coolness, and what motivated George on that crazy night.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
NBA Flashback is a production of iHeart Radio. In the
NBA North Carolina, there was God and then there was
David Thompson. Man Right Go, right Through. Played that afternoon.
(00:30):
In the first quarter. I broke wild Chamber of scoring record.
He had thirty one points in the quarter. I scored
thirty two and I ended up with fifty three and
a half. But Gervin played that night. I did a
guard position from Eastern Michigan at number George. For me,
(00:50):
it was one of the greatest times in my career.
So I got the call David thoms just go and
send me three. He just took the score and lead
from you. You need fifth Na anywhere. George Iceman Garvin
(01:15):
and David Skywalker Thompson two awesome nicknames and two of
the greatest players in a B A in NBA history.
Their stories will forever be intertwined thanks to a crazy
day in when they had one of the best scoring
duels of all time. They just weren't playing in the
same game. I'm sarahku Stock and you're listening to NBA Flashback,
(01:41):
the show that takes you back to the greatest moments
in NBA history using archival audio from the NBA, as
well as new interviews with the players and coaches who
were in the building. I'm today's episode of NBA Flashback.
We go all the way back to April ninth, ninety eight,
when Disco was king, the Bgs were the biggest band
(02:02):
in the world, and Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta
was the most popular movie in America. It was the
last day of the regular season. David Thompson and his
Denver Nuggets were in Detroit playing the Pistons in the afternoon,
and George Gurvan and the Spurs were New Orleans playing
the Jazz at night. Going into the day, Gurvin held
(02:24):
a slight lead over Thompson in the NBA scoring race,
with twenty six point eight points per game to Thompson's
twenty six point six, and the two were about to
have a shootout for the ages to decide the title. However,
all of the focus in the NBA was on the Celtics,
where John Havelcheck was playing his last game and having
(02:47):
his retirement ceremony at halftime, so all the TV cameras
were in Boston. That left no TV coverage for any
other NBA game that day, and the radio broadcast didn't
get preserved. As crazy as it sounds today, there's no
existing footage for what turned out to be two of
the best individual performances and NBA history. So for an
(03:09):
inside perspective on the drama of the day, we bring
in George Gurvan's teammate with the Spurs, three time A
B A All Star nineteen seventy four A B A Champion,
the Whopper, Billy Poults. Billy, I can't thank you enough
for taking the time coming and joining us to talk
about some amazing memories. You were an A B A
champion with the Nets, You were an A B A
(03:31):
All Star. When the A B A and the NBA merged,
how how did that change? What were some of the
things that you saw, and especially when your Spurs team
joined the NBA, Well, the excitement was, you know, now
we we've merged into one. We want to prove ourselves.
Talcus talk and Talcus t Let's get on the floor
(03:51):
and play. And I think one of my most exciting games,
which I remember the most, is we had to go
to Philadelphia to play our first NBA game in Philadelphia.
Julie Serving was on that team and they had a
roster of Wall starars Doug Collins and Daryl Griffin and
Bobby Jones from North Carolina. We came in there and
we were a kind of little old band from Texas,
(04:12):
little little team from down to San Antonio, and we
came up there and beat them, and that was quite
an exciting night, especially for me. I think I had
the most point. I scored fourteen rebounds and three blocks.
Pretty impressive memory from Billy October ninety six. According to
our research, Billy scored with seven rebounds and four blocks
(04:37):
and the Spurs went over the sixers. So I was
like the star of the game, and I said, what
a great way to start my NBA career, Billy. I
looked back at some of your stats you you had,
You had a handful of big games throughout the course
of your career. It was so impressive. But the star
of that game. You also played with the star that
we all think about now, um, George Iceman, Gervand what
(04:58):
was it like playing with him? Well, the Iceman We
always said the Iceman were the coolest character out there.
My first game when I get traded to the Spurs,
sitting on the bench with George corle and we were
down by about eight points early the third in Iceman
huge to three pointer, goes in, drives to the who
finger rolls. Iceman driven left for George looks at me
(05:22):
and says, the game is over. It so we're still
down by six. What are you talking about? He says, Well,
the iceman just got off and he had the ability
to take over a game a time, an amazing scoring
machine and with that body of his, you know, he
just to spend himself in mid air and he was
an incredible score g going to hit him anywhere. And
(05:43):
the other thing I remember one year, you know, he's
he's not happy coming back to the Spurs because he
didn't think he was getting paided. So I was gonna
hold out. We need this guy, you know, he's twenty
eight points a game, and so he finally, uh signs up.
I think the day before the first game. First game,
I don't know if he practiced how he got thirty
five points. So it was just innatability to be able
(06:05):
to score like head. It was incredible. We've all seen
the numbers, but I think for today's fans many probably
have never actually seen George Gurvin play. Can you describe
what his game was like and what it was like
for him on the court as you watched so many
occasions that he was just pouring in points. Well, I
(06:26):
think he was taller than people thought, and he was
probably about six not my first year with the third
he was playing a floorward. He was okay, you know,
he's getting high temper. But when he switched coaches and
Doug mo game to post the team, he put George
at the guard position. I did a guard position from
(06:49):
Eastern Michigan at number forty George. It was more of
a running gun, and that's where he really got off
and he could really demonstrate his incredible scoring ability. I
was on a sweet move by the ice man, great
body control against her, softly lays it up there, Garrett.
(07:12):
That's the secret with success. He could take it off
the dribble, he could go around you and dunk it.
He could hit from long range, and of course he
had that ability from deep the finger roll the ball.
I mean, it was something to see. People would pay
to see that it was. It was truly remarkable. Gervan
talked about the inspiration and development of his finger roll. Well,
(07:33):
you know, I developed my own finger role of course,
you know I had other guys that you know, I
saw a finger roll, Julius, Connie Hawkins and of course
will you know, so I pretty much emulated them, and
I was able to take the finger roll to another level,
you know, with my own shots. So you know, that's
how I pretty much came up with the finger roll.
You know, I was playing and I broke my wrists,
(07:54):
and you know, I couldn't dunk as much, you know
for a while. So you know, the finger roll took
it over, and uh, you know, I just think that
was just a great shot for me because they couldn't
nobody block it, you know, you just roll it over
their fingertips, you know, and they think they got it
and it just roll over. You know. It was kind
of creative to me too. And Brewer in there to
get it Deerban I tried Gardo roy sparrow hip. Oh
(08:17):
really when the ball you can see the rotation, you know,
that was a great thing about you know, the A,
B A days. You know, you can't you could experiment,
you know, because we didn't ever know we was gonna
merge with the NBA. You know, I didn't care. I
was nineteen, he became a pro. I mean, I just
wanted to play basketball. That's what I'm ain't known for.
You know, the finger roll. It's kind of nice to
have your your own shot. Name that to you, so,
(08:39):
you know, I mean that's it's a unique shot. You know.
It's better than the dunk. It's more exciting than the dunk,
you know, I mean the dunk. Everybody can dunk, but
can't everybody finding that you can shoot off of either foot.
He has great body control and it makes me very
difficulty to the pin. And look at that shot by
George Corvin and the lights and Apple says, but good
(08:59):
for the was good for the game. He was a tremendous,
tremendous score. And you're right because of the lack of yah,
I guess the media coverage or TV coverage. You know,
he didn't get his d he was playing today, he
would be up there with the grades of the game.
Speaking of the greats, dr J shared some thoughts on Grvin,
(09:21):
I think with George more than any other player really
whoever played the game, I don't think it was a
player who had it flow from him. When in George
his build he comes into basketball, he's six ft seven.
He's barely a hundred seventy pounds and he came out
(09:42):
of Eastern Michigan after his first year, second year. Maybe
this guy stands out there and he shoots, you know,
three point shots like their layups. He shoots layups differently
than anybody else, you know, because he could he can
go to the hoop and he could throw a ball,
you know, straight up in the air from any angle
and have it come down through the hoop a large
(10:04):
percentage of the time on the court. That's one thing.
But he was also known to be a cool guy
off the court. What was he like personally? I will
remember we played an All Star games from the Rocket
Tournament in New York City and I think we're playing
the game at CC and White and UH and there's
a guy in a long black coat with a black
(10:25):
brimmed hat, you know, looking too cool. Guy goes, that's
George Depot. Who's that you'll find out. So he always
has a persona I think too cool. Maybe that's where
it was from, you know, the Michigan area, but it's
it's far lay in its attitude toward his life and
of course in his game. For him, Billy, you've got
(10:57):
some great You've got some great stories about the ice man.
Do you have when people ask you about him playing
with him on the court, off the court, do you
have a favorite? Well, certainly the one game that sticks
out is we went against the New Orleans Jazz back
in eight when coach and the team agreed that he
(11:19):
should go get the scoring record from David Thompson. Yeah,
that's the game David Thompson got I think about seventy
three points in the afternoon. He had an afternoon game,
so he was the scoring champion at that time. David
Thompson talked about his amazing afternoon game. Well, I went
into the game down a few points on Grving theft
(11:42):
sixteen points, so played that afternoon. In the first quarter,
I broke Will Chambers scoring record. He had thirty one
points in the court. I scored thirty two and I
ended up with fifty three and a half. I was
twenty three in the first half. I made twenty on
my first twenty one shots. I ended up with only
three points in that basketball game. And I remember mL
(12:03):
Carr was planning on the Detroit Pistons team and he
came up to me and said, man, I think he
got a DT, there's no way Gervin can beat you.
And because he needed about fifty eight points to catch
me for the scoring title, but we had an evening
game and ice Man needed about fifty nine points. And
I was easy to say to somebody gets fifty nine points,
we're gonna feed to the ball. One thing to say,
(12:24):
it's another thing to do it. So so that was
an interesting scenario that we came into the game with.
Before that day and before coming into that game, did
you guys think about George winning the scoring title at all?
Where was that something that was a focus for him
or for the team. Oh? Yes, it was because we
knew what David Thompson scored. We we knew what he needed. Now,
(12:46):
I think it was nobody was staying out loud until
the coach stock both said let's get Ice the record,
and I, like I said earlier, you know, let's get
him the record. That's great, but he's kind of go
out there and do it. So we perfect played shutdown
on the art scoring so we could have to fall
a little more remembered that day and his thoughts going
(13:06):
into the game. I can remember that like ninety day,
you know, and mean because it was for me. It
was one of the greatest times in my career. And
the last game of the season. You know, David playing
in Detroit, my hometown, at the Cobol. You know that's
where I played my high school championship games at and
and and I'm in New Orleans at the brand new
(13:29):
UM Supernome. I led the league all the way through
the last game of the season, and David Thompson was
always right behind me. David Thompson scored seventy three points
in the afternoon. I thought we was playing an afternoon
but some reason we played in the evening. So David
scored that set me three. Media called me and George
(13:50):
they called me in the afternoon. You know, the afternoon
I'm usually watching my soups and you know, getting ready
for the game. So I got the call. David thoms
just scored seting me three. He just took the scoring
lead from you you need fifty nine. My teammates were
standing down as I was coming down and escalator and say, man,
you're David Man. Doug mo who was my coach at
(14:11):
the time. I went to the locker room, Doug most say,
looking at guys, we're gonna seeking. I used to get
that scoring tighter back, and all my guys say, oh
cool for me, was you know special. The ironic thing
is in the first quarter, if I'm not mistaken, he
goes one for seven mrs, like six out of his
first step and shot, saying to myself, this is going nowhere,
(14:35):
got on the float, missed my first six shots, called
time out. I said, you know, because that's a lot
of pressure. I need fifty nine, you know. I called
time out and say, man, come on, man, we ain't
got to do that. Man. You know, I was just kidding,
you know, because you know, I mean, there's a lot
of pressure. And my guy said, oh man, come on,
come on man, it's let's go. You know, if became
a schoolyard game at that point. We were just trying
(14:56):
to get the ball into his hands. So we're moving
it up and down, and it was really no defriend
I think in the second quarter he starts getting his
rhythm and he ended up with about thirty three points.
So when back out there and stuff in there, you know,
I kind of kind of got my little rhythm, scored
twenty points. Second quarter, came out, you know, and yeah,
you know, I scored thirty three, so you know I
(15:19):
had fifty three, so you know I only need a
fifty nine. All of a sudden, you know he's got
a chance to do this. It's getting thirty three points
in a quarter, if I'm not mistaken, was the one
quarter record for anybody. I think Wills had as the
thirty one, and David Thompson broke that when he got
seventy three thirty two. When Gergan comes along, he gets
(15:41):
thirty three, he breaks the record. A few hours later.
I knew German had to play. That night, we took
a flight back to Denver, and when we got to
the airport, it was like three d of so people.
They are waiting to uh congratulate me on my great
performance and everything. And but I knew a player like Gerving,
with his school and Billy, that that scoring title might
not be real safe. I listened to his game for
(16:04):
a while, and Girvin got off to a great start
as well well. Actually he missed his first few shots,
but then he got it going and half fifty three
in his game at halftime. So I stopped listening to
that because I knew he had it after that, because
he only needed fifty nine coming into halftime. You know,
we felt pretty confident you could get another twenty points,
and of course he did. So you know, second half,
(16:27):
come in and stuff and coach it, well, you know,
you you got fifty three, so you know you only
need six more. So you know, you know I was
there then, so you know I got you know, I
felt a little cocky in you know, and as I
started shooting bass shots and stuff. Took me another fifteen
shots to get fifty nine, and coach say, okay, you
got fifty nine. I said, Coach, let me get a
(16:50):
few more points just in case they miscalculated, and up
a getting sixty three in thirty three minutes. Of course
a good masure. He got a few more, so we
ended up with about safety three points. It was quite
an exciting night for him to get this scoring title,
and you know, seeing somebody for that many points, and
(17:10):
you can see his whole repertoire Yob it was something
to say. I found out the next day. I knew,
like I said before, I listened to a game a
halftime and he had fifty three a half time, so
I knew it was just a matter of time that
he was gonna get my scoring record. But mony Tyle
called me later on and said that there's no shame
(17:30):
and losing to a great player like George Gerwan said, Uh,
for a few people ever scored seven three points in
the basketball game. So that's something you should be really
proud of. And Money was exactly right. David Thompson, Kobe Bryant,
Will Chamberlain, those are the three people who have gotten
seventy three or more points in a single NBA game.
(17:52):
He's right, it is an achievement to be proud of.
German was just like his nickname. He was the man.
He scored so easy. You could shoot, uh from long range,
go down the line, shoot his famous finger roll. He
could shoot off the backboard, had a great touch, and
he was just an amazing score he could score. From
(18:14):
the war before the feeling was mutual, Gervin clearly admired
David Thompson's game as well. We have so much respect
for each other. You know that when we tell the story,
you know it's you could tell it's fun. You know
what I'm saying. I mean, you know he never showed
me no disgrown on man because he knew what I
(18:36):
could do, you know, And he said that, you know,
if anybody could have done it, George Gervin could have.
And that's why I said about him. I mean, he
was a scoring machine back in the day. D T. Man.
They ain't talking all they want about six folds six
five guy, but DT could put it in. Old David
(18:56):
Thompson had a lot of admirers. Has always been my favorite.
I remired him when I was in a younger age,
when I was in high school. Yeah, that was Michael
Jordan's So he breaks David Thompson's thirty two point record.
That literally he had had just said a few hours ago,
and then it took until for Clay Thompson to break
(19:17):
it again. What was it like? What was it like
being a part of that in watching him score in
that manner in just one frame. It was very important
for him to get his record for US, I think,
and as a franchise number two, and of course for
the people of San Antonio. They were the greatest fans ever.
And as somebody liked the ice fand who was community
(19:38):
leer people that people looked up to. I think it
was a tribute to the Spurs, attribute to the organization
and certainly a tribute to Kurbon. You know, for me,
people talk about the points. You know, what I talked
about is the relationship did I have with my teammates,
you know, because they didn't have to do it, because
(19:58):
in order for me to do it, they had the
set picks for me, get me the ball in the
right spots. And I credit them for my first going title.
And I don't want to overlook the man he was
competing against. What about David Thompson? You played against him
a lot in both the A B A the N
B A. How tough was it dealing with him? Well, certainly,
(20:21):
that's the one thing that comes to mind. You really,
I really ever realized he was a true great score.
But you know, everybody says, well, you know this guy,
he he can do He can jump for two inches.
I always say, who's the best jumper of all you
ever played against or played with? And said, David Thompson
(20:43):
a true forty eight leaper story. But he had a
great basketball skills to go with that. He was incredible
to watch because once he got going and he had
the ball, he was at some level as good as
Dr Jay. Dr J had a little more lens and
(21:04):
he could get off the floor very well and finished
very strong. But but David Thompson do that as well.
He was very hard to play against. He's a very quick,
great athlete, but he had the basketball skills to go
with it. Here's dr j On Thompson. David was so quick,
explosive with that fear and you're getting dunked on David.
(21:28):
David was so gifted as an athlete, dedicated to his
profession and as a young man. He was explosive, quick,
fearless and for a package his size, pretty powerful and
pretty good resiliency, was not injury prone, and was always
a threat to go over the tallest guy on the court.
(21:50):
Slammed the ball, you know, which brought about tremendous anticipation,
not only from the fans, but from all the players
on the court, teammates and opponents alike. Gervin has said
the pistol Pete Maravich, he was on the sidelines for
the Jazz Pete Marriage was encouragement. Killing my eyes kill him.
I never get Pete on the side, and I said,
killing my eyes kill him. You know, Pete Marriage, man,
(22:10):
You know I'm a young guy, you know what I mean.
And I appreciate greatness, and he was greatness and he
was on side night. Come on, I kill him, you know,
and I never get he see Coleman was guarding me.
You know, he supposed have been Mr Defense. I ain't.
I ain't talking about you now, you see, but I
know you're supposed to have been Mr Defense. I killed him.
Then after the game, they said, well who was guarding you?
(22:31):
I said, Casper? The friendly goes, So I want to
you know, I mean, David thom To still talk about
it today. Do you remember that? You know? I don't.
I do remember that Pistol was on the sidelines. I
don't remember why. Maybe he was injured, but you know
something from maybe the greatest score of all time, and
(22:52):
what do you have to supporting four points to game
in Collegue without the three points yard? I think he
he if anybody could admire somebody who could score at will,
And that was kind of a tribute to Girvin as well,
when you had the greatest score of both times, rooting
against this team and rooting for somebody to break the
(23:12):
scoring record, with all the focus and the emphasis, especially
during the game on Girvin to to get that scoring title. Uh,
was there celebration, What was the locker room like in
in the way back to San Antonio after the game.
I think the only thing that I can remember is
that there was relief that, uh, you know, we we
(23:34):
lost the game. We ran up and down like crazy people.
At least we got what we set out to do,
So there was a lot of relief that we got
a missed records and you know, let's move forward. So
it kind of worked out where where everybody was satisfied,
everybody was happy with the result of the repeap. When
(23:55):
we come back, we compare Girvan with Dr J and
get the Whoppers origin story. You played with a lot
of all time greats. You've mentioned him, Rick Berry, Dr J,
Moses Malone, even Dominique Wilkins. How would you rank George
(24:19):
Gurwin among those? He was certainly up there with every
name you mentioned. All those people had their unique ability
to set themselves apart from the regular players, whether they
were better scores, whether they were better defenders, whether they
were better jumpers. But he was up there. And when
(24:39):
you're a four time scoring champion, he was up there.
He had no peer in that aspect of the game,
so he should be remembered as one of the all
time great and uh, I was very proud to be
part of his team. You mentioned Julius Irving, Um you
played with him in the A B A. How would
you compare him with George Irvin in his game? Oh
(25:01):
totally Uh, well, I'm not totally different. Both great athletes,
but probably didn't have the range that George Gervin's has
as far as his jumper, but he had to knock
around the around the rim. He was stronger, he could
finish as well as anybody, and he brought people to
their feet, you know when he had the great nickname
when the doctor was in the house, he brought people
(25:23):
to their feet, He brought people into the stand and
everybody knew that. He was also, you know, a pretty
darn good guy. So he was another one that I
could stay was up there with the greats of the
game as far as me playing with the last thing
for you, Billy, you talk about the greats of the game,
there's also a lot of great nicknames involved. George Iceman
(25:46):
Gervin George nicknamed the Iceman because of his calculated pool
shooting style. David Skywalker Thompson Monday name was the Skywalker.
Of course I had the vertically. Of course you with
the Whopper. Where did some of these names come from?
Developed from an in particular you the Whopper. That's this
(26:07):
is like one of my one of my favorite nicknames.
I didn't want to start. I didn't want to start
the pod calling you that, but at some point I
feel like maybe I can, I can, I can call
you the Whopper. Well, that was back in college. I
think I eat two of those burgers. One of my
teammates said, you know, it probably takes two hands to
handle a whopper, And I don't know if it was
(26:28):
my eating prowess or whatever, but you know I was
also if I look back, I was one of the
bigger people out there, you know, whether studying pigs, hitting
jump shots, or writing a rebound. So it kind of fit.
And my good friends for over fifty years still call
me that today and we can tell who the other
people why they got their nickname, and now it comes
(26:50):
out it took two hands sometimes to handle them. I
love it well, Billy the Whopper Pulse. I cannot thank
you enough for all your time, all the inside the memories.
We really appreciate you. NBA flashback is a production of
I heart Radio and the NBA. For more podcasts from
(27:11):
My heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
NBA Flashback is a production of iHeart Radio. In the
NBA North Carolina, there was God and then there was
David Thompson. Man Right Go, right Through. Played that afternoon.
(00:30):
In the first quarter. I broke wild Chamber of scoring record.
He had thirty one points in the quarter. I scored
thirty two and I ended up with fifty three and
a half. But Gervin played that night. I did a
guard position from Eastern Michigan at number George. For me,
(00:50):
it was one of the greatest times in my career.
So I got the call David thoms just go and
send me three. He just took the score and lead
from you. You need fifth Na anywhere. George Iceman Garvin
(01:15):
and David Skywalker Thompson two awesome nicknames and two of
the greatest players in a B A in NBA history.
Their stories will forever be intertwined thanks to a crazy
day in when they had one of the best scoring
duels of all time. They just weren't playing in the
same game. I'm sarahku Stock and you're listening to NBA Flashback,
(01:41):
the show that takes you back to the greatest moments
in NBA history using archival audio from the NBA, as
well as new interviews with the players and coaches who
were in the building. I'm today's episode of NBA Flashback.
We go all the way back to April ninth, ninety eight,
when Disco was king, the Bgs were the biggest band
(02:02):
in the world, and Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta
was the most popular movie in America. It was the
last day of the regular season. David Thompson and his
Denver Nuggets were in Detroit playing the Pistons in the afternoon,
and George Gurvan and the Spurs were New Orleans playing
the Jazz at night. Going into the day, Gurvin held
(02:24):
a slight lead over Thompson in the NBA scoring race,
with twenty six point eight points per game to Thompson's
twenty six point six, and the two were about to
have a shootout for the ages to decide the title. However,
all of the focus in the NBA was on the Celtics,
where John Havelcheck was playing his last game and having
(02:47):
his retirement ceremony at halftime, so all the TV cameras
were in Boston. That left no TV coverage for any
other NBA game that day, and the radio broadcast didn't
get preserved. As crazy as it sounds today, there's no
existing footage for what turned out to be two of
the best individual performances and NBA history. So for an
(03:09):
inside perspective on the drama of the day, we bring
in George Gurvan's teammate with the Spurs, three time A
B A All Star nineteen seventy four A B A Champion,
the Whopper, Billy Poults. Billy, I can't thank you enough
for taking the time coming and joining us to talk
about some amazing memories. You were an A B A
champion with the Nets, You were an A B A
(03:31):
All Star. When the A B A and the NBA merged,
how how did that change? What were some of the
things that you saw, and especially when your Spurs team
joined the NBA, Well, the excitement was, you know, now
we we've merged into one. We want to prove ourselves.
Talcus talk and Talcus t Let's get on the floor
(03:51):
and play. And I think one of my most exciting games,
which I remember the most, is we had to go
to Philadelphia to play our first NBA game in Philadelphia.
Julie Serving was on that team and they had a
roster of Wall starars Doug Collins and Daryl Griffin and
Bobby Jones from North Carolina. We came in there and
we were a kind of little old band from Texas,
(04:12):
little little team from down to San Antonio, and we
came up there and beat them, and that was quite
an exciting night, especially for me. I think I had
the most point. I scored fourteen rebounds and three blocks.
Pretty impressive memory from Billy October ninety six. According to
our research, Billy scored with seven rebounds and four blocks
(04:37):
and the Spurs went over the sixers. So I was
like the star of the game, and I said, what
a great way to start my NBA career, Billy. I
looked back at some of your stats you you had,
You had a handful of big games throughout the course
of your career. It was so impressive. But the star
of that game. You also played with the star that
we all think about now, um, George Iceman, Gervand what
(04:58):
was it like playing with him? Well, the Iceman We
always said the Iceman were the coolest character out there.
My first game when I get traded to the Spurs,
sitting on the bench with George corle and we were
down by about eight points early the third in Iceman
huge to three pointer, goes in, drives to the who
finger rolls. Iceman driven left for George looks at me
(05:22):
and says, the game is over. It so we're still
down by six. What are you talking about? He says, Well,
the iceman just got off and he had the ability
to take over a game a time, an amazing scoring
machine and with that body of his, you know, he
just to spend himself in mid air and he was
an incredible score g going to hit him anywhere. And
(05:43):
the other thing I remember one year, you know, he's
he's not happy coming back to the Spurs because he
didn't think he was getting paided. So I was gonna
hold out. We need this guy, you know, he's twenty
eight points a game, and so he finally, uh signs up.
I think the day before the first game. First game,
I don't know if he practiced how he got thirty
five points. So it was just innatability to be able
(06:05):
to score like head. It was incredible. We've all seen
the numbers, but I think for today's fans many probably
have never actually seen George Gurvin play. Can you describe
what his game was like and what it was like
for him on the court as you watched so many
occasions that he was just pouring in points. Well, I
(06:26):
think he was taller than people thought, and he was
probably about six not my first year with the third
he was playing a floorward. He was okay, you know,
he's getting high temper. But when he switched coaches and
Doug mo game to post the team, he put George
at the guard position. I did a guard position from
(06:49):
Eastern Michigan at number forty George. It was more of
a running gun, and that's where he really got off
and he could really demonstrate his incredible scoring ability. I
was on a sweet move by the ice man, great
body control against her, softly lays it up there, Garrett.
(07:12):
That's the secret with success. He could take it off
the dribble, he could go around you and dunk it.
He could hit from long range, and of course he
had that ability from deep the finger roll the ball.
I mean, it was something to see. People would pay
to see that it was. It was truly remarkable. Gervan
talked about the inspiration and development of his finger roll. Well,
(07:33):
you know, I developed my own finger role of course,
you know I had other guys that you know, I
saw a finger roll, Julius, Connie Hawkins and of course
will you know, so I pretty much emulated them, and
I was able to take the finger roll to another level,
you know, with my own shots. So you know, that's
how I pretty much came up with the finger roll.
You know, I was playing and I broke my wrists,
(07:54):
and you know, I couldn't dunk as much, you know
for a while. So you know, the finger roll took
it over, and uh, you know, I just think that
was just a great shot for me because they couldn't
nobody block it, you know, you just roll it over
their fingertips, you know, and they think they got it
and it just roll over. You know. It was kind
of creative to me too. And Brewer in there to
get it Deerban I tried Gardo roy sparrow hip. Oh
(08:17):
really when the ball you can see the rotation, you know,
that was a great thing about you know, the A,
B A days. You know, you can't you could experiment,
you know, because we didn't ever know we was gonna
merge with the NBA. You know, I didn't care. I
was nineteen, he became a pro. I mean, I just
wanted to play basketball. That's what I'm ain't known for.
You know, the finger roll. It's kind of nice to
have your your own shot. Name that to you, so,
(08:39):
you know, I mean that's it's a unique shot. You know.
It's better than the dunk. It's more exciting than the dunk,
you know, I mean the dunk. Everybody can dunk, but
can't everybody finding that you can shoot off of either foot.
He has great body control and it makes me very
difficulty to the pin. And look at that shot by
George Corvin and the lights and Apple says, but good
(08:59):
for the was good for the game. He was a tremendous,
tremendous score. And you're right because of the lack of yah,
I guess the media coverage or TV coverage. You know,
he didn't get his d he was playing today, he
would be up there with the grades of the game.
Speaking of the greats, dr J shared some thoughts on Grvin,
(09:21):
I think with George more than any other player really
whoever played the game, I don't think it was a
player who had it flow from him. When in George
his build he comes into basketball, he's six ft seven.
He's barely a hundred seventy pounds and he came out
(09:42):
of Eastern Michigan after his first year, second year. Maybe
this guy stands out there and he shoots, you know,
three point shots like their layups. He shoots layups differently
than anybody else, you know, because he could he can
go to the hoop and he could throw a ball,
you know, straight up in the air from any angle
and have it come down through the hoop a large
(10:04):
percentage of the time on the court. That's one thing.
But he was also known to be a cool guy
off the court. What was he like personally? I will
remember we played an All Star games from the Rocket
Tournament in New York City and I think we're playing
the game at CC and White and UH and there's
a guy in a long black coat with a black
(10:25):
brimmed hat, you know, looking too cool. Guy goes, that's
George Depot. Who's that you'll find out. So he always
has a persona I think too cool. Maybe that's where
it was from, you know, the Michigan area, but it's
it's far lay in its attitude toward his life and
of course in his game. For him, Billy, you've got
(10:57):
some great You've got some great stories about the ice man.
Do you have when people ask you about him playing
with him on the court, off the court, do you
have a favorite? Well, certainly the one game that sticks
out is we went against the New Orleans Jazz back
in eight when coach and the team agreed that he
(11:19):
should go get the scoring record from David Thompson. Yeah,
that's the game David Thompson got I think about seventy
three points in the afternoon. He had an afternoon game,
so he was the scoring champion at that time. David
Thompson talked about his amazing afternoon game. Well, I went
into the game down a few points on Grving theft
(11:42):
sixteen points, so played that afternoon. In the first quarter,
I broke Will Chambers scoring record. He had thirty one
points in the court. I scored thirty two and I
ended up with fifty three and a half. I was
twenty three in the first half. I made twenty on
my first twenty one shots. I ended up with only
three points in that basketball game. And I remember mL
(12:03):
Carr was planning on the Detroit Pistons team and he
came up to me and said, man, I think he
got a DT, there's no way Gervin can beat you.
And because he needed about fifty eight points to catch
me for the scoring title, but we had an evening
game and ice Man needed about fifty nine points. And
I was easy to say to somebody gets fifty nine points,
we're gonna feed to the ball. One thing to say,
(12:24):
it's another thing to do it. So so that was
an interesting scenario that we came into the game with.
Before that day and before coming into that game, did
you guys think about George winning the scoring title at all?
Where was that something that was a focus for him
or for the team. Oh? Yes, it was because we
knew what David Thompson scored. We we knew what he needed. Now,
(12:46):
I think it was nobody was staying out loud until
the coach stock both said let's get Ice the record,
and I, like I said earlier, you know, let's get
him the record. That's great, but he's kind of go
out there and do it. So we perfect played shutdown
on the art scoring so we could have to fall
a little more remembered that day and his thoughts going
(13:06):
into the game. I can remember that like ninety day,
you know, and mean because it was for me. It
was one of the greatest times in my career. And
the last game of the season. You know, David playing
in Detroit, my hometown, at the Cobol. You know that's
where I played my high school championship games at and
and and I'm in New Orleans at the brand new
(13:29):
UM Supernome. I led the league all the way through
the last game of the season, and David Thompson was
always right behind me. David Thompson scored seventy three points
in the afternoon. I thought we was playing an afternoon
but some reason we played in the evening. So David
scored that set me three. Media called me and George
(13:50):
they called me in the afternoon. You know, the afternoon
I'm usually watching my soups and you know, getting ready
for the game. So I got the call. David thoms
just scored seting me three. He just took the scoring
lead from you you need fifty nine. My teammates were
standing down as I was coming down and escalator and say, man,
you're David Man. Doug mo who was my coach at
(14:11):
the time. I went to the locker room, Doug most say,
looking at guys, we're gonna seeking. I used to get
that scoring tighter back, and all my guys say, oh
cool for me, was you know special. The ironic thing
is in the first quarter, if I'm not mistaken, he
goes one for seven mrs, like six out of his
first step and shot, saying to myself, this is going nowhere,
(14:35):
got on the float, missed my first six shots, called
time out. I said, you know, because that's a lot
of pressure. I need fifty nine, you know. I called
time out and say, man, come on, man, we ain't
got to do that. Man. You know, I was just kidding,
you know, because you know, I mean, there's a lot
of pressure. And my guy said, oh man, come on,
come on man, it's let's go. You know, if became
a schoolyard game at that point. We were just trying
(14:56):
to get the ball into his hands. So we're moving
it up and down, and it was really no defriend
I think in the second quarter he starts getting his
rhythm and he ended up with about thirty three points.
So when back out there and stuff in there, you know,
I kind of kind of got my little rhythm, scored
twenty points. Second quarter, came out, you know, and yeah,
you know, I scored thirty three, so you know I
(15:19):
had fifty three, so you know I only need a
fifty nine. All of a sudden, you know he's got
a chance to do this. It's getting thirty three points
in a quarter, if I'm not mistaken, was the one
quarter record for anybody. I think Wills had as the
thirty one, and David Thompson broke that when he got
seventy three thirty two. When Gergan comes along, he gets
(15:41):
thirty three, he breaks the record. A few hours later.
I knew German had to play. That night, we took
a flight back to Denver, and when we got to
the airport, it was like three d of so people.
They are waiting to uh congratulate me on my great
performance and everything. And but I knew a player like Gerving,
with his school and Billy, that that scoring title might
not be real safe. I listened to his game for
(16:04):
a while, and Girvin got off to a great start
as well well. Actually he missed his first few shots,
but then he got it going and half fifty three
in his game at halftime. So I stopped listening to
that because I knew he had it after that, because
he only needed fifty nine coming into halftime. You know,
we felt pretty confident you could get another twenty points,
and of course he did. So you know, second half,
(16:27):
come in and stuff and coach it, well, you know,
you you got fifty three, so you know you only
need six more. So you know, you know I was
there then, so you know I got you know, I
felt a little cocky in you know, and as I
started shooting bass shots and stuff. Took me another fifteen
shots to get fifty nine, and coach say, okay, you
got fifty nine. I said, Coach, let me get a
(16:50):
few more points just in case they miscalculated, and up
a getting sixty three in thirty three minutes. Of course
a good masure. He got a few more, so we
ended up with about safety three points. It was quite
an exciting night for him to get this scoring title,
and you know, seeing somebody for that many points, and
(17:10):
you can see his whole repertoire Yob it was something
to say. I found out the next day. I knew,
like I said before, I listened to a game a
halftime and he had fifty three a half time, so
I knew it was just a matter of time that
he was gonna get my scoring record. But mony Tyle
called me later on and said that there's no shame
(17:30):
and losing to a great player like George Gerwan said, Uh,
for a few people ever scored seven three points in
the basketball game. So that's something you should be really
proud of. And Money was exactly right. David Thompson, Kobe Bryant,
Will Chamberlain, those are the three people who have gotten
seventy three or more points in a single NBA game.
(17:52):
He's right, it is an achievement to be proud of.
German was just like his nickname. He was the man.
He scored so easy. You could shoot, uh from long range,
go down the line, shoot his famous finger roll. He
could shoot off the backboard, had a great touch, and
he was just an amazing score he could score. From
(18:14):
the war before the feeling was mutual, Gervin clearly admired
David Thompson's game as well. We have so much respect
for each other. You know that when we tell the story,
you know it's you could tell it's fun. You know
what I'm saying. I mean, you know he never showed
me no disgrown on man because he knew what I
(18:36):
could do, you know, And he said that, you know,
if anybody could have done it, George Gervin could have.
And that's why I said about him. I mean, he
was a scoring machine back in the day. D T. Man.
They ain't talking all they want about six folds six
five guy, but DT could put it in. Old David
(18:56):
Thompson had a lot of admirers. Has always been my favorite.
I remired him when I was in a younger age,
when I was in high school. Yeah, that was Michael
Jordan's So he breaks David Thompson's thirty two point record.
That literally he had had just said a few hours ago,
and then it took until for Clay Thompson to break
(19:17):
it again. What was it like? What was it like
being a part of that in watching him score in
that manner in just one frame. It was very important
for him to get his record for US, I think,
and as a franchise number two, and of course for
the people of San Antonio. They were the greatest fans ever.
And as somebody liked the ice fand who was community
(19:38):
leer people that people looked up to. I think it
was a tribute to the Spurs, attribute to the organization
and certainly a tribute to Kurbon. You know, for me,
people talk about the points. You know, what I talked
about is the relationship did I have with my teammates,
you know, because they didn't have to do it, because
(19:58):
in order for me to do it, they had the
set picks for me, get me the ball in the
right spots. And I credit them for my first going title.
And I don't want to overlook the man he was
competing against. What about David Thompson? You played against him
a lot in both the A B A the N
B A. How tough was it dealing with him? Well, certainly,
(20:21):
that's the one thing that comes to mind. You really,
I really ever realized he was a true great score.
But you know, everybody says, well, you know this guy,
he he can do He can jump for two inches.
I always say, who's the best jumper of all you
ever played against or played with? And said, David Thompson
(20:43):
a true forty eight leaper story. But he had a
great basketball skills to go with that. He was incredible
to watch because once he got going and he had
the ball, he was at some level as good as
Dr Jay. Dr J had a little more lens and
(21:04):
he could get off the floor very well and finished
very strong. But but David Thompson do that as well.
He was very hard to play against. He's a very quick,
great athlete, but he had the basketball skills to go
with it. Here's dr j On Thompson. David was so quick,
explosive with that fear and you're getting dunked on David.
(21:28):
David was so gifted as an athlete, dedicated to his
profession and as a young man. He was explosive, quick,
fearless and for a package his size, pretty powerful and
pretty good resiliency, was not injury prone, and was always
a threat to go over the tallest guy on the court.
(21:50):
Slammed the ball, you know, which brought about tremendous anticipation,
not only from the fans, but from all the players
on the court, teammates and opponents alike. Gervin has said
the pistol Pete Maravich, he was on the sidelines for
the Jazz Pete Marriage was encouragement. Killing my eyes kill him.
I never get Pete on the side, and I said,
killing my eyes kill him. You know, Pete Marriage, man,
(22:10):
You know I'm a young guy, you know what I mean.
And I appreciate greatness, and he was greatness and he
was on side night. Come on, I kill him, you know,
and I never get he see Coleman was guarding me.
You know, he supposed have been Mr Defense. I ain't.
I ain't talking about you now, you see, but I
know you're supposed to have been Mr Defense. I killed him.
Then after the game, they said, well who was guarding you?
(22:31):
I said, Casper? The friendly goes, So I want to
you know, I mean, David thom To still talk about
it today. Do you remember that? You know? I don't.
I do remember that Pistol was on the sidelines. I
don't remember why. Maybe he was injured, but you know
something from maybe the greatest score of all time, and
(22:52):
what do you have to supporting four points to game
in Collegue without the three points yard? I think he
he if anybody could admire somebody who could score at will,
And that was kind of a tribute to Girvin as well,
when you had the greatest score of both times, rooting
against this team and rooting for somebody to break the
(23:12):
scoring record, with all the focus and the emphasis, especially
during the game on Girvin to to get that scoring title. Uh,
was there celebration, What was the locker room like in
in the way back to San Antonio after the game.
I think the only thing that I can remember is
that there was relief that, uh, you know, we we
(23:34):
lost the game. We ran up and down like crazy people.
At least we got what we set out to do,
So there was a lot of relief that we got
a missed records and you know, let's move forward. So
it kind of worked out where where everybody was satisfied,
everybody was happy with the result of the repeap. When
(23:55):
we come back, we compare Girvan with Dr J and
get the Whoppers origin story. You played with a lot
of all time greats. You've mentioned him, Rick Berry, Dr J,
Moses Malone, even Dominique Wilkins. How would you rank George
(24:19):
Gurwin among those? He was certainly up there with every
name you mentioned. All those people had their unique ability
to set themselves apart from the regular players, whether they
were better scores, whether they were better defenders, whether they
were better jumpers. But he was up there. And when
(24:39):
you're a four time scoring champion, he was up there.
He had no peer in that aspect of the game,
so he should be remembered as one of the all
time great and uh, I was very proud to be
part of his team. You mentioned Julius Irving, Um you
played with him in the A B A. How would
you compare him with George Irvin in his game? Oh
(25:01):
totally Uh, well, I'm not totally different. Both great athletes,
but probably didn't have the range that George Gervin's has
as far as his jumper, but he had to knock
around the around the rim. He was stronger, he could
finish as well as anybody, and he brought people to
their feet, you know when he had the great nickname
when the doctor was in the house, he brought people
(25:23):
to their feet, He brought people into the stand and
everybody knew that. He was also, you know, a pretty
darn good guy. So he was another one that I
could stay was up there with the greats of the
game as far as me playing with the last thing
for you, Billy, you talk about the greats of the game,
there's also a lot of great nicknames involved. George Iceman
(25:46):
Gervin George nicknamed the Iceman because of his calculated pool
shooting style. David Skywalker Thompson Monday name was the Skywalker.
Of course I had the vertically. Of course you with
the Whopper. Where did some of these names come from?
Developed from an in particular you the Whopper. That's this
(26:07):
is like one of my one of my favorite nicknames.
I didn't want to start. I didn't want to start
the pod calling you that, but at some point I
feel like maybe I can, I can, I can call
you the Whopper. Well, that was back in college. I
think I eat two of those burgers. One of my
teammates said, you know, it probably takes two hands to
handle a whopper, And I don't know if it was
(26:28):
my eating prowess or whatever, but you know I was
also if I look back, I was one of the
bigger people out there, you know, whether studying pigs, hitting
jump shots, or writing a rebound. So it kind of fit.
And my good friends for over fifty years still call
me that today and we can tell who the other
people why they got their nickname, and now it comes
(26:50):
out it took two hands sometimes to handle them. I
love it well, Billy the Whopper Pulse. I cannot thank
you enough for all your time, all the inside the memories.
We really appreciate you. NBA flashback is a production of
I heart Radio and the NBA. For more podcasts from
(27:11):
My heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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