And, in one motion, he palmed and cuffed the ball, bringing it past Cooper, down to his waist and then back up, as he rose - with his outstretched arm, a human embodiment of the Jimi Hendrix lyric from Purple Haze: “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky …”Īt this point, Cooper knew what was going to happen.Īnd, Cooper ducked, his head barely missing the backboard, as Erving flew by and flushed the ball home, an inexplicable amalgam of grace and violence, as the crowd at the Philly Spectrum detonated. At the least, he could challenge it.Įxcept, after that second dribble, Erving inhaled the ball with his massive right hand. Michael Cooper, being Michael Cooper - the man Larry Bird would later say was the best defender he’d ever faced - could still get to this shot. Cooper, though, was timing his steps to be able to contest a drive by Erving. Two dribbles later, Erving was just inside the free-throw line extended. But Philly’s Maurice Cheeks deflected the pass, and the ball bounced away from Wilkes and to Cooper near midcourt.Įxcept, Julius Erving got to the ball first, cutting in front of Cooper. In the extra session, James Worthy tried a pass to Jamaal Wilkes, the Lakers’ silky small forward. The game, as befitting two of the league’s titans, went to overtime. 5, 1983, Cooper - who’d go on to become an eight-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, and the 1986-87 Defensive Player of the Year - and his Lakers were in Philadelphia to meet the 76ers, whom they’d vanquished in the previous season’s NBA Finals. You can’t blame Michael Cooper for making one of the first recorded business decisions.
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