(Photo: LetsGoWarriors.com Instagram account)
ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Ex-New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors great and Hall Of Famer Bernard King was honored at #Roaracle last Friday. His photo is one of the Warrior greats along the so-called “Blue Mile” hallway adjacent to the franchise’s practice facility in downtown Oakland.
Drew Morita wrote a nice summary of King’s pre-game press conference before the Warriors eventually fell to the Houston Rockets that night, 116-112, which included King’s rarely told duck story.
King also explained how analytical a player he was.
“Eighty percent of what I did on the court was thought out. The other twenty percent, I don’t know where it came from,” King explained, “Obviously, I went through a growth spurt playing for (former Warriors head coach) Al Attles, but it really manifested itself more than anything when I get to New York.”
King then quickened the pace of his talk, as if he’d been through it a million times in his head, like a particle physicist hastily explaining the basics of quantum theory to an audience that may or may not grasp his science:
Left hand side of the floor: nine spots, right hand side of the floor: nine spots, baseline to the top of the key: four spots. And then in the open floor and low post, it was the same thing. There’s only five ways you can be defended by a wing, if you’re being defended by a single player. Force you right because they think your right hand is weak. Force you left because they think your left hand is weak. Give you a jumpshot because they don’t think you can hit the jumpshot. Overplay and deny you the ball or play you tight because they think you don’t have the ability to break down the defense, but they have to give you one. They have to give you one. And I’m gonna get to one of those nine sweet spots.
At the end, King chuckled. “That was my game.”
A long-time Warriors fan who goes by the psuedoname “The Professor”, a doctorate in electrical engineering who moved to Silicon Valley in 1960’s to pursue a career in fiber optics, an analytical basketball observer in his own right, said that he wasn’t aware King had such an analytical approach.
“It was probably his secret,” The Professor said, “I remember he was called Mr. Basketball because he was a complete player. Offense, defense, scored a lot of points, went to the free throw line often.”
Although there are no major references of any nicknames for King when one does a Google search, those who saw him play were in awe of him.
In a piece called “The NBA’s Invisible Genius”, Charles Modiano writes:
Where did The King stand amongst the greats? Let’s ask them
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“Bernard King was the toughest matchup of my career. And I say that from the heart.” –Julius Erving [HOF 1993] .
“Bernard King… is the best forward in the league, hands down”. – Larry Bird [HOF 1998] .
“We are just in awe of Bernard” — Isiah Thomas [HOF 2000] .
Now consider that Larry and Isiah’s praise came before the 1984 playoffs and epic Showdown in Motown where
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KING AVERAGED 42 PLAYOFF POINTS ON 60% SHOOTING!
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No other player in NBA history has ever averaged over 40 playoff points on 60% shooting in the playoffs – not Wilt in ‘62, not Jerry in ‘65, and not Michael in ‘88. Not Kareem, Shaq, Kobe, or Lebron.
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Only Bernard King.
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King also did it while battling Isiah, the flu, and dislocated fingers in both hands.
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IN 1984, KING AVERAGED 30 POINTS ON 60% SHOOTING OVER 40 STRAIGHT GAMES! [1] .
LeBron, please read that again.
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No other player in NBA history has likely ever matched this half-season stretch [2].
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In the playoffs, the unstoppable King simply took more shots. That’s all.
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For the few mesmerized souls who watched those games on WWOR Channel 9, King’s “30@60for40” validates that we aren’t suffering from nostalgia gone wild.
The Professor concurred on King’s ability to “get to one of those nine sweet spots”.
“He had so many moves. He was pretty quick, too, deceptive,” said The Professor, “The Warriors had a running style back then and when the opponent’s defense wasn’t set up, 3-on-3 or even 4-on-4, he’d kill you. It’d be no use. Double- or triple-team him, he’d out-quick you, out-jump you, shoot from anywhere, post up. A complete player.”
“He took over games consistently. If you wanted to watch the Warriors, it was because of Bernard King,” added The Professor, “In a way, he was like LeBron because, at the time, he was pretty big. He could play the 2, 3, or 4, although he wasn’t really called upon to pass. In Warriors history, other than Wilt Chamberlain, he ranks high up there close to Rick Barry.”
So why didn’t the Warriors make the playoffs that year, despite winning 48 games? And why did the Warriors get rid of King after just two years of service in Golden State?
“After the Warriors won the championship in ’74-75, everyone in the NBA used the same formula of using the bench. Plus, the owner at the time, Franklin Mieuli used to acquire players, let them blossom, and then sell them for a profit,” The Professor summarized, “So over time, the Warriors sort of got diluted. Of course, King came along and, sure enough, Mieuli ended up trading him (to New York) just as his stock was rising.”
King revealed even more of his calculating nature as he recalled talking to Attles at the 1984 Denver All-Star Game, which was two years after King was traded from the Warriors to the Knicks:
“Coming out of the All-Star Game having scored 18 points, I realized that my skill level was at a much higher level than I had ever expected,” King explained, “I made a decision that second half of they year I was going to go up to another level. I was fortunate I did that, got the back to back 50s, and in the playoffs 5 game series I averaged 42 against the Detroit Pistons, so that was my elevation year I went to another level.”
Present at the Oracle press conference, Attles lamented, “I remember talking to you too, but you weren’t on my team!”
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