Memorable NBA Games [re-release]: Dominique Wilkin

There was a pause before the Hawks were announced to give the fans a moment to thank Nick, which was enough time for Clipper's Guard, Mark Jackson to push Wilkins out to the middle of the court to bask in the applause from the crowd. Nick was clearly emotional at the time and I guess with very good reason. That was great stuff there for Mark Jackson. I really

enjoyed that. He clearly understood the importance of the moment and made sure that Nick was aware of it as well per game. Then you are in our studio right now. You're talking NBA basketball. You're talking great teams. You're talking great individual players. Takes it off and there's number 23 and of course Johnny goes nuts. It's a wrong game. There's a bunch of things I'm thinking about

now. I just tried to go up there and play my game. I have no idea what you're talking about now. I don't like anybody. I'm not a peep person. Grant, you made the pass. Yes, you catch the ball. Yes. All the stars were aligned and all the muscles spotted in the right time and I was out of the ground. I was saving that as a surprise

for you. Introducing your host for in all airness and a Ryan. Welcome to episode 123. Thanks for joining me. Today we dive deep into the podcast archive. Six years ago to be precise back to 2015. My great mate Aaron Steen joined me to discuss the story. I'm going to discuss dominate Wilkinsers return to Atlanta. His first game versus the Hawks as a member of the Los

Angeles Clippers. It's a fun in my opinion and insightful chat. Once you've listened to this conversation, I recommend episode 115. The great Danny Manning NCAA champion NBA All Star and six man of the year talks at length about his life in basketball. That conversation is a perfect complement to what you're about to hear. Show notes for this episode and access to a huge archive of past

episodes are available at in all anus.com. Now onto the show. Welcome back to another episode of In all anus Aaron. Today mate, we're going to be chatting about a game that's near and dear to your heart for numerous reasons March 25th, 1994. The LA Clippers visited the Atlanta Hawks at the Omni in Atlanta. What's the most important thing to do with good resume? Yeah, it's a

game that I had, I guess, conveniently waited 21 years to try to watch. And I have to thank a good friend of both of ours, Mr Todd Spear for putting me onto it because not having seen it for 21 years, I think it really built up to a bit of a fairytale kind of a game for me to be able to get to see one day.

So yeah, I've got a thank Todd for getting me onto it. The primary resume for chatting about this game, of course, is related to the game. The great Dominic Wilkins, the human highlight film. He was traded by the Atlanta Hawks on February 24th of 1994. He was sent along with the 1994 first round draft pick who would turn out to be Greg Moner to the LA

Clippers in exchange for Danny Manning. It's the first match up between the two teams since the trade. In front of a bumper crowd, it must be said, of course, given that the two teams normally wouldn't draw that many fans. There was plenty of meaning for both teams, really. And we'll go into that in a bit more depth shortly. But just a great build up to this

game. And as you mentioned, it was great to have Todd send us an alleged copy of this game to have a look at. And I'm sure there's a couple of things you even wanted to mention before we get into the game itself. After having waited 21 years to watch the game, I watched it with a not in my stomach. I'm not a Atlanta Hawks fan at

all, but was a big Dominic fan during his playing days. And I still remember that moment back in 1994 when I learned that Dominic had been traded and it was probably two or three days after it actually happened. But that was due to the coverage on the NBA in Australia back in 1994. And I almost could have made two to three weeks given the delays that

we suffered here, having to wait so long learning any news of note in newspapers most likely back in that time. The courage of the game is from the Hawks Network, which is called Sports South. And the commentators are Tim Brando, who was a former CBS commentator. And Mike Stinger Glenn to begin the broadcast sports South, as you mentioned, started off with an image of an elderly

woman standing with a four sized Atlanta Hawks signs stuck together with sticky tape, fashioned into a sleeveless t-shirt, which is a strange start in itself. But each one of these has the numbers 21 and five written on them with crosses through all of the number fives. Now this painted the picture for how Hawks fans or I guess a majority of Hawks fans felt about the trade.

They sent Nick to the LA Clippers with a second round pick for Danny Manning. The coaches Atlanta were led by Lenny Wilkins. And the LA Clippers were led by Bob Weiss. Now a couple of quick random facts here mate. Over looked in. The average about 10 points and four assists a game. And he only coached the Clippers for this 1994 season. They went 27 and 55.

Atlanta. Both players like to operate on the low block. And I get the feeling that with Nick getting preference that Kevin Willis wouldn't have been too upset to have seen Nick go. He clearly felt he was on the same level as Nick when he clearly wasn't. It was a very good player. Did a lot of good things. Well, I think he was a one time all

start in 1992. Kevin Willis in this 93 94 season. It proved to be the best chance. That the Hawks had at winning a title in a long time either before or since this Hawks team won 57 games at one point early on in the season 120 out of 23. They were 36 and 16 at the time of the trade. So it was a pretty adventurous mover

to make the trade. A lot of the L.A. Clippers vets were out of contract after this season. Causing instability for the roster going forward. Ron Harper was apparently counting the days and would eventually leave for Chicago. So the following season lots of great little stories and bits and pieces there that all lead to certain things happening in the ensuing couple of seasons. When Ron Harper says

that he's counting the days it shows you how unhappy it was being a part of that roster at the time. When the Clippers starters were announced Dominique received a little extra emphasis on his name from the Hawks PA man and a fantastic ovation from the Omni crowd. The camera flashed into the crowd to show. So sorry, Nick. Sign a go get him. Nick sign and a

Dominique we still love you sign after the Clippers starters. There was a real buzz in the arena as Nick gave a wave to the Hawks faithful. They loved him for 12 seasons in Atlanta. I think all those signs were held up by players on the Hawks bench. There was a pause before the Hawks were announced to give the fans a moment to thank Nick, which was

enough time for Clippers guard Mark Jackson. Nick was a really good reason. That was great stuff there from Mark Jackson. I really enjoyed that. He clearly understood the importance at a moment and made sure that Nick was aware of it as well per game. Let's get into the game itself mate. In the first quarter, the Hawks showed Superior Ball movement and they had a combo of

Mookie Blaylock to Danny Manning back to Blaylock. He made the extra pass to a cutting Stacey Augman for an easy two. Nick's first shot was a great one. What was a baseline three Ron Harper got the offensive board and the put back and Atlanta up four to two early on. Action Jackson. Then the plastic man Stacey Augman sent in the game's importance and wanting to impress

from the get go. They each attempted flashy no look passes, which both resulted in misopportunities for their team. Of course, I get a bit caught up in the moment. I guess Nick's first score of the game came on a beautiful lead pass at the rim from the Clippers Mark Jackson. It was tied perfectly and then Dominique brought up his first two points in the Omni. He

played as an opposition player. Stacey Augman driving for a seemingly easy score was rejected into the middle of 1995 by Charles Bow Outlaw. This was the rookie season for Charles Outlaw. And he got the call up from the CBA. He played a couple of 10 day contracts with the Clippers and he signed on for the rest of the season. He ultimately played 15 seasons in the

NBA. And I don't you think that Bow Outlaw would possibly make my all role player team. I think it was one of those guys that did all the intangible goals and kind of came across as though he never took a game off. It was constantly moving. Great player to have on your roster for sure. Danny Manning's first score of the game came on an easy layup.

Then a graphic appeared on the screen, which detailed the recent impact of Ron Harper. In his previous eight games, he averaged 28.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and six assists and three steals a game. So not long after, Harper led a four on two fast break for a pretty driving layup. And on Harper, celebrated that great eight game stretch with possibly one of his worst shooting games of

his season. I think in 94 in this one. Hmm. Here's a couple of interesting stat lines by the time we get to the end of this game. Mike Stinger Glenn, then mentioned the close relationship between Dwayne Farrell and Dominic Wilkins. He said that the two were very close friends. And it would be hard for Dwayne to try and guard Nick given the situation of this game.

The pair played five full seasons together in Atlanta. And coincidentally or not Dwayne's production post trade would never be the same. Wilkins was waiting for a concact double team and then found Bo Outlaw on a sweet baseline cut for a pretty pass and an even better finish. Outlaw hammered home a strong dunk. Later in the quarter, Mike Glenn is mentioning the upside of Nick's move to

LA, including numerous movie role offers. Talk that Maddie Johnson wanted to have Nick play with the lake show. And of course the extra money that Wilkins would earn, which was about two million a year above and beyond his Hawkes earnings. And if you go to IMDB.com. You'll find the Dominic. I think that is it. Zero extra movie appearances. G2 is moved to LA. I guess you

had a lot of endorsement deals. And he probably would have up those a bit in that time. But I can't remember him making any cameos and any movies, but please correct us if we're wrong. Just quickly, the 1994 season had so many plot lines. The biggest of which of course was MJ playing baseball. That aside, another fascinating story was that Magic Johnson had a brief tenure

as Lakers coach. He went five and 11 in 16 games. His first game as Lakers coach was on March the 27th. Just two days after this contest that we're talking about today, he started a very impressive five and one. And then the Lakers dropped 10 straight. And I believe I've heard Magic say that this 16 game stretches. Lakers head coach was enough for him to never

want to do the job again. I understand. I'll be so it'd be a very tough position, particularly given how much he achieved and accomplished with the Lakers as a player. So yeah, he was always up against it. In the last two days, I think he was going to be a little bit more than I expected. Two minutes of the quarter, Nick subbed out and he was

met by great applause from the Atlanta faithful. He was replaced by Harold Alice. And I'm almost certain that his nickname was also bow. The same as fellow teammate Charles outlaw for what it's worth. The year. Anyhow, in 1994, Alice burst onto the NBA landscape and had a sudden all bad brief impact. He lit up the scoring column in a few of his early career games. January

8th of 94, he debuted with zero points. Then he scored six points of following game. But follow that up with 23 points at the end. And then 29 points at Boston respectively. There's plenty of NBA action highlights to around this particular time. Yeah, you and I have discussed the on fire segment from one of the NBA actions from the 94 season that bow. Ellis, I guess

he appeared in. During this quarter, the commentators spoke about Dominique's first experience with an LA earthquake. Apparently this happened in the middle of an elevator ride. They said welcome to the coast. Nick. After one quarter, the Atlanta Hawks had a lead 22 to 21. Nick checked back into the game early in the second quarter. And soon after drove in on Dwayne for L from the left

wing across the middle took the contact from for L and bounced in the finish for the N1. The commentator said that Nick had said he had tried as hard as he could to win over Hawks coach. Leni Wilkins, but never truly felt he was a part of the offense. They continued with a good point saying that it has to hurt when any former player says that

about you as a coach. I guess Nick's 30 shots a game didn't fit with when he Wilkins style of game. He liked the more Disappointed choreograph system on offense is what they said. In this game, the Clippers offense wasn't at all pretty in the first half. And I think they actually dragged the Hawks down to their level throughout the game in order to keep it close.

There were lots of out of rhythm jump shots in the middle of the shot clock. Now, even I can admit that Nick wasn't a very good defensive player during his career. But as Dr. Jack Ramsey said on the back of Nick's 94 95 skybox card, Wilkins was a poor defender, but good ballstiller. Now this as Nick picked the pocket of Andrew Lang on the next Hawks

position, which resulted in a Wilkins layup at the other end to give him 10 points and return that buzz from the crowd who appreciate the fact that he was a good player. And I guess basically any touch that Nick got during this game. The crowd were definitely into it might they wanted Nick to do really well. I don't know if they overly cared. Perhaps I'm coming

a bit out of the top there. If the Hawks even won the game. At this point of the game, they flashed a statistical leaders graphic up on the screen showing that Nick was fourth in the NBA in scoring behind Shaquille O'Neill David Robinson and a key Malaysia one. Nick had bumpy scoring average late in the season by 1.2 points per game. In just 12 games showing

that he was on a real tear. The score was 40 to 32 Atlanta with 426 remaining. And at this stage, the Hawks were showing their better record with open jump shots and easy fast break points. Nick struggled from the field in this first half. He then fixed his struggle from the outside with a drive across the middle on Stacey, C.O.G. for a finger roll. The commentators

said that Hawks coach Lenny Wilkins was specifically denying Nick the baseline and wanted him forced into the middle. But Lenny wouldn't have been too happy with the revolving door that allowed Nick and easy to on this play with 3, 4, 10 remaining in the second quarter. The following two Clipper offensive positions drew double teams of Nick out on the left wing. The first he passed out

of the second he drove baseline away from the midfield. Nick went from the double team and then spent back to the middle for another lap on Augmon to the delight of the opposing Hawks fans. Dominique went into volume shooter mode at this point as he got fouled after corralling his own miss on the next Clipper's position. And then went back up with the lay in plus

the foul. The one made free throw gave him 15 points. Adam, you'd have to agree that Mookie Blaelock is one of the most underrated defensive terrors in NBA history. Wouldn't you? Absolutely. Might hands down. Really good. On the ball pressure. Always the lawyer looking out, helping his teammate as well off the ball. I would have loved to have sent him play on the balls. Actually, because

he was a foe to the Chicago balls during the early to meet 90s as well. On the next position, bow outlaw had the ball under the hoop and went up for the finish. Only to have Mookie Blaelock simply grab the ball whilst in his hands to tie outlaw up, which led to a jump ball. It was a great show of strength from the much smaller mookster.

Off the jump ball, Nick grabbed a pill on the baseline near the hoop and throws a sweet up and under to give him 19 points. Now, I've heard a couple of occasions that Nick only scored two points in the first half of this game and then exploded for 34 points in the second half. Hello to those who misled me if you're listening. Just another thing. You

mentioned how Blaelock tied up outlaw. Was that a pun or that was that was you know, but accidentally. I love. The score was 45 to 53 in favor of Atlanta at the half with Nick contributing 19 of those. Another graphic showed that since the trade, the Hawks scoring average had dipped from 103.4 to 98.6 points for game. And the clip is went from 101.5 to 110.5.

The 18 and 35 clip is had also gone six up and six down since the trade, which was an improvement for the clips. Now, I have a mind. I see you made that free throws kept the game close for the clippers. They were 9 of 15 and Atlanta in contrast with just two of two. So as we enter the third quarter, the Hawks had that eight

point lead and it opened in style. Wilkins Airborne along to. Concact may have deflected it. I'll give him credit for that. Perhaps then Blaelock barely grazed the iron on a wide over three point shot off a Blaelock assist Kevin Willis then hit a nice 18 foot baseline jumper. The clip was really fun to watch back in this period of his career. So athletically gifted even after

his injury troubles. The clippers were fun to watch in transition. However, the Rams shackle style of play wasn't always pretty or effective. And then L.A. pulled within four points. 55 to 51. Harper scored again, gathering a loose ball off an Almore Spencer dropped pass, going in for the pretty up and under jam. The Hawks lay was now just two Lenny Wilkins Airborne. He's been to it's

seen enough and called for time as the clippers peeled off a six o' run to open the stands up. I don't know why I kept going back to the word stands up. But I do. Kevin Willis abused Almore Spencer on the block, scoring another two off a great spin move to the hoop. Then the clippers went almost four minutes without scoring as the Hawks regained control

of the game. Then Dominique hit a perimeter jumper. It was the first that he made outside of about 14 feet. His inside game was responsible for his good scoring numbers thus far 21 points. Starting with a strong Kevin Willis rebound and outlet pass to Mickey Blaelock. He dished off to a slushing plastic man for the baby windmill with a left hand. Was that the dunk that

he did? Kind of on or going past Almore Spencer? I actually don't recall to be honest. I just was so hyped up about the dunk. It literally was a baby windmill dunk. Yeah, there's one dunk that it sounds like it was this one. The other memory is failing me at the age of 37. There was one dunk left handed. That was an absolute hammer that he

threw down. Well, that'd be it. And of course, you know, Algman was a lefty, but gee, it looked good. Because it was a great play in general. Willis got the rebound, which led to the outlet and then finished off with that awesome dunk. So it probably was an armate at age 39. My memory's already gone. So you're ahead of me by a couple of years and

many brancels. That means in the next two years, I've got something all forward to. That's right. Now at this point, mate, I'd like to say that the play I'm about to mention has rocketed into my top 20 follow dunks of all time. Darren Blaelock, take a bow. Darren O'Shea Blaelock. Oh, well, yeah, if we want to go even one step further, indeed. Off the concax missed

jumper. Mookie, Mookie, Mookie, Mookie, Mookie, Mookie, Mookie, Skied high and then Pearl Jam at home. The reaction was incredible from about four Clipper players on the bench. And that made it even better. It was incredible timing and a tip jam from a six foot at best Mookie Blaelock. And I always love a dunk when a player makes use of the breakaway rim and Mookie did exactly

that. But wasn't it a fantastic dunk? It was an awesome dunk. Yeah, absolutely fantastic. And I actually considered asking you if I could swap to the first and third quarters and just so I could describe how awesome I was. It was a ripper. If you showed footage of the shot, you pause the tape, then say what happens next? You would not pick in a thousand years.

There'd be a follow dunk from Mookie Blaelock. Say it. Are you saying that we should do a you fake the call? Here comes Dominic. Could this possibly be a blooper? But does he ducts a buskable bloopers anytime we can reference that is a good time. Now a lawn drive three from Ronnie Harper reduced the Hawks lead to seven as a third quarter drew to its conclusion.

If I can learn to speak late in the quarter, Andrew Lang delivered. I'll say an inadvertent elbow to bow outlaw. No pun intended. Who went down for the count for a minute or so. He was winded most likely. That sort of play needs to be outlawed. It was a pretty rough play from Andrew club. Wang. A rocky reference. Well, uh, Manning sat for most of the

quarter because he was in foul trouble. And then LA Clippers own John Williams. He had a short jumper with tenths of a second left in the third to bring LA to within seven points at the break. 74 to 67. We've also actually heard since that Manning sat for most of this quarter because he wasn't as good as Dominic. It was only a matter of time until

you got at least one job in there. I don't dress. Nics first score of the last quarter came off an outlet from Elmore Spencer as Nick beat the Hawks D down court. Nics caught the pass and gave it crag yellow a Trent Tucker is beautiful double clutch reverse dunk. Then two people were in the positions later got to the hoop for the layup off a nice

handoff from Randy Woods off the break to bring the lead back to five 76 to 71. Did you get the Trent Tucker reference out of nowhere. You've dropped Trent Tucker. You've lost me on that. Why don't you know what it is? One of my favorite Dominic dunks is one that he did on the Nics at Madison Square Garden. There was only Trent Tucker back. And instead

of going up for a regulation one or two hander. Nick gave him a soaring double clutch reverse. Okay. Okay. So there's history. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a

good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it Georgia to Georgia connection as the commentators mentioned Spencer and John the hot plate weems were on the court for the clips at this point to make out one of the more out of shape frontlines in LA Clipers history. They were both big boys. There's

no doubt about that and you don't get a nickname of hot plate without good reason. The Hawks doubled Nick on the next position as he was sizing up Danny Manning on the wing. Two passes later Randy Woods hit a white up in three on the opposite side of the court to tie the game at 76 with 920. 26 left. The crowd was brought to life at

this point as the Clippers had the momentum and had made a game of it for the Atlanta Hawks. And just quietly mate I think that Randy Woods mentioned we've actually had two name drops in the last couple of minutes. That might be the first time has been mentioned on the podcast history to date, which is good because I'm all for. Journeyman guys who just get plucked

out of obscurity to get mentioned in our episodes like this. We do love our journeyman. Don't we we do. Atlanta started at two for twelve from the 50 or in the fourth quarter as the Clippers were five for six in the same span. It was a real help to scale to game down the stretch. Really tightly played defensively and both teams were a little sloppy at

the offensive end which kept it close. I think it was that Clippers bringing the Hawks back to their level, which I mentioned early on in the episode with the Clippers down to Nick finds Elmore Spencer in front of the hoop for a short shot over Kevin Willis to tight the game with 220. Remaining the commentators at this stage said how big it would be for the

Clippers to win this game on Dominique's return to Atlanta. Blaelock continued his great game with a tip in of a Willis missed 18 footer as he snuck inside of Dominique to get great position for the car. With 136 remaining and the Hawks up by two. Dominique made the circus shot of the game with Elo guarding him in the post. He drove into the middle. Jumped gets

met by John Concax. Dominique really had a phenomenal, there we go, a phenomenal game, particularly this fourth quarter where he just owned the contest. Single-handedly brought the Clippers back into the game. John Concax then put the Hawks back up by one with just over a minute remaining with a clutch 17 footer. A shot he hit on several occasions in this game and was clearly very comfortable

taking it. The amazing finish to this game continued on the very next play. Ron Harper, Gunther Free from the corner that missed Dominique's guide over Craig Yellow for the offensive rebound. And then it flips in an amazing shot over the challenging John Concax to again put the Clippers up by one. And to give it a shot. Nick 36 points. It was now that Atlanta were looking

for that Dominique type. Go to a guide to get the score, but all like it must have was Kevin Willis in the post and an off-balance, Mookie Blaelock Flota with a ball eventually going out of bounds off Willis with 35.6 remaining on the clock. Apparently Kevin Willis argued the call than the referee said, what are you talking about Willis? Eddie, that's a terrible different jokes mentioned.

That's a good one. At the other end, the Clips were looking for Nick who was well covered on the play. So Ron Harper came through after a really poor shooting night from the outside to bury a 19 footer from the elbow to put L.A. Up free with 13.4 left, which led to an Atlanta Hawks timeout Atlanta then scored on another basket. The NBA championship, let's be

honest, but you'd give it to Wilkinson Harper and everybody else and Mark Jackson who was celebrating because they knew the importance of the game coming back to Atlanta to then steal the victory. And Nick had an absolute monster performance. So it was great to see all around. I think with the the other season that the Clippers had had up to that point that any opportunity to

celebrate it would have taken it and ran with it. But I think that the occasion definitely merited the post game celebration. Mm-hmm. Now the Clippers held on to win 97 to 94. They moved to 25 and 41 on the season and the Hawks conversely dropped to 47 and 20. For the Clippers, Nick had a great performance. 36 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Ron Harper had

25 points and 6 rebounds. Mark Jackson had 11 points and 6 assists. Bow outlaw had 11 rebounds and Elm was Spencer dragged in 10 boards. For Atlanta, Kevin Willis had 23 points and 14 boards. The plastic man had 22 points. 12 rebounds and four steals. If you don't mind, that's a great effort there. And Murky Blale had 15 points and 14 assists. Danny Manning did struggle.

He had six points on just three of 10 field goals. So I guess he would have felt the pressure. The fact that the Hawks fans were obviously willing to dominate to pretty much have a fantastic game to the detriment of Danny Manning, you have to imagine. After this game, the Clippers went two and 14 to end the season. The Hawks went 10 and five to finish

their regular season before losing to the Pacers in six games. In the 1994 Eastern Conference, semis during the post game interview that the guys had with Dominique. They asked him, Nick, how did you feel during the player introductions before the game? Dominique said I was jacked. The fans were unbelievable. During this interview, Dominique singled out rookie bow outlaw. He was excellent in this game with his

hustle. He was doing all the little things that he became so well known for during his 15 year NBA career. And it's not great that it actually spawned from a couple of 10 day contests. The Hawks then he saw him with a team to finish the season out. And we're going to be, as you said, one of the great role players that you'd love to have

on your team for well over a decade to come. Yeah, don't have to answer if you don't wish. He's still not answering. Oh, that's all good. All right. Was that a question? I thought it was a question. Danny, that's fine. We'll move on. Now that's the game, mate. Thanks again for being part of the show. Anything you wanted to add before we finish off this episode?

I'm going to be in the trade that derailed the Hawks shot at a NBA championship. Danny Manning then Jettison for Phoenix, the following season after only playing 26 games with the Atlanta Hawks. So peep, Bobcock, giddy up. Thanks for listening. I welcome your interaction with the show. Tap the microphone icon on my website to send me a voicemail. You can suggest discussion topics or guests you'd

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