It’s easy to forget how the NBA All-Star Game was once revered, not reviled. Exhibit A is the 1987 ASG in Seattle, in which players – gasp – cared about winning.
And what players they were, including 16 – count ’em, 16! – future Hall of Famers. Get a load of the East starters: Michael Jordan (dunk contest winner), Larry Bird (3-point shootout winner), Julius Erving (his retirement season), Moses Malone, Dominique Wilkins. Reserves included Charles Barkley, Robert Parrish, and Isiah Thomas. Forget 1992 – This was the Dream Team.
The West roster wasn’t shabby, either: Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Alex English, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy. Seattle’s Tom Chambers would score 34 points and be named MVP – and he wasn’t even originally selected as an All-Star. That’s just one of the remarkable events in what NBA.com called “a candidate for greatest All-Star Game ever.”
Dome Sweet Dome
A number of note was 303 – the combined point total in the West’s 154-149 OT victory over the East, a record for most points scored in an ASG. Another key figure concerned attendance, 34,275 jammed inside the Kingdome. The Sonics had stopped playing home games there two years earlier, but a showcase event required a supersized venue.
The divide in player opinions about the site was as large as the ‘Dome itself. “It was the best I’ve ever been in or seen,” said the Lakers’ James Worthy. The Hawks’ Dominique Wilkins countered, “It’s a funny place. My first two shots were air balls from the lane and I thought they were going to be good. I wouldn’t want to play here (regularly). Not at all.”
Some spectators up in the 300 level, a different zip code from the action, brought binoculars and even portable TVs.
One fan’s account, to the Seattle Times: “Charles Hargrett, who traveled from Bainbridge Island to sit in a $15-seat behind a basket, complained, ‘They didn’t warn us that it might be dangerous to heart patients to climb up here when we bought the tickets.'”
Detlef Schrempf, 2nd-year Dallas Maverick, wouldn’t join the Sonics for another seven seasons. A participant in the 3-point contest at Seattle Center Coliseum, Schrempf was spotted in the Kingdome stands by ESPN’s Bill Simmons.
“He was wearing a black vest with a white dress shirt and a plaid tie. He has a wispy mustache and one of those comb-it-forward haircuts from the early ’80s. He looked like an usher in a movie theater.”
‘Confidence!’
If a person can be considered alone in a crowd of 35,000, that’s the situation Rolando Blackman faced with the clock reading :00 in the 4th quarter and the West trailing by two.
Isiah Thomas had fouled the Dallas Mavericks guard on a drive as time expired. Blackman needed to hit both free throws to send the game to overtime.
No players stood in normal rebounding position outside the lane. Blackman was all alone. Well, except for Thomas, bringing his “A” trash-talk game before the shots. “Just trying to rattle him a little bit,” said Thomas in an NBA TV interview.
Magic bumped Isiah away and tried covering his mouth as they both laughed. “That’s how competitive we were,” Thomas recalled, “yet that’s how much fun we wanted to have.”
Fun wasn’t the emotion Blackman was feeling. “My life was on the line and I wanted to make sure I came through. I heard the words he was saying.” (“Miss it! Choke it! Sissy! Chump!” among the printable ones.)
Blackman indeed came through, screaming “Confidence!” while sinking the second made shot. “It was so much fun to get all the high-fives from some of the greatest players that have ever played the game.”
Thomas was gracious in defeat. “What Ro did is something a lot of people can’t do. Most of the people can’t do that.”
Chambers Fires On All Cylinders
Ralph Sampson injured his knee a week before the game, creating an opening for Seattle’s Tom Chambers as his replacement. This wasn’t a token gesture by West coach Pat Riley; Bill Simmons has described Chambers as the most underrated forward of the ’80s.
Still, “I know Pat Riley went out on a limb for me,” the Sonic acknowledged.
In ’84-’85, Chambers was in the fourth of five Seattle seasons. The 6-10 power forward would play all 82 games, averaging 37 minutes, 23.3 points, 6.6 boards and 3 assists.
Let’s return to columnist Simmons for more cogent analysis. “‘Tight Shorts Alert.’ Chambers looks like he’s playing in white Jockeys. Thank God they didn’t have HDTV or the Internet back then – somebody would have started a blog trying to figure out how many players weren’t circumcised.”
Chambers rallied the West in the 4th quarter. Ignoring a bum finger, he scored 14 points in the final 5:09. He continued to shine in OT, throwing a perfect outlet for a Worthy dunk, taking a Magic feed (one of his 13 assists, many to Chambers) for a dunk of his own, and driving the left side of the lane for two more.
He finished 13-25 shooting, including two 3’s, and a game-high 34 points in 29 minutes.
After being named MVP, Chambers told the Times, “I felt like I had to prove I wasn’t only filling space.”
An MVP case – had the game not been in Seattle – could have also been made for Blackman (29 points in 22 minutes) and the East’s Moses Malone (27 points, 18 rebounds, and a tip-in with three seconds left that looked like the game-winner).
Longtime NBA writer J.A. Adande referenced the game’s intensity on The Athletic’s NBA Daily podcast.
“Blackman’s pumping his fist. Magic’s waving to the crowd. It meant a lot for them to win it. They didn’t even have the gimmick of winning money for charity. There was no bonus in it. They wanted to win. The game was such great evidence that they cared.”
“It was magic,” said someone who should know, Magic Johnson. “It was just so sweet. This was by far the best game. It was the Doc’s (Dr. J’s) last game. We came back from 12 down in the last seven minutes. The hometown hero was the MVP. What more could you ask for?”
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