CLICK HERE for a rundown of all of Saturday (Jan 29th’s) action
Some of us here at HoopsHD are big fans of games that last 4 overtimes, aka “quadruplers”. 1 of the few games in NBA history that featured 4 overtimes was a Lakers-Cavaliers game from a few decades ago that Cleveland won by a final score of 154-153. Some of the amazing stat lines from that contest include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (42 PTS/17 REB/7 AST/8 BLK), Magic Johnson (30 PTS/11 REB/8 AST), and Foots Walker (8 PTS/7 REB/18 AST/4 STL). However, the most amazing # of the night was put up by Norm Nixon, who tied an NBA record for most minutes played in a game with a scintillating 64! HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Ray Goss, Duquesne radio play-by-play man who covered all of Norm’s college games, about the 1977 Eastern 8 tourney final and Norm’s great defensive skills. Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the quadrupler on January 29, 1980 so we take this time to reflect on Norm’s life/legacy.
Norm grew up in Georgia: how did he end up at Duquesne? John Cinicola was an assistant coach who went down to Georgia to recruit Tree Rollins and another player. He happened to spot Nixon and when he came back he told the head coach about him.
In his final home game as a senior he scored 29 PTS in a 7-PT 2-OT win over an undefeated Detroit Mercy team that had several future NBA players: how were they able to pull off the upset, and how on earth was he able to make a 360-degree slam-dunk despite standing only 6’1”? Detroit was actually 21-1 at the time so we were heavy underdogs. Norm got a technical for hanging on the rim: Detroit coach Dick Vitale was so upset after the game that he had his team get on the bus without taking a shower! However, the upset that stands out to me was at #8 Providence in 1974 when Norm was just a freshman. The Friars had a future 2nd overall draft pick in Marvin Barnes. Nixon missed a layup at the end of regulation but they recovered to win it in OT. Nixon stole a pass at the very end and passed the ball to Bernie O’Keefe with 4 seconds left, who made the shot to win it 88-87. Norm could definitely leap: he had marvelous body control and hit a number of baseline fadeaway jumpers during his career.
In the final seconds of the 1977 Eastern 8 tourney final he winked at Coach Cinicola and then made 2 FTs to clinch a 3-PT win over Villanova en route to being named tourney MOP: how was he so confident, and what was the reaction like when the team got back to campus? Villanova had an outstanding player who had sprained his ankle the previous night in the semifinal: Coach Rollie Massimino had him play despite the fact that he was limping around on 1 leg. It was actually Don Maser who made a pair of FTs with 6 seconds left to seal the win. We had to beat Penn State/UMass just to make the final game. We partied that night and flew back the next day. Our travel secretary contacted someone at the airline and they served mimosas on the plane: Coach Cinicola was freaking out because some of his players were underage!
In 1979 as a player for the Lakers he tied Eddie Jordan for the NBA lead with 201 STL, and his 1187 career STL remains in the top-100 all-time: what was his secret for playing great defense? He had great quickness: he was the PG for the Lakers before Magic Johnson arrived. I remember 1 game he played at Cleveland when I went to the team hotel: the 1st guy I saw was Jerry West, who directed me to Norm, who hooked me up with tickets to the game. We had a 100th anniversary celebration a few years ago and tried to do a huge group photo. Norm stood up and demanded that I get in the photo even though I was not a player myself: he is such a nice guy. 1 year the legendary Beano Cook did color commentary for our broadcasts. I had a tryout for CBS doing NBA broadcasts and it happened to be a Lakers-Pacers game in Indianapolis. I ran into Norm at the airport and he introduced me to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Adrian Dantley/etc. Pat Riley was their TV analyst/travel secretary at the time and he helped me get onto the team’s plane after a weather delay. They gave me a contract for the following season but after the 1977 Blazers-76ers Finals series tanked in the ratings CBS decided to do only 1 game/week and they chose some other guy named…Brent Musburger!
On January 29, 1980 he scored 20 PTS and tied an NBA record for most minutes played in a game with 64 in a 1-PT 4-OT loss to Cleveland: how big of a factor was his conditioning on the court? There are certain players I have watched over the years who never seemed to breathe hard and he is certainly in that category. Bjorn Borg’s resting pulse rate was 35.
Take me though the magical 1980 Finals:
In Game 4 Julius Erving scored 23 PTS and made his famous up-and-under move in 3-PT win by 76ers: could you tell at the time that you were witnessing 1 of the most athletic moves ever executed on a court? Dr. J was the best. I did not see him at UMass but just watching him on TV was great.
In Game 6 Magic Johnson had to replace Abdul-Jabbar at center due to his severely sprained ankle and had 42 PTS/15 REB to beat the 76ers/win the title/become the only rookie to ever be named Finals MVP: what did it mean to him to win a title? I was not in touch with him at the time but I am sure that there was elation. He never jumped up and down: he always kept things on an even keel.
On November 30, 1982 he faked a FT at the end of a game against the Spurs that caused a double lane violation, but the referees incorrectly ruled it a jump ball instead of having him take another shot, and after the Lakers got the ball he made a 20-foot jumper to tie the game en route to the Lakers winning by 5 PTS in double-OT: why did he decide to fake the FT, and how did it feel to lose to the Spurs several months later after their protest was upheld and the teams had to replay the final 3 seconds? I was unaware of that but you see something new every day on the court.
The 76ers swept the Lakers to win the 1983 Finals: were they just a completely different team after acquiring Moses Malone in the offseason? I saw Moses in the Roundball Classic featuring the best high school players in the nation against the area all-stars. It was big news when Moses came in for that game.
After being traded to San Diego in 1983 he led the league with 914 AST, and his 8.3 APG remains among the all-time top-15: what was his secret for being a great PG? He could beat a guy 1-on-1 with his 1st step but he was not a shoot-first guard: he looked to pass all of the time.
After retiring he worked as a color analyst for Laker home games: how did he like the job, and what does he hope to do in the future? He became an agent for a few players and also got into some production stuff with his wife Debbie Allen.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? He is 1 of the best players in Duquesne history, if not the best. He made our school’s all-century team and was the 2nd Laker behind Jerry West to score 1000 PTS as a rookie. He was a 1st round pick but the Lakers had 3 picks in the 1st round that year so they took Kenny Carr/Brad Davis ahead of him.