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Post by fjs64 on Aug 17, 2009 10:41:59 GMT -5
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Post by Chuck on Aug 17, 2009 12:48:51 GMT -5
This video brings back memories. Those one-on-one matches during halftime were entertaining. Here is part of an article with Lanier talking about his matchup with Jo Jo White. Perhaps the most interesting piece of hardware that Lanier won came from a one-on-one contest that included many of the NBA’s greatest stars. “They brought us all to a high school gym somewhere," Lanier recalls. "I think that they figured that Pistol Pete was going to win it. Vitalis was the sponsor and they made a deal with Pistol to do the TV commercials for the event. But he didn’t win; he got knocked out just before the finals. Jo Jo (White) and I ended up playing in the finals. Jo Jo and I kind of made a little pact. I knew how quick Jo Jo was – he’d break your ankles if you didn’t watch out. So I said, ‘Jo Jo, just don’t embarrass me out here.’ Man, the cameras went on and Jo Jo took off – I think he made the first five hoops. He would make a little fake and when I got too close to him then he would drive around me. After about the third shot he made I’m saying, ‘Jo Jo, come on man, slow down, slow down.’ I’m begging him. He served me a couple more after that and then he missed. I said to myself, ‘OK, I’m going to just rock him to sleep now.’ I wasn’t just big and slow; I was fairly quick for a big guy and I could shoot the outside jump shot. I think that within the 17-foot range I could shoot as well as anyone who ever played. I wasn’t worried once he missed, because it was make it, take it. If you made a shot you didn’t have to give the ball back. So when he missed I rocked him a little bit with some quick back down moves and short shots until I got within range. Once the score was close again, I shot some jumpers.” Lanier still remembers the scene after he defeated White to earn the crown as the NBA’s best one-on-one player: “They gave me a Vitalis trophy and a satchel that contained about $15,000. I remember unzipping it and pretending that I was tossing the money out to the fans.” hoopshype.com/articles/lanier_friedman.htm |
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Post by sneakers on Aug 17, 2009 14:42:22 GMT -5
Funny that Jo Jo White's name came up. Jo Jo recently opened a restaurant a few miles from my house. I've been eating dinner there a couple times a week this summer. It's a nice restaurant with very good food and has a sports theme. It has about 30 plasma tv's tuned to different games (mostly the Sox though) and lots of Celtics, Sox, Bruins and Pats stuff on the walls and in cases.
Anyway, Jo Jo and his wife are there almost every evening. They meet and greet their guests. Sing happy birthday to people that are celebrating there. He is a very classy individual, as is his wife. He will sit down at a table with his guests and just talk and make you feel welcome. He seems to have a very happy and active life.
I'll have to mention the Bob Lanier one-on-one match-up next time I go there.
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Post by blazermaniac5 on Aug 22, 2009 12:53:20 GMT -5
I rmember watching this live during the 1972 NBA Finals. I liked the idea of Lanier getting $15,000 to win this and all of it in $1 bills.
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