From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- ...that Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis is the only player in the Spanish professional league Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto to have won the league's regular season and championship finals most valuable player awards, having, during the 1993-1994 season, claimed each with Real Madrid Baloncesto, which team he led over Winterthur FCB to the league championship and over Joventut Badalona to the Copa del Rey de Baloncesto title subsequent to that season, and to the 1994-1995 Euroleague club championship?
- ...that the Rome, Georgia-based Rome Gladiators, who won 21 of 24 regular season games in the American league World Basketball Association en route to capturing the league's championship, are owned by center Theo Ratliff of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association and coached by former Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets shooting guard Harold Ellis?
- ...that Portland Trail Blazers center Bill Walton outpolled San Antonio Spurs small forward George Gervin and Denver Nuggets shooting guard David Thompson to win the 1977-78 National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award despite having played, due to injury, only 58 regular season games?
- ...that the Sacramento Kings franchise, having played professional basketball in two different leagues—the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball Association—in four different cities and under five different names—Rochester Royals (1948-49–1956-57), Cincinnati Royals (1957-58–1971-72), Kansas City-Omaha Kings (1972-73–1974-75), Kansas City Kings (1975-76–1984-85), and Sacramento Kings (1985-86–present)—have qualified 29 times for the NBA playoffs but have participated just once in the NBA Finals, having captured the league title in 1951 over the New York Knickerbockers?
- ...that three players—small forward Rebecca Lobo and point guards Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi—representing the University of Connecticut Huskies have won the Naismith College Player of the Year award, given to the player adjudged to be the best in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I, more than from any other university?
- ...that Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton, first on the National Basketball Association's list of players by career assist made and by career steals committed, ranks second in NBA history in career turnovers surrendered, behind only teammate power forward Karl Malone?
- ...that teams coached by Phil Jackson—the 1991-92, 1995-96, and 1996-97 Chicago Bulls and the 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers—hold four places on the list of top ten NBA teams by single-regular season wins?
- ...that the Australian Boomers and Opals, flag pictured, and the New Zealand Tall Blacks claimed the gold and silver medals, respectively, in both the men's and women's tournaments in Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the first iteration of the Games at which the sport was contested?
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- ...that Boston Celtics power forward Kevin McHale (1984 and 1985) and Indiana Pacers power forward Detlef Schrempf (1990 and 1992) are the only two National Basketball Association players ever to have twice won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, given to the bench player (after the five starters, a team's sixth man) whom a panel of basketball journalists deem as the most valuable to his team?
- ...that Uljana Semjonova, who led the Soviet Union to a gold medal at the Games of the XXI (held in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976) and XXII Olympiads (held in Moscow in 1980, and to the 1971, 1975 and 1981 FIBA World Championship for Women titles, and also captained TTT Riga to fifteen Soviet national and eleven continental club championships, became, in 1993, the first woman to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame?
- ...that Golden State Warriors power forward/center Adonal Foyle, who, out of Colgate University, was selected eighth overaell in the 1997 NBA Draft, is the only Vincentian ever to play in the National or American Basketball Associations?
- ...that Carol Blazejowski, the general manager of the New York Liberty, who was the highest-paid Women's Pro Basketball League player during that division's one-year existence, scored 3,199 points at Montclair State College, where she was a three-time All-America and the 1978 Wade Trophy winner, is behind only Louisiana State University's Pete Maravich on the list of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I career scoring leaders?
- ...that Cercle Saint-Pierre de Limoges, who became the first French side to win a major European club title in a team sport when they captured the Euroleague championship in 1993 over Pallacanestro Treviso, 59-55, won, led by Richard Dacoury, the first four Ligue Nationale de Basketball Pro A championships but were relegated to Pro B in 2004 in view of pecuniary troubles?
- ...that Percy Miller, best known as Master P, played for one season for the San Diego Stingrays of the International Basketball League before the league folded in 2001?
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- ...that centers Wilt Chamberlain (with the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1959-60 NBA season) and Wes Unseld (with the Baltimore Bullets in the 1968-69 NBA season are the only two National Basketball Association players to have won the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in the same season?
- ...that Boston Celtics center Bill Russell, who won eleven National Basketball Association championships in thirteen seasons (between the 1957-58 and 1969-70 seasons), including eight consecutively, shares the record for most titles won in a North American professional league with center Henri Richard of the Montréal Canadiens of the National Hockey League?
- ...that twelve players comprised by the United States side that played in the 1992 Summer Olympics, held in Barcelona, Spain, commonly known as the Dream Team, of whom ten were named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1997, won a combined 23 National Basketball Association championships?
- ...that between 1951 and 1985, Eastern bloc nations won every Eurowomen and Eurobasket championship, save the 1983 men's title, captured by Italy, who were coached by 2006 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Sandro Gamba?
- ...that the four of the past seven championships in the Australian Women's National Basketball League have been won by the Canberra Capitals, for whom power forward Lauren Jackson, who played for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association during the WNBL offseason, was captain?
- ...that the Houston Comets of the Women's National Basketball Association, have, with Sheryl Swoopes (three) and Cynthia Cooper (two), claimed five of the Most Valuable Player awards to have been given by the league?
- ...that Luther Gulick, an American physical education instructor, directed James Naismith to create a winter sport to be played indoors at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA, spurring the creation of basketball?
- ...that Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Garnett, drafted out of high school in 1995, is the longest-active National Basketball Association player (11 seasons) to have spent his entire career with one team?
- ...that Loyola Marymount (181) and Alliant International (then U.S. International) (150) combined to score 351 points in a 40-minute game at the Gersten Pavilion on January 31, 1989, setting a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-A record for points scored by two teams combined (and that Kevin Bradshaw would set an NCAA record in scoring 72 points for Loyola against U.S. International two years later)?
