Tag: Moses Malone

Rockets center Christian Wood joins elite list with start to 2020-21 season

With 21 points on Thursday, Wood became just the third undrafted player since 1960 to score 20+ points in his first three games of a season.

With 21 points in Thursday night’s victory, Houston Rockets center Christian Wood joined Basketball Hall of Famers Moses Malone and Connie Hawkins as the only undrafted players since 1960 to score 20+ points in their first three games of an NBA regular season.

The athletic 6-foot-10 big man also grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked two shots, and dished out three assists in Houston’s 122-119 home win (box score) over the Sacramento Kings. As usual, Wood was efficient on New Year’s Eve in collecting those numbers, making 9-of-14 shots (64.3%) from the field while committing only one turnover in 32 minutes.

“I’m happy to be here in Houston,” the 25-year-old said postgame from Toyota Center. “I’m playing with two All-Star guards [James Harden and John Wall], and I have Boogie [DeMarcus Cousins] helping me out. … I’ve been saying it all along, the sky’s the limit.”

Through three games with the Rockets, Wood is averaging 25.0 points (57.1% FG), 9.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 37.3 minutes per game. Those are the types of numbers that, if sustained, could potentially make him an All-Star candidate later in the 2020-21 season.

For an undrafted rookie who was waived as recently as the 2019 offseason and available for any team to claim, it’s a meteoric rise.

Wood and the Rockets (1-2) will look to keep their momentum rolling in Saturday’s rematch with the Kings (3-2) from Toyota Center in downtown Houston. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Central.

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Charles Barkley: ‘Joel Embiid needs a Moses Malone’ to push him to superstardom

Charles Barkley had Moses Malone to help him become a superstar early in his career. He thinks Joel Embiid has been deprived of that mentorship.

Back in 1984, Charles Barkley entered the league as the No. 5 pick. He only played 15 games before becoming a starter on the Philadelphia 76ers, but it took him a couple years to become an All-Star and then a couple more before he was a bona fide superstar.

The thing that helped him take a step forward from player off the bench to star: teammate Moses Malone.

“Moses Malone made me a great player,” Barkley said on TNT on Friday.

“I was asking him why I wasn’t getting to play, he said, ‘You’re fat and you’re lazy.'”

Hearing that pushed Barkley to play harder. To evolve from a perennial All-Star into a player who won MVP, played on the Dream Team and competed with Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals.

“Joel Embiid needs a Moses Malone,” Barkley said. “There’s nobody on that team who can push him.”

The 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 108-101 on Friday, but they still hold the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference in a year that was much-hyped entering the season.

There are reasons for this: Play styles haven’t meshed. The team was a disaster on the road while nearly pristine at home. But Barkley thinks Embiid still needs to make a jump, and he has been deprived of mentorship from veteran stars.

“Do you want to be an all-star or a superstar? Those things are different. You are unguardable,” Barkley said. “Every time you take a jumpshot, you bail the defense out.”

When Barkley was drafted, Malone was a 28-year-old who had been in the NBA for eight years. He was a three-time MVP and a Finals MVP.

Barkley was only in Philadelphia with Malone for two years, but the veteran was able to talk him through — and by the sound of it, insult him through — the early years of the NBA and mold him into a greater player.

Embiid hasn’t found that teammate or coach, Barkley said.

“We’re gonna get you in shape. We’re going to you. And you know, I’m in Philly. And I hear every day, if Embiid and Simmons play together, who should we trade? I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna prove to y’all I should be the one who stays.’ Cause at some point they’re gonna break them up if they keep losing early in the playoffs,” Barkley said.

“But Joel Embiid, he’s an All-Star. He’s not a superstar.”

RAY: Your team had a run of great …

RAY: Your team had a run of great seasons but never won a championship. I think your last five seasons, the Bucks finished first in the conference. You had a great collection of players, including the ones who came in the trade for Kareem. Marques Johnson: Yeah, we had it going on. We started out green and kept growing. The only problem was that we either had to go through the Boston Celtics with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish (and later Dennis Johnson) and that crew, or the Philadelphia 76ers and Dr. J., Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney, aka. the Boston Strangler. The year that we were really primed to make a championship run, the Sixers had picked up Moses Malone in the offseason.

Research: When LeBron lost, he did it against stronger opposition than any other NBA legend

Last week, we looked up 25 NBA superstars to determine the combined winning percentages of the opponents they defeated in the playoffs. This week, we’re taking a peek at those same superstars, but this time, looking at the winning percentages of the …

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Last week, we looked up 25 NBA superstars to determine the combined winning percentages of the opponents they defeated in the playoffs.

This week, we’re taking a peek at those same superstars, but this time, looking at the winning percentages of the opponents that they lost to in the postseason.

The first thing that jumps out is that although LeBron James beat weaker competition than most legends on average, he also lost to stronger squads than anybody else, mostly due to all of those Finals series against juggernaut Golden State Warriors teams.

The teams who defeated LeBron James in the playoffs combined for a whopping 608-212 regular-season record, good for a winning percentage of 74.1 percent.

One player who isn’t far off from LeBron on our list is Kevin Durant. If you ever wondered why the Oklahoma City Thunder came up painfully short so many times leading to Durant’s controversial departure, just look at the brutal competition they had to face, including the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs in the West, and the Miami Heat in the East during the 2012 Finals.

Overall, it’s clear that it took a lot to beat these guys. Out of the 25 superstars we examined, 21 only lost to opponents who had greater than a 66 percent win percentage, meaning they could only be taken down by the best of the very best.

For more info on the caliber of opponents the 23 other superstars lost to who we didn’t go in-depth on, just check out the gallery above.

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Sixers history: Sixers knock off Lakers to win 1983 NBA champiosnhip

On this day in Philadelphia 76ers history, Moses Malone and the Sixers brought home the title.

With the NBA in an indefinite hiatus due to COVID-19, we continue our day-by-day look back at the history of the Philadelphia 76ers. We continue down our path into Sixers history every day as we look to fill the void left by the absence of basketball.

This one takes everybody back to the day the Sixers last brought home the Larry O’Brien trophy to South Philadelphia. The Sixers were in complete control with the Los Angles Lakers up 3-0 and now, they just needed to finish the job. While the Lakers have a lot of talent led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as well as Jamal Wilkes, Philadelphia just had a little bit more.

May 31, 1983

The tension at The Forum was thick. There was anticipation as anxious Lakers fans were hoping to see their team dig deep and continue to keep their season alive. They were the defending champions, after all, and their championship pedigree was expected to shine through. However, the Sixers were a team destined for a title in this one after coming up just short in previous seasons. This was their time.

Moses Malone had 24 points and 23 rebounds, Andrew Toney had 23 points and nine assists, Julius Erving added 21 points, six assists, and five rebounds, and Maurice Cheeks had 20 and seven assists in a 115-108 win to clinch the title. Bobby Jones added 13 points and four steals off the bench as well. Malone brought home Finals MVP honors while Erving captured that elusive title that escaped his grasp so many times in the past.

It was a terrific playoff run for Philadelphia and while it was not completely “Fo’ Fo’ Fo'” like Malone predicted, it was pretty darn close. They only lost one game in the playoffs on their way to the title. [lawrence-related id=32409,32393,32357]

Sixers history: Moses Malone drops 28 and 19 in Game 3 vs. Lakers

On this day in Philadelphia 76ers history, Moses Malone lifted the Sixers past the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3.

With the NBA in an indefinite hiatus due to COVID-19, we continue our day-by-day look back at the history of the Philadelphia 76ers. We continue down our path into Sixers history every day as we look to fill the void left by the absence of basketball.

This one takes it back to the 1983 NBA Finals with the Sixers in the middle of a championship battle with the Los Angeles Lakers. Philadelphia took care of business at home in the first two games of these Finals to get closer to a title, but the battle would not get any easier with the series shifting to Los Angeles. This is where the Sixers’ desperation for a title shines through.

May 29, 1983

With the series shifting to The Forum, it was expected that the Lakers would work their way back into the series. With Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the rest of a championship tested roster, it was assumed that Los Angeles would work their way into the series. However, Philadelphia was ready to squash those thoughts led by Moses Malone, Julius Erving, and the rest of a talented Sixers team.

Malone went to work in the paint scoring 28 points with 19 rebounds to lead the way, Erving had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Andrew Toney dropped 21 points in a 111-94 win in Game 3. Bobby Jones added 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Maurice Cheeks had 12 points, five assists, and four steals to help out. It was a dominant effort to move to within one win of a title.

Philadelphia has still only lost one game on this playoff run so far and being so close to a title now, they need to keep their focus and get the job done. Then, they can celebrate their accomplishments. [lawrence-related id=32325,32317,32300]

How tough were the teams NBA legends beat in the playoffs?

When we looked up 25 NBA superstars to determine the combined winning percentages of the opponents they defeated in the playoffs, two players who stood out were the legendary Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant, who finished within percentage points of …

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When we looked up 25 NBA superstars to determine the combined winning percentages of the opponents they defeated in the playoffs, two players who stood out were the legendary Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant, who finished within percentage points of each other at No. 1 and No. 2 on our list respectively.

It’s easy to see why, too, because looking back, both played in super-strong era of the Western Conference. Just as a quick example, the Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs in the West back in 2007-08. They won 48 games that season.

Overall, Bryant won far more series during his career, but Nowitzki won with worse company surrounding him.

Looking through other notable stars on our list, LeBron James finds himself down in the rankings at No. 14, as the playoff opponents he defeated boasted a 60 percent win rate, a product of him spending the vast majority of his career in the much weaker Eastern Conference. (The same can be said of Magic Johnson, who’s 20th on our list, due to the fact that the West was pretty weak overall in the ’80s.)

Regardless, James deserves credit for one feat: Nobody on our list beat a better team than he did in 2015-16 when he took down the 73-9 Warriors in the Finals.

Other noteworthy players on our research-based ranking include Michael Jordan (No. 4), Kevin Durant (No. 7) and Larry Bird (No. 23).

For the entire list, just click through the gallery posted at the top of the page.

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