At this stage, we still have 11 undefeated teams trying to accomplish what no one did last year, which is a couple more than I would have expected at this stage. On the other side of the coin, we have eight teams that are still searching for that elusive first win, again, maybe a number that's a little higher than expected, but not by a lot.
On today's schedule, Groups A and G are back in action after playing yesterday, while Groups B and F return from a day off. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's go to the action.
Group F
'86 Boston Celtics 107, @ '79 Seattle Supersonics 103
The Celtics remain among the ranks of the unbeaten, but needed a late rally to pull it off. Seattle trailed by 18 at halftime, but managed to tie the game with 1:35 to go before Robert Parish put the Celtics back in front for good. Larry Bird led the way with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, while Kevin McHale added 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Parish finished with 17 and seven for Boston. Jack Sikma had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Sonics, Gus Williams added 15 points, and John Johnson finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.
'98 Chicago Bulls 96, @ '89 Detroit Pistons 79
The Bulls shot just 36.2 percent from the floor, but shot 27 free throws to Detroit's seven and forced 19 turnovers to steadily build a lead. Michael Jordan led the Bulls with 28 points, Scottie Pippen contributed 12 points, six rebounds, and nine assists, and Toni Kukoc added 20 points and seven rebounds. Isiah Thomas had 14 points to lead the Pistons, but turned it over seven times in the loss. Bill Laimbeer added 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Dennis Rodman chipped in 12 and eight.
@ '01 Los Angeles Lakers 100, '52 Minneapolis Lakers 94
Los Angeles broke a halftime time and led by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter, but Minneapolis fought back and even took a couple late leads, but Shaquille O'Neal hit the go-ahead basket with 37 seconds left, and Kobe Bryant put the game away with the final eight LA points. He finished with 26 points to lead all scorers, while Shaq put up 25 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks and Horace Grant added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the '01 Lakers. James Pollard had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead the '52 Lakers, while George Mikan had 20 points, 18 rebounds, and four blocks.
Larry Siegfried hit a corner three with 1:27 to go to put the '68 Celtics ahead, then blocked a potential tying shot by Larry Bird with seven seconds left after the Celtics had a minute and about six looks to tie the contest. Siegfried finished with 15 points, Sam Jones had 23 points and seven rebounds, Bill Russell added 18, 17, and five blocks, and Bailey Howell chipped in 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the '68 team. Robert Parish paced the '84 team with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Larry Bird added 16 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists. Kevin McHale poured in 27 points off the bench in the '84 Celtics' first loss of the tournament.
Group B
'73 Indiana Pacers 114, @ '75 Golden State Warriors 107Golden State scored 48 points in the fourth quarter, which I'm pretty sure is the highest total of the tournament to date, but they were already down 16 going into the fame and Indiana scored 39 to make this game not as close as it would appear. George McGinnis was phenomenal, dropping 32 points and 16 rebounds for the Pacers while Mel Daniels added 23 and 11. Rick Barry finished with 24 points to pace the Warriors, Butch Beard poured in 23, and Clifford Ray chipped in eight points, 11 rebounds, and five assists.
'85 Los Angeles Lakers 109, @ '70 New York Knicks 95
Showtime shot 51.9 percent from the floor and forced 19 turnoversm turning a close game in the first half into a relatively easy victory in the second. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 27 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks to lead the Lakers to their third victory, Magic Johnson put up 21 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists, and James Worthy and Kurt Rambis each scored 10 points. Bill Bradley put in 20 points to lead New York, Willis Reed added 15 points and 19 rebounds, and Dick Barnett chipped in 13 points.
@ '90 Detroit Pistons 142, '69 Oakland Oaks 103
Oakland appears to have been exposed as a fraud, having lost three straight all to NBA champs. The Pistons shot 55.6 percent from the floor, destroyed the Oaks on the glass, and hit 81.6 percent of their free throws to stay undefeated. All eight Pistons who played at least 10 minutes scored in double figures, but Joe Dumars went off for a game-high 33 points to lead the team. Isiah Thomas was great with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, and Bill Laimbeer chipped in 11, 13, and six. Gary Bradds paced Oakland with 23 points, and Rick Barry added 20 points and eight rebounds.
@ '87 Los Angeles Lakers 118, '74 New York Nets 97
The Lakers put up 41 points in the third quarter to turn a fairly close game into something of a laugher, as Los Angeles made 54.1 percent of their shots and held the Nets to just 38 percent. Magic Johnson had a triple-double of 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, James Worthy scored a game-high 27 points, and Byron Scott added 20. Julius Erving had 20 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists to pace New York, while John Roche and Larry Kenon each contributed 14 points.
Group G
New York shot 51 percent from the field and got 35 trips to the free throw line to help them earn their third win of the tournament. Julius Erving had a monster triple-double with 37 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists, John Williamson added 22 points, and Swen Nater put up 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Nets. Dr. J overshadowed a solid outing for Indiana's Mel Daniels, who finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and three steals, while George McGinnis added 21 points and nine rebounds and Bob Netolicky finished with 19 and 10.
'97 Chicago Bulls 96, @ '11 Dallas Mavericks 83
Chicago held Dallas to 38.4 percent shooting from the floor, including a 6-21 day from beyond the arc, to maintain their grip on first place. It was a bizarrely balanced scoring day for the Bulls, with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, and Steve Kerr each scoring 15 points, while Dennis Rodman had eight points and 13 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki and Caron Butler each had 21 points to lead the Mavericks, while Jason Kidd chipped in seven points, six rebounds, and six assists.
'66 Boston Celtics 137, @ '64 Boston Celtics 122
The '66 Celtics shot a tournament record 64 free throws, while their '64 counterparts shot just 34 in a game that saw 62 fouls committed between the two teams. '66 Boston got '64 Bill Russell in foul trouble and minimized his impact to pick up their third win. '66 Sam Jones had 29 points and seven rebounds to lead the way, '66 Satch Sanders added 24 and seven, '66 Larry Siegfried scored 20 points, and '66 Russell notched 13 points, 22 rebounds, and six assists. '64 Russell had 13 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks before fouling out, Tommy Heinsohn notched 30 points, and '64 John Havlicek chipped in 25 points for his Celtics.
'02 Los Angeles Lakers 113, @ '58 St. Louis Hawks 98
The Lakers came into the fourth quarter down five, but used a 10-1 run to spark a comeback and a 41 point outburst for the stanza to knock the Hawks down to 0-5 for the tournament. Shaquille O'Neal had 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the way for Los Angeles, Derek Fisher and Rick Fox each added 15 points, and Kobe Bryant picked up 10 points and 10 assists. Cliff Hagan led the Hawks with 21 points and seven rebounds, Slater Martin and Ed Macauley each chipped in 13 points, and Bob Pettit contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Group A
@ '14 San Antonio Spurs 95, '95 Houston Rockets 86
The Spurs jumped out to a 31-15 lead after one quarter, but the Rockets clawed back into it and would lead by as many as six in the fourth quarter. San Antonio closed the game on a 10-0 run though, holding Houston scoreless for the final 3:32. Danny Green had 20 points for the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard added 15 points and eight rebounds, Tony Parker had 16 points and 11 assists, and Tim Duncan grabbed 15 rebounds to go with his eight points. Hakeem Olajuwon had 14 points, 16 rebounds, and five blocks to lead the Rockets, Kenny Smith added 13 points and seven assists, and Clyde Drexler also added 13 points.
The Lakers picked up a huge tiebreaker thanks to a strong first quarter and having an answer every time the Bulls pulled to within one possession in the fourth quarter. Gail Goodrich had 23 points to lead Los Angeles, Wilt Chamberlain added 12 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks, and Jerry West chipped in 17 points, five rebounds, and eight assists. The Lakers spoiled a 33 points, 10 rebound, five assist game for Michael Jordan, while Scottie Pippen added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Horace Grant contrbuted 11 and nine for Chicago.
@ '83 Philadelphia 76ers 101, '65 Boston Celtics 91
Boston was held to 34 percent shooting from the floor, but hung with the Sixers for almost the entire game until Philly pulled away late. Moses Malone had 23 points, 19 rebounds, and four blocks to lead the Sixers, Andrew Toney scored 20 points, and Julius Erving finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. Sam Jones had a game-high 34 points for the Celtics, John Havlicek added 15 points off the bench, and Bill Russell pulled down 26 rebounds and blocked five shots.
@ '70 Indiana Pacers 96, '74 Boston Celtics 94
John Havlicek missed a runner at the buzzer, and the Pacers grabbed their second win of the tournament despite shooting 37.3 percent from the floor and missing 13 free throws. Freddie Lewis dropped 20 points for Indiana, Bob Netolicky added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Mel Daniels finished with 10 points, 16 rebounds, and five steals. Dave Cowens had 25 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Celtics, Havlicek scored 15 points, and Don Chaney contributed 14 points and eight rebounds.
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