101: 6.4.76-NBA

Sports' Forgotten Heroes

The 1976 NBA Finals featured a mediocre team in the Phoenix Suns and the historic Boston Celtics. Boston, including the previous season and the first two games of these NBA Finals had won 8-straight against Phoenix. The Suns, who had gone 42-40 during the 1975-76 regular season, got on a roll. First, they downed the Seattle Supersonics 4 games to 2 and then they took out the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors in seven games to advance to their first Finals. Boston, meanwhile, had gone 54-28 during the regular season, defeated the Buffalo Braves in six games and the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals to setup this unlikely Finals showdown. Boston, coached by Tom Heinsohn and led by greats John Havlicek and Don Nelson, also had a terrific bench and budding star in Jojo White. The Suns were led by Paul Westphal (who was a part-time player for the Celtics the previous season), rookie Alvan Adams and the little-known Ricky Sobers. On this episode of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes, author Roger Gordon returns to the podcast. Gordon, who recently released a book about Game 5 of the 1976 Finals titled, “6.4.76 Phoenix Suns vs. Boston Celtics,” a game widely regarded as the greatest game of all-time, discusses the game and the unique controversies ( and they were unique, questionable, and looking back on it, crazy to think they could happen today) that helped make the game as legendary as it is. Additionally, we talk about six stars - and their careers - who played such pivotal roles in the game: Westphal, Adams, Sobers, White, Paul Silas and Dave Cowens.

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