The Doctor Dr J

and what's your most memorable dr. J mu or story probably the camp that he did in Lansing way started all the way down at the other end of the court and he had all the kids stand up at clap and I learned I swear to God that man Jung it looked like to me from about the top of the key and he was just in the air we did a little a he just stop anything come on Deanna there was a time when history was chronicled by word of mouth and the stories that were passed down from one generation to the next we'll call legends through the ages they grew in group today legend is an overused word and in the world we live in where history is recorded in every way you could imagine they can't really exist anyway but if you look hard enough you could still find them out there maybe the very last of their kind so there's a rumor out there that Judith Duncan who spread in the room me unless you have the ticket stub to prove it you probably never saw Julius Irving when he changed the game of basketball you had to rely on someone else to tell you just how great dr. J was the legends incredible the real story is even better he was Michael Jordan before there was a Michael Jordan I think I do try to emulate him everybody one we like to talk was your favorite basketball player dr. J dr. J to do things in today's game guys cannot be the legend preceded him whatever he wins doc is bad you heard it Grady play I've seen a long time a chance is more you couldn't see I can't show you how he did it but believe me he did it Joyce jumped over his head we always looked at dr. J is like an alien he was the coming of a new age julius truly was a legend but the entertainment my friend is in the style who are you are you so unimportant that we should know about uh I used to play professional basketball I dig it well you're pretty tall yeah I'm actually leaning right now you might have to do that uh play put a nets when they were in Long Island and 76ers a defunct team called Virginia Squires name's Julius Julius Erving that's you everything really are you really well that's not juicer really it's just for you sir yes yeah it's been a long time since coming back still home long Alan's always gonna be my home this is Campbell Park right here I did a water tower Campbell part I mean its birthplace of basketball for Julius Erving I had a window in my bedroom that would look across at the park and I could look out here see all the kids playing especially on the weekends buildings gone but the essence of it is still there my mind julius winfield irving ii was born on February 22nd 1950 on Long Island the middle child of Callie and Julius senior his parents divorced when Julius was three and six years later his father was killed in a car crash Kalli and her three kids lived in a housing project and Julius's biggest job was looking out for his younger brother Marvin Marvin was smart very book smart but you know he was the one who always got sick he had asthma he always break out with rashes that may be more protective you know subbing in for the father's role and you know being more than a big brother he was more a bookworm but he was cold he was uh he looked up to genius it was a great little brother to have I have great memories of him riding on the handlebars of my bike cuz we were very adventurous we would take a drop line and fish in the lake and fish for sunfish and bring them home and mom would cook him up but there was no doubting the brothers favorite place to play right outside their door camber Park was a special place for me we probably went there every day I mean even when it's snow it arraigned if the snow to shovel snow at you play basketball but apparently one morning was just too cold for Julius and his friend Archie so they got on their bikes to find a place they could play inside I was practicing with the basketball team back in 1962 somebody came in and sit down there were two young men that would like to speak to you so I went outside and we said Julius Irving and Archie Rogers they both aged 12 and they asked me if they could play a basketball in Salvation Army and at the time this area was all white nobody on the team but being Julius was african-american but we were children and we didn't feel the racism watching.i two black kids and ten white kids and we became a team when Julius was 13 his mom moved the family into a house he played ball at rules of our high school and thanks to his best friend on a team he gains something that would stay with him the rest of his life on the court I made a point to know him all the rules and so you know you want the party I was ready to make a call he ball went out off his leg you know he's making excuse you know you pushed me you grab me a hold of my Jersey I mean is like a professor you know weighing you down in lecture hall so I started calling him professor doesn't what do you know you'll be Union argue me me what are you like the doctor and every time we would see each other you know I'd look up there that's a doctor it's a professor and it was just an inside joke in those days everyone else called him jewel on the court we wasn't much more than a good player who went out of his way to blend in I remember one time it was a fast break and he was in the front of the break and he stopped to pull up to wait for the rest of us to get down court and coached just got up and screamed at him what are you doing Buster by his senior year Julius was only six foot three he'd become one of his team's best players but drew little college interests only one Scout even bothered to see him play his Julius after I saw him play and I rated him a 4 which isn't bad you know I don't know I'm rating him here as a six three and a half forward god that's not a bed rating because he had no rating no one's thought he was gonna be that good no one knew he was alive as a player but at the playground Julius was a whole different player everything always went well at the park especially if you would do things that were a little different than the things that the other kids were doing I had a lot of tricky stuff around the basket putting it up left-handed right-handed jumping over people in one afternoon on a blacktop the secret of Julius Erving got out for the first time he didn't know that I was there and juice is coming out on the fast break and he was at the foul line and Julius goes up in the air I close my eyes because I to it he wasn't going to be able to go that far in the air but he just glided then he dumped on that was beyond my imagination in the act like it was no big deal coach Wilson has seen enough he made a call to an old friend who just so happened to be the head coach at the University of Massachusetts and by the next fall at UMass others have begun the marvel at the freshmen who seemed like he could fly a lot of the kids got a chance to start watching them and they saw what I saw Julius was a 6-3 jumper they jumped like he was seven-foot that was the buzz that went around the school I had a frequent caller who bombarded me with propaganda about this freshman basketball player at the University of Massachusetts named quote Julie Erving his basketball career was starting to take off while his connection with his family stayed strong that February Marvin came up on my birthday we spent time on campus my dorm and he was complaining about pain in his joints and had a rash they go home and he's in the hospital you know the doctors were running tests my mindset is they're gonna get to the bottom of it it's going to be treatable and it hit B all right the doctors diagnosed Marvin with lupus in over the next three months his condition deteriorated my mom calls me and she says you need to come back home sadly I just got a call from mom and Marla's not doing good and they don't know if he's gonna make it through the night you know I gotta go I say hey man let's let's go I'll Drive he was just quiet he just was thinking about his brother the trip was generally a 3 plus hour trip and we did it under two we flew and he you know literally jumped out the car running up the stairs his mother was in the room and uh you know I heard his mother scream and just just cry out he sound really tired and you know they need to come and get me he's talking about angels now the last thing they said to me I mean I go back and you know everybody's there at the house and I just go to my room but I gotta be by myself things we're done it was journeys to our bicycle rides you know all those things we're not going to happen again and the finality of that it's overwhelming it's the same sword unfair sometimes when I dream I dream about living in the Attic with my brother so these places come back to me many many times and now I'm back in it in this bedroom were Marvin we spent a lot of time planning for the future but he's always gonna be 16 you know man plans and God laughs you when I went back to school after his funeral all I could do is take a spirit with me so when I line up against an opponent who was only thinking of bit one you know now I got to spirit Sidney I got mine I got my brothers I have a slight advantage by his junior year Julius had grown to six foot six and averaged 27 points and 20 rebounds a game but the rules restricted his play because at the time the NCAA still prohibited Duncan he had to save that for the playgrounds and after the school year was up he began heading to the most famous playground of them all since the 50s Rucker Park in Harlem at hosted summer tournaments that brought names as big as world Chamberlain and Connie Hawkins to the blacktop to play a version of the game where style was essential to the substance the first game you got in on this court here in plate like a bum you was a bum so when George Turner came in the rocket he'd read to be known in the basketball world as a great player oh he would have probably figured out a way to deal with his books and keep his grades high we played him the first game and they kept saying you wait to Julius gets in you wait to Julius an hour who's Julia listen time I'm in the NBA but I care about Julius Tom Hoover had never heard of him but soon enough the kid named Julius was doing things that no one at the Rucker would ever forget at the baseline it done so the guy takes the ball out to toward the left and forth for a fast break he jumps up in the air and catches the ball and throws it down Charlie Scott shot a long shot a Julius Cain took it out of the air dope that took the right guy I said I don't need to see anything else this was it people here in Harlan they really know good basketball and you know if you do something real nice you know they showed it appreciate he came down one time I had the angle on him he dunked the ball so bad the ball hit me in the top of the head my teeth fell out on the ground the crowd roared I had scrambled the gravel to Punk the ground and put him back in my mouth that helped build his reputation it was just one thing left for Julius to earn at the Rucker they would call him different names so a little Hawk he went over to the announcer and said I'm not the little that's Connie honk so then they call him the claw oh man the claws got the ball going I was like I think I wonder who he's talking about he's calling me the quad I want to be the cloth they will call him all sorts of name oh what a rebound by black Moses black Moses where you talking about he said if you want to call me anything call me the doctor so you know they say well the doctors operating tonight all of a sudden dr. J dr. J dr. J was your favorite basketball player dr. J why behind me up on the roof it's a school they were all on the roof he drew the greatest crowd in the history of the Rucker Pro League you've had people up in the trees setting on branches everywhere you looked around there were people it wasn't even standing room only people could not see enough of the game we had people on the bridges this is where the legend of dr. J's started my mom it was 1971 for years now the playground style of basketball had been growing though you wouldn't have known it from watching an NBA game sadly drops from play but the upstart ABA founded in 1967 it was a whole different story we play that Street cannonball you know where we pushing it up guys get up in the air they like oh they change it put it around here we did some of this yeah we were entertaining you know we come down dunk on you you know come now make a tricky move we're playing on a league that endorses discovery and there my friend is the very dramatic brand of basketball which can be enjoyed only in the ba we always fail the NBA with that old slowdown ball they come on run plays to me come on man won't see that was like the NBA was ashamed of dunking and the ABA embraced it there wasn't anything like this and if you'd loved basketball you had to love this participant question here is why did you choose the ABA over NBA well I like the colors of the basketball yeah it wasn't just the red wider blue ball that was unconventional the ABA had the three-point shot ball girls and it seemed like any gimmick that would draw more fans into the stands and maybe the boulders idea of all was how the league attracted players away from his old arrival by doing one thing the NBA would sign College underclassmen and high school players the ABA would take anybody if you were an eighth grader and they thought you could play they'd sign you up which led a desperate owner and a desperate league to zero in on the junior from the University of Massachusetts who had torn up the Rucker League I was in New York for an ABA meaning and they mentioned the fact that there was this player up in New England that was so spectacular Julius Erving and I'd never heard of them and he proceeded to extol all the virtues of how great it'd be in professional basketball and with that conversation I moved forward to see if I could sign them to a contract at this time I even know the Virginia Squires were but my mother probably made six to eight thousand dollars a year and I was being offered $125,000 guaranteed for four years then the rest was history to most of the basketball world Julius Erving was the athletic young prospect and nothing much more but dr. J had found a perfect new venue for his game he was just shackled in the minute he got to the APA yes Wow I developed my own style of play which is our playground stylist real Lucy real freelance style serving I thought I knew Julia served as a basketball player and then I went and watched some guy they called dr. J I never saw this guy look at behind the back all of a sudden he's coming in off the foul line he's coming in off the wings he's dunking back with it was like watching two different players even in the freewheeling ABA dr. Jay dazzle but if you weren't in the building to witness it you probably didn't see him in actually you'd hear that you know this guy playing for some team in Virginia the Squires was flying through the air me like what who is he most of what we knew about him came from game stories box scores maybe a tiny film clip of a given play and word of mouth the games just were not televised my brother was in Navy in Virginia he can tell this kid heard man he's a bad boy I kept getting newspapers sent to me about this great kid named Julius Erving it was scoring 28 29 points a game and I thought to myself Julius Erving finally a great Jewish basketball player you're hearing these reports this spectacular swooping out of nowhere guy that is just doing things that have never been seen before even the NBA was taking notice and coming hard after him to make the switch something that ABA couldn't afford to let happen so after two years in Virginia Squires owner Earl Foreman knew what he had to do I was as much concerned with his plane for the ABA almost as I was with his bling for the squares and I contacted the owner of the nets and worked out an arrangement in 1973 Forman sold the league's leading scorer to the New York Mets I was in Ocean City Maryland I got a call and I said I got to go back to New York they're just on vacation with my kids and family and I said well I said what's going on well we just got dr. Jay I said I'll be there in two minutes the ABA s biggest star was headed to its biggest stage julius erving was going home to Long Island New York has always been my home and I'm very pleased and happy that I'll be able to play out my career here this is New York Long Island's Nassau Coliseum home of the Nets it's passed the buck night here a 5 dollar and fifty cent ticket for only a buck it's also bread night free loaf of bread for every fan you're only ninety three hundred fans who pass the buck here 9300 fans could see the second-place Nets 9300 fans $9,300 to see the fabulous Julius Erving the great dr. J coming back to Long Island life could not have been better I mean it was such great anticipation coming to play basketball in the place where I was born and raised this building was brand spanking new the identity of nets now is Brooklyn but you know my time here my era here I think was very very special the doctor debuted in New York in October 1973 instantly transforming his hometown team into a contender and doing it with a style that could be defined in just one word cool dr. J was the epitome of cool if you look up the definition of cool in the 1970s it says see Julius Erving and it starts with the afro I'll be up there so high that fro yourself you know kind of like fly in the back dr. J wasn't as the coolest man in the building he was the coolest man in the area code in the state in the time zone in the country the thing that was so cool about doc was the size of his hands his hands are so big that when he holds a ball it's like him holding a tennis ball if you went up and tried to block it I mean he just move it over here and slam it down so he could do anything with it and when he would cradle the ball and be like this on a poster they'd be at the face soda went with it and if you can get the hair up like that at the same time he was terrifyingly good man I can't believe that dog I've never seen one like it he became a cult figure everywhere we went they all they wanted to do was see Julius if you came to see him play you was gonna leave this shaking your heads and man that kid flatout play I played for a coach who said you know what we got this game plan it ain't working you need to do something we're playing Kentucky dr. J's on a fast break an artist Gilmore to mano-a-mano he's waiting for dr. now Gilmore for people that know no is seven foot two with a 5-foot afro doc flew right over Gilmore is there a doctor whether I was bringing the ball up court or getting it off the board I was going to determine the outcome of the game the basketball is a body in his first season playing just a few miles away grew up dr. J won the scoring title and his first MVP they carried the next to their first championship he was the king of the ABA and life was also good off the court it was a beautiful time I mean I have a wife and I have two sons and I'm very happy very excited about the prospects for the future with a woman who I adore and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and basketball seem to be taking care of itself but while the next season brought another MVP award as the doctor continued to soar oh yeah all around him the league was still struggling to lift its own fortunes it was always that challenge of being the other league not having the major television contract not getting the notoriety we would be NBA we had the greatest franchises we had the greatest players the ABA was good basketball it was fun basketball but it wasn't the NBA the war between the leagues was now nearly a decade old and the ABA was losing by 1975 the American Basketball Association was a little bit like the Titanic after it hit the iceberg kind of listening to the left and taking on water there was a race when they had the fastest car was probably gonna get their checks cash first as soon as they gave you a check you rush to the bank to make sure that they can take what's clear we played the Utah one night and that we've gotta go to San Diego to play the next night and all of a sudden we can't go because San Diego folded the ABA needs a profitable Network television contracts they can't get that as the lead now exists without merging with the NBA so that means the alternatives for this league is consolidation or collapse it sometimes seemed like the only thing breathing life into the ABA was the signature star no matter how tired he was he always had time for any reporter anybody that wanted part of his time he had time for them he understood and felt the obligation that he had to try to help keep this league afloat and nothing the doctor day will be more memorable than all-star weekend in 1976 when the ABA dreamed up another gimmick perfectly suited for his gifts good evening everyone this huge record-breaking crowd here at McNichols arena about to bear witness to one of the most spectacular events in professional basketball the slam dunk contest the field included the highest flies in the league but even they knew there was only one guy to watch the New York that's the fabulous dr. J Julius Erving I was going up against Doc I have a chance I knew I had a chance and now the doctor those two work unbelievable dope that night the show got better and better and the greatest of them all will become a piece of basketball law dr. J measured off from the foul line then went back to midcourt I didn't know what it was gonna do to be honest which he took off running with those short shorts and his afro was blowing in the wind just before the free throw line he takes off and bam before that no one had seen that first came the stunned silence the gasp of disbelief and then the roar of approval and the winners Julia Durban it was bigger than I think what anybody thought it was gonna be 2013 we still talking about so the house special was that by the 1976 season the ABA was on his last legs eventually shrinking down to 17 but dr. J was still flying high capturing his third scoring title his third and VP in leading the Nets back to the finals when they faced the talented Denver Nuggets we had four great players we had Dan Issel Bobby Jones Ralph Simpson a Marlin left of myself but they had dr. J he gets it out with a doctor tie ballgame here's a shot three stars at the buzzer and the Nets win Julius Erving finishes up with 45 points and a shot stunned crowd dr. J was a laser Bobby Jones is a greatest defensive player ever to play the game and dr. J had his weight there is Julius Erving and he has been a take-charge guy we knew what the ball had to go and but no one had a problem with it he just played tremendous oh yeah I was almost 40 plus a game 15 rebounds a lot of assists he was really the difference in that series everybody's hugging and he pulled champagne all over my head it was just it was just a tremendous celebration as sweet as ever was I tell you now who this is we've started something that we watch every church for the years to come we're going to dry this one right now come in champagne good party numbers done then it was done you say good morning to everybody how are you doing I'm Julius Irving have been in this building a long time but uh it's kind of nice to be here in the summer of 1976 pro basketballs two leagues at long last came together with the NBA absorbing four ABA franchises including the New York nets but in a cruel twist Nets owner Roy Bo Otis new league millions of dollars in entrance fees and couldn't afford to keep the superstar who had kept his team and his league alive for so long I kept telling boy boat you can't do this I mean you know you we're never gonna be able to replace this guy it's like selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees I called Billy Mel keone and I did ask him his julius erving available and Billy said no two weeks later Billy called back and he said julius erving is available i immediately called our new owner fu gene Dixon and he said tell me Pat who is julius erving I said well let me just describe him as the Babe Ruth of basketball Union I welcomed with open arms the paroxetine thank you very much my pleasure to be with the doctor had finally arrived in the NBA but by now all of pro basketball had seen better days in 76 we needed help that the two leagues had battered each other to pieces and admit you know the league was not healthy after the epic Celtic dynasty of the 60s and transcended stars and teams of the early 70s basketball it seemed poised for a golden age but instead the perception of the sport had changed dramatically the leak was viewed as having too many african-americans being at the heart of drug issues players being overpaid in the seventies people were afraid of all these things white folks didn't know what to make of it and sponsors didn't know what to make of it do I want to be associating my brand with this and now there was an influx of new players from the league that glorified the playground letting in the sideshow of the ABA our business may have been bad but the stubborn fans of the NBA said well we don't need those guys because they're not playing a real brand of basketball but there was an undeniable curiosity about the biggest of all making this debut I want to see Julius Erving more than I've ever wanted to see any athlete in my life because you'd heard so much and he was supposed to be so different I think everybody would say show us show us how good are you really from you master Rucker Park Virginia to Long Island the exploits of dr. J had long been a tall tale more than anything else and now in Philadelphia he's about to prove that where'd this guy come from me you know look at what he does out at the court but God you know there was nobody like him doc is back doctor is full that he wouldn't covert operation Julius was like that bird coming in on the weighing swooping in dunking on people it was just something to see when you finally got to see this guy played it felt like someone was giving you a gift Julius swoop stop oh my gosh they just do that really did he just do that gardened him and we were in Philadelphia at the time the doctor everybody else in this spectrum I was sent I see 18,000 people stood to rise to their feet and I'm thinking like Oh something bad is about to happen here we'll go back in high school and college and tell your teammate did you see dr. J yesterday you'd even remember what the score was did you see the moves that he put on doc just picked them all over one hand without even touching it with the other one and windmill to suborn like his arm stretch from over here all the way like a rubberband the crowd way crazy me and our doctors over there Oh Oh get it we new world basketball day have you ever seen anyone better than I you know I have he was the first guy I ever saw with a brakes air brakes he was going to the basket straight and all of a sudden he said it's not going salaries I would say someone like a girl Wow never sounded before the NBA had never seen a player like dr. J or a team like the 76ers who's supporting cast included George McGinnis Doug Collins and a brash payoff youngsters and they all play like stars they will be free never met a shot it in light and Here I am you give it to me I'll shoot it when I would thing first guy got it shouted Wibbly streetball by the Philadelphia 76ers the greatest collection of individual talent ever assembled on one basketball team it would be the most talented player of all who changed his game for the good of the group Pat Williams who was the GM clearly said look we're gonna be a better team we don't need a guy score 30 every night you don't need a guy to dominate every night we got stars on our team and I accepted that so many people ask when will the real dr. J's show Oh doesn't bother you the two guys you beat out and scouring the ABA Durbin and Thompson have now passed you in the NBA well sparring is an individual statistic and I think the objectives of the team are things that have to be paramount and have to come first he didn't want to rock the boat he was too nice a man to say hey I'm dr. Jack you know but it worked as the Sixers made it to the NBA Finals to play their polar opposites the Portland Trailblazers we represented the team game making the other people better the 1977 finals were almost a morality play in the eyes have a lot of people this was a basketball world the old world taking a stand against these invaders and protecting the women and children from these from these crazy people and as the series began it was best to hide the women and children the dr. Rhea merged as if to show the basketball world who its best player was once a fall to the basket Portland's team concept looked to be no match for Irving individual brilliance as the dock powered the sixes to a two nothing season the Layton game - everything would change there was a division that created by that fight and Portland used it as a rallying cry Portland pull together and we pulled apart woolen know how to wait for the guy to come off answer ball where we were him and get over there get the ball what's wrong with you I'm pasty you know boy it was it was a bit different the blazes stormed back to take the next three games of the series secrets for the Blazer the reeling sixes faced elimination in Game six and the doc responded with a Finals performance for the ages well that's just too great players going against one another and Julius won that battle Julius roaring to the basket and Julius unbelievable she never stopped combination and there is this one moment where I thought it had her on the fly with 40 points Irving carried two sixes all night long but in the closing seconds they needed a basket to tie the score we go to the huddle and you know guys are saying that they can beat their man Philly coach Gene Shue we call the final play for George McGinnis Oh when the game comes down to the very end how can you not get the freakin ball in his hand when the game is over the doc said uh going over there to the other room and congratulating guys and I looked at their light I'm from Brooklyn unlike a new scent even roll didn't congratulate he got going over their fight and he said yeah we're gonna go over there you know and congratulate these guys and we did we did even in defeat Irving's performance had been unforgettable even though the Trail Blazers won that series by the time that finals is played Julius Erving was the star of the NBA if for the remainder of the 70s that star would rise higher than ever every time he came to town that was the game to be at the game with Julius Erving was playing play against dr. J dr. J he's taking his team all the way he needs improve and being easier when a phenomenon happens a phenomenon happens he can do it in the flame it seemed like every Sunday you were on national TV playing somebody because people wanted to see the doctor he was carrying the weight of the league on his children he realized he was an ambassador for the league he was the ultimate ambassador for the lead the NBA supports Special Olympics why don't you it was so senatorial he was so gracious there was nobody like the man known as dr. J even as great as he is now he's going to be greater jalisa so much guy appreciate that like it was always like Julius was so cool the language was like you indubitably these rings are significant because they represent important associations I mean I was so happy as a young black man who cared about language and presentation and image the Julius Erving sounded the way sounded major corporations decided that they wanted this guy to endorse their product the idea to the black guy would be the face of a national brand that was really radical after years of underground stardom dr. J's popularity had exploded with a universal appeal that was unprecedented I remember a lady saying I would want my kids to grow up and be like two top and evil white people you know doc blacker than me you know I mean there's a fight but they were like I want my kids to grow up to be like this man and I was like wow man yes that's that's some serious stuff right there as the 1980s dawn the journey that had begun in a Long Island housing project had taken Julius Erving to a Philadelphia mansion keep your dad he and his wife turquoise now at four children as they welcome daughter Jasmine and son Cory to the fin dunk Cory we're having a lot of discussion in our house about you know the Kennedys who we admired and from an african-american perspective I mean we wanted to be that type of family and we were on what I thought was a pretty good cause Julius was every players role model so when the biggest college star in the country wanted some advice about leaving school early there was only one person he wanted to talk to you I got him on the phone I said I'm trying to turn pro thinking about it you know what's the pros and cons he said look come on out to Philly and you can stay with me for the weekend and I'm like what so I couldn't wait to get off the phone Tyler I'm offering I'm going to Philly I'm gonna stay at dr. J's house back on the court dr. J was now the captain of a sixes team that had been rebuilt around them and while he no longer had his fro he still had plenty of game in 1980 the sixes returned to the finals the face of Los Angeles Lakers and the doctors former houseguests mares Jillian the doctor was in peak form as the sixes fought to split the series first four games and he was never more breathtaking than on a play Layton game for man he did a move which is the all-time greatest move I've seen magic and I was sitting there and we were sitting right on the baseline and when dr. J left his feet he didn't know what he's gonna do when we cut him off baseline he started walking in there got the ball in one hand and we said wait a minute he got to come down there's no way he could stand at that way chaos maybe kupo nicer hmm should we ask him to do it again we've never seen anything like that before it was crazy I didn't realize how long I had been in the air but I knew I didn't have any legs left but I didn't have any hang time left I fell on the floor just another group Julia's head again left a mark like none other but a few nights later back in Philadelphia it was magic who upstaged the doctor in the game six clincher Center plays forward and guard magic played every position and they won a road game in Philadelphia that broke our hearts from the time Julius arrived in Philadelphia any year we didn't win a title was a failure 1980 had marked the fourth season with Julius and without a championship how many more I'll user out there we owed you one we owed you - what the hell are they gonna win something here in 1981 doc would be the league's MVP but come up short again in the playoffs this time to Larry Bird and the Celtics the one thing that eluded Julius was winning a championship in the NBA and here he was now taking a back seat to Magic Johnson out in Los Angeles and Larry Bird up in Boston so many would say well you want an ABA what does that mean that doesn't mean anything that was a minor league you got to win over here at the end of the day if you win a championship as an NBA player it's on your chest forever if you don't you're always viewed as not quite a champion in 1982 the Sixers would follow Julius back to the finals again and again they lose to the Lakers there's always so many times you can get near the top of the mountain and then not get over because if you're the man you have got to be the man and overcome everything it was great doubt that Julius would ever get it done a lot of folks around the league began to say great star not gonna win a championship I had a sense that the window was closing and there's nobody to blame you look in the mirror first you say what could I have done differently but there was another viewpoint on dr. J's inability to win at all that it didn't all fall on his shoulders it's not how good you are children your team this and dr. J's team just wasn't good enough one of the things that you know we learned and that Boston obviously learned is that every single year you got to compliment your stars by getting other players I mean you can't just have one guy you know he needed a little bit of help they needed again somebody with Julius they got the right man at the right time fella by the name of Moses Malone like Julius Moses had started in the ABA and now the dominant inside force would be Doc's partner and another chase for a title in thinking about Moses that's a dimension that I'll never play with in a 12-year career the doctor they just complement each other's talents so well in the 1982-83 season the sixes would have fallen away the league's best record they won by 25 it was a bad night and me just crushing teams and while Moses Malone ended up as Philly's top scorer dr. J still led the team in highlights and none would be more memorable than the late-season breakaway against la I was there when he had that famous dunk against the Lakers literally stole the ball right in front of me they're gonna be stolen yes he's got a Terry count and the doctor made a sensational play I can't explain it I mean it was just like this intense release of emotion it was incredible it was one of those moments as a kid that's just tattooed in my in my memory the doctor made a sensational play rocks to baby and what is asleep when dr. J broke down the sideline I was like okay this is my chance to make a great player gets a great player but that didn't happen so I just said you know let me duck my head and get out of the way Gophers just duck the greatest dunk of all time and you know what if you're gonna get dunked on by anyone why not let it be the best in the game the Sixers in Lakers would meet again in the NBA Finals and Philly for a change was not only the favorite but also the sentimental choice we had everybody against us but the world was against that I never seen the country want to cheer for one guy because will he admit to lead in what we had done for the game of basketball it was barely ever any doubt as doc in the sixes swept Los Angeles the Philadelphia 76ers it was such a relief like a brick that was sitting over your head waiting to hit you and suddenly went the other way and now wasn't there anymore all have a special not the dr. J Julius Erving this has to be a great great night for him I saw like the jubilation on his face just like like relief just we did we finally did it even though we would love to beat him again you know II would love to keep him in that pain I mean all those skeletons up yeah yeah but you give those who really deserve it they're just do when it's time I just remember I hugged him as tight as I've ever heard anyone in my life I was so happy for him because if there was ever a player that deserved to have that one little piece that he was missing for his legacy he had it out julius erving was an NBA champion it wasn't quite that is cuz I've been trying to get here for seven years Julius was no longer the kid with the crazy hair who changed the game he was 33 now Oh for a basketball player even though on most nights you never know it but a new era had begun in the NBA and he never get a chance and another time and as the years continue to roll by the final question in the career of Julius Erving was how long would it last in the fall of 1986 he let everyone know quite simply I've just notified the 76ers that I attend pleased to be my last year in the NBA and one of the main reasons why was because I'm constantly asked us from last three years his time it would give fans and players across the league a chance to express their face we had to enlarge this man's athletic above and beyond all of that the man's class those legs been router ology elder statesmen type class dignity it was pretty cool they most respected tomorrow adversary whose great skill compared to play has entertained so many for so long on the Boston parquet but no tribute is more emotional than the honor he received from his ol ABA team he what the ABA he revitalized the NBA ladies and gentlemen dr. G it's it for Julius Erving where does he write Robinson dr. J had left the court but even without him he didn't have to look hard to see his likeness for the fan for Janus but the real Julia stayed out of the limelight making special appearances now and then as the next generation of superstars made sure the pay their respects Oh but you know what I didn't know what to do then all of a sudden I found the guy who started it all dr. J was sitting over there he was looking at me and he pointed like going back and do the free-throw the modern game dr. J ed shaked soared to new heights in his retirement and became a global phenomenon but julius erving would return to the headlines in the spring of 2000 and not for reason he or anyone else could have ever imagined nearly a month ago dr. J Julius Erving z-- youngest son Cory was missing he went out to buy bread and for a cookout and did not come back how do you live with this every day Julius mr. parent's worst nightmare this is day 26 for us basketball great Julius Erving is offering a reward for help in locating his 19 year old son five weeks go by you helpless it was controlling our lives this was this was it this was the only thing that matter I just want him to come home or somebody to let us know what happened to him and we're holding on and hoping that uh it's going to turn up said news this morning a tragic discovery in Florida where authorities announced they believe they have recovered the body of basketball legend Julius Erving 'he's missing son searchers found Cory Irving's car submerged in a pond near the Irving family home there's a little deja vu I lost my brother I was 19 now Cory was 19 detectives say they believe the son of basketball legend Julius Erving simply took a fatal turn on his way home it's like you got to being ripped out this is an empty emptiness was the worst thing that ever happened in my life a toll on our family was insurmountable it's inaudible everybody dealt with it differently and I think the way that my dad deals with most things in his life is the way that he dealt with my brother passing in that you got to pick yourself up dust yourself off and carry on with life and my mom wasn't prepared to do that it became very very difficult for us to relate to one another after that fact and it wasn't a long period of time before we went our separate ways you I'm amazed when I see people 40 and 50 they have a lawsuit ebike obviously I can't relate to that but I might not be as strong and individual as I am and have had the ability to endure the hard times without those tragedies having happened anybody that would spend time with him would never imagine the loss that he's dealt with he has a positive spirit and energy and as far as it relates to that legacy that is him I think he's still creating it I don't think it's done yeah there's something called essence in essence I think is you know how you want people to feel about you it's not that important that the whole world knows who I am and knows what I did that's not how I function to me I like to keep the carrot out in front of me I like to think that best day of my life the best time of my life is is yet to come he glances in the mirror and looks forward everyone else sees them and looks back it's just one more contrast in the life of Julius Erving just one more complication of the impact of dr. J the singular performer and consummate teammate the coolest superstar who ever lived the father and brother forever grappling with loss the Pioneer who could get lost in history the icon who so many still hold on to the way in which commentators journalists talked about this guy dr. J was so much reverence my gonna be dr. B you know I was a kid but I don't know that I'd be dr. Boyd the day were it not for dr. J you rocked the baby and what it is sleep your hero is someone who inspires you I look at that dog my wife thinks I'm crazy because I start to get a little teary eyed she's like you're crazy I go this is this is what is helped me you know achieve what I've achieved growing up in Philly and watching the great dr. J everyone's got highlights but after all of these years you still go who could have told that he would become one of the greatest players and people to ever step onto a basketball court and will always be no matter who comes behind them that male is universally loved this magnificent performer who had the ultimate gift he made people happy he helped young players like Larry and I understand that we had to be more than just a basketball player when greatness meets class that's what God created in dr. Jack I think he changed the game in ways that a lot of people don't really talk about the simple fact if you ever hear Michael Jordan talk he always say he looked up and aspired to be like dr. J so there's no dr. Jaden you know Mike would have never had someone to look up to and it feels know Mike then you know guys like myself who looked up to Mike unfortunately I didn't get to see much of dr. J when I was a kid and really didn't see the true creative player that my people spoke about but when he left the game he left with a lot of class a lot of dignity and and that respect from their peers and that's something that if I don't even when I World Championship play and be peeled whatever that is something I would love to walk away from the game in half there was a time and basketball not even that long ago when you weren't able to see the most exciting player in the world night after night on the court so news got around by word of mouth the tales were passed down from one generation to the next so it's important to keep the greatest story of that era alive that way the legend can live forever

Channel: skitam snimam

Views: 674,397

Rating: 4.7897353 out of 5

Keywords: The Doctor - Dr. J

Id: AKwXf0EQLhU

Length: 69min 35sec (4175 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 13 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/ExileOnBroadStreet]

I can’t believe I just watched that whole thing. Got a little teary eyed watching him finally win. Dr. J is where coolness meets class.

[u/flydales]

I actually posted this today on /r/nba as a reply to a fan looking for other instances of players doing the Dr. J lay-up but thought people here would appreciate it.