“GUBERNATORIAL GREATNESS” and “SUSPENDED AND UPENDED”

#910/#909

910. WILBUR CROSS GOVERNORS VS DEWITT CLINTON GOVERNORS

DECEMBER 8, 1973

DEWITT CLINTON GYM

QUALITY OF PLAY—7.85

DRAMA—6.78

STAR POWER—6.43

CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—6.81

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—8.19

LOCAL IMPACT—6.59

TOTAL: 42.65

“GUBERNATORIAL GREATNESS”

Ironically, the best high school basketball teams in Metropolitan Area history are from outside the City. The best overall program has been St. Anthony’s of Jersey City, under the tutelage of the legendary Bob Hurley. And for a brief window in time, a school in New Haven was about as good as any prep team that ever was. 

Wilbur Cross High sits in the East Rock neighborhood, a section of town that mixes Yalie types and grittier street folk, especially back in the mid-1970s (it is far more yuppified today, though like most of New Haven it isn’t from sketchdom). A prominent rock cliff gives the area its name, and there is a nice hiking trail that leads to it, but in those Watergate-era days, basketball was the main draw to East Rock. 

Coach Bob Saulsbury’s Governors (named for Wilbur Cross, who was the Nutmeg State’s Chief Executive from 1931-1939) were defending Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) champs, led by Jim “Jiggy" Williamson and Bruce “Soupy” Campbell, the former a cat-quick guard who was the younger brother of Nets star “Super” John Williamson, the latter a 6’9” second team All-American forward. Williamson, like Royals second baseman U.L. Washington, always played with a toothpick in his mouth, and would finish as the school’s second leading scorer in history, behind only his brother. 

Saulsbury was a star player at West Virginia in the early fifties, and became a father figure to his players, whom he watched like hawks—off the court, anyway. He made them wear ties to school during the season, because he “wanted not only a team that played well on the court but looked good off it,” as he told the AP. And he had teachers give weekly updates on his team’s academic standing. But he also let the players run practice, and take themselves out of games if they were tired, and generally coached with a loose hand. 

Cross won its last 21 games of 1972-73, and were eager to compare themselves with the nation’s best. That included DeWitt Clinton High of the Bronx, ironically also nicknamed the Governors (Clinton was the seventh governor of New York, and was also Mayor of the City). Clinton were defending PSAL champs, and favored to repeat as such, despite the fact they didn’t start a player taller than 6’2”. Said “tall timber” was Hector Olivencia, who made up for his relatively small size with a Kevin McHale-esque assortment of moves in the paint. The star of the team was mercurial point guard Butch Lee, one of the better players to ever suit up in the PSAL. Lee, who would go on to star at Marquette and play in the NBA, was considered the best guard in the nation, and Williamson, though just 5’11”, was particularly eager to take him on. He explained that no one could be better than his brother John, and he had been playing against him since they were little. 

Clinton was invited to play an early season game in New Haven and showed up in Connecticut having already defeated top squads from both coasts in a tournament. Cross stormed the Bronx cagers, taking a ten-point lead in the first quarter and cruising home from there, as Williamson poured in 26 points and Campbell had 23 to offset Lee’s 26. “Take it to the hoop, Soup!” yelled the Cross cheerleaders, and in the high school pit of a gym, Clinton looked rattled all game.

Fortunately for Clinton, the teams had scheduled a gubernatorial home-and-home series, so DC had a chance for vengeance on Saturday night, December 8, 1973. It was the only night game Clinton played all season, and a capacity crowd packed the high school gym to witness the rematch. 

They went home disappointed. Clinton took an early six-point lead, but Saulsbury switched to a 2-1-2 zone and dared Lee and Co. to hit from outside, and the game turned. It was a two-point game after the first period, and Cross had taken a 35-27 lead by halftime. 

Cross then pressed Clinton completely out of the game, forcing numerous turnovers and running Clinton into the street. “Their pressure defense was outstanding,” said a rival Connecticut coach, Joe Tonelli, about Cross. “They’d press you right when you got off the bus. They were relentless. They didn’t care what you were playing, they just came at you. And they were never overcoached. Saulsbury let them do what they did best. They played great defense.”

The final was 86-64, a 22-point mauling that confirmed the Connecticut team was superior in every way. Jamel Thomas actually led Cross with 22, as Williamson and Campbell took much of the fourth quarter off (they had 19 and 17, respectively). Lee led all scorers with 24, but it was a very quiet total. 

"This was one of my most satisfying wins," Saulsbury said after the game. "A lot of people thought when we beat Clinton the first time, it was because of our home gym and the home officials. I think we proved tonight that we can beat a very good team away from home, and do it convincingly.”

Two days later, a New York Post headline proclaimed Cross “The Best High School Team in the World.” John Wyles, Clinton’s coach, agreed, calling Cross “the best high school team I ever saw.”

“I didn’t find out until later that the guy who wrote the article was originally from New Haven,” Saulsbury said years later.

AFTERMATH

Wilbur Cross ran the table, winning the Connecticut state title (Saulsbury’s sixth CIAC) and finishing 24-0 (Clinton went to the PSAL final and lost by a point). The Washington Post ran a survey of high school b-ball experts and voted Cross the number one team in the nation, the lone Connecticut high school squad to ever achieve that distinction. Cross then won the first dozen games of the 1974-75 season, running its win streak to 57 before finally losing. 

Williamson and Campbell were 70-1 in their games with the WC varsity, the only defeat coming to Hartford Public. Saulsbury would win 497 games and ten state titles at Cross before retiring in 1994 as one the most successful coaches in Connecticut history. 

WHAT THEY SAID

“I believe in playing the best. In order to get recognition, you have to go out and play the top teams. And I’m not talking about just playing at home. The mark of a great team is to play anywhere and win anywhere. That’s what UCLA does. They win wherever they play.”

—Bob Saulsbury, Wilbur Cross head coach

FURTHER READING:

“Bob Saulsbury a Connecticut Legend” by Chip Malafronte, New Haven Register

VIDEO:

909. NEW YORK KNICKS VS MIAMI HEAT

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

GAME SIX

MAY 16, 1997

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

QUALITY OF PLAY—5.79

DRAMA—6.08

STAR POWER-—-6.89

CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—8.25

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—7.19

LOCAL IMPACT—8.46

TOTAL: 42.66 

“SUSPENDED AND UPENDED”

Back at #929 on the list, we discussed Game Three of this series, the 1997 Eastern Conference semis between the Knicks and the Miami Heat. In that game, a Patrick Ewing rejection late in the game preserved a key win. The Knicks then won Game Four to take the proverbial commanding 3-1 lead in the series. 

And then it all went to hell. 

Miami cruised to an easy Game Five win, but in the waning moments, a routine foul shot turned into a Pier Six brawl. Most of the Knicks starters were on the bench as Tim Hardaway shot a free throw. He missed, and Charlie Ward of the Knicks, a former football star at Florida State, got a bit enthusiastic with his rebound battle with P.J. Brown of the Heat. 

“He was clearly going for my knees,” Brown said after the game. “Just look at the tape. He went in low like he was playing football or something, like he was at Florida State.”

Brown, who was ten inches taller and 80 pounds heavier than Ward, suplexed him to the ground, rasslin’-style, and the fight was on. “I was just trying to protect myself,” said Ward. “I’m not going to let anyone treat me like I’m a little kid.”

The fisticuffs took place in front of the Knicks bench, a geographical happenstance that played a key role in the shenanigans to follow. The Heat stayed at their end of the floor, bolted in by the referees, while the Knicks invaded the court, which meant just taking a few natural steps toward the fight. Because of the new rule (put in place after the Knicks’ Greg Anthony ran on the court while not even in uniform during an earlier brawl with the Phoenix Suns) that mandated an one-game suspension for any player who went on the floor from the bench area, the Knicks were now in deep doo-doo for the rest of the series. 

Ward and Brown were suspended two games apiece, while Ewing and three other key Knicks—Larry Johnson, John Starks, and Allan Houston—were all suspended for a game. But another NBA codicil—that a team must have nine players dressed for every game—kicked in, and destroyed the season. Alphabetical application of the rule meant that Ward, Ewing and Houston (the latter two the Knicks top scorers) would miss Game Six, while Ward, LJ and Starks missed Game Seven. As Knicks play-by-play man Mike Breen put it, “If his name was Patrick Zewing, he would have played in Game Six.”

So because of a momentary bad decision in the heat (no pun intended) of battle, the Knicks were kiboshed. The team actually went to court and filed for a temporary restraining order, but to no avail. They took the court short-handed, to a deafening standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 19,763 at MSG, on Friday night, May 16, 1997. The fabled clip of the late Willis Reed limping on to the Garden court was shown, and the slogan “Nine Men, One Mission” was emblazoned on the scoreboard. 

Amazingly enough, the desperate and pumped-up Knicks took a 10-point lead after the first quarter. Charles Oakley was dominating the glass, the Heat were missing free throws, and for a while, it seemed as though the emotion might actually work in New York’s favor. 

But behind star center Alonzo Mourning the Heat closed the gap to four by halftime, and seemed relieved that they had taken the Knicks’ best shot and not been knocked out. The home team clung to a 2-point lead after three quarters, but a series of turnovers and a barrage of three-pointers by Miami, including a critical pair by “Thunder” Dan Majerle, turned the tide. Mourning, of all players, hit a three to ice the game, a 95-90 Heat win that evened the series. ‘Zo finished with 28 points, and Majerle 20. 

“We know if we come out with force, we’ll knock this team out,” Starks had declared before the game. But they failed to do so, and now faced another short-handed test in Game Seven, this time in Miami (and without Starks). 

AFTERMATH

South Beach was no salve for the Knicks, who were bounced 101-90 in Game Seven, as Tim Hardaway poured in 38 points in the one-sided affair, despite 37 points and 17 rebounds from Ewing. The fight and subsequent suspensions remain a dark spot in Knicks history, the chance for one more teetering at the Michael Jordan windmill thrown aside in a moment of chaos. Probably, it wouldn’t have mattered—the ’97 Bulls were awesome, and batted the Heat aside in five games en route to the title. The fight became the ne plus ultra of the late-90 Knicks-Heat wars, and was the natural culmination of the bareknuckled Pat Riley ethos that embodied both teams. 

WHAT THEY SAID

“I feel like I let my team down. I didn’t play as well as I wanted to. Dan Majerle hit a long, long 3-pointer on me.”

—John Wallace, Knicks forward

FURTHER READING:

Oral History of the Brawl by Katie Baker, The Ringer

VIDEO: