By The Chief
The year is 1989. The Bad Boy Detroit Pistons have soared past Larry’s Celtics and are now riding high on top of the Eastern Conference. This last season, the Pistons played the Lakers in the finals. Magic led his team through a grueling seven game series to take away Detroit’s first chance at a championship. While all this was happening, the rest of the league was getting ready for the next year. Isiah Thomas wanted revenge, Bill Lambeer was getting his weight up so he could knock players out instead of just knocking them to the floor, and the MVP was back to his grind. Him, Scottie and Horace Grant were getting ready for their inevitable rise to the top of the league. Just two years later, they will have won their first championship after taking down the Bad Boys in a stunning four game sweep. The torch was about to be passed again.
But we’re not there yet. It’s 1989, and the eastern conference is about to welcome a new team; The Orlando Magic. Larry had begrudgingly handed off the torch to Isiah Thomas, leaving the Pistons at the top of the conference but the bottom of the 1989 draft. If you somehow remember this draft, you’ll remember that there wasn’t a crazy amount of talent. We saw a few low level superstars like Shawn Kemp, BJ Armstrong, Tim Hardaway Sr, Vlade Zivac and Glen Rice. Unless you were living in Florida at the time, or you know way too much basketball trivia, you won’t remember the man who should be considered the most important player of the 90’s; Nick Anderson, a shooting guard out of the University of Illinois and the first ever draft pick of the almost great Orlando Magic. I believe that he is the reason that Michael Jordan managed to win 6 rings in the 1990’s.
There was a lot going on in the 90’s as far as professional basketball goes. Michael Jordan and the Bulls were finally able to remove the ill fitting crown from Detroit. They rose to glory, to the jubilation of the citizens of Chicago. They seemed unstoppable. From 1991-1993 they won three straight championships never making it to a game 7. That’s why when Michael Jordan suddenly retired, it sent waves throughout the entire world. Bulls fans were hit hard by the news, while the teams in the east saw it as an opportunity. The Knicks and Pacers had both been trying to surpass Chicago for years, but they were never able to do it. This was their opportunity to collect the torch. But, what they didn’t expect was this young team from Orlando to take the spotlight. They’d collected two straight first overall draft picks, turning them into Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.
Now we can get back to my main point. Nick Anderson was the first player ever drafted by the Orlando Magic, and remained on the team throughout their short rise to the top. He, just like all of us, understood the way it worked. The torch needed to be passed, and once it’s passed, it’s just about impossible to get it back. Nick Anderson attended the University of Illinois from 1987-1989. He grew up in Chicago and from the time he was a kid loved both the game of basketball and the Bulls. I can’t know for sure, but I’d have to guess the man owned at least one piece of Michael Jordan paraphernalia. He sat in his dorm room every week, watching the Bulls collect game after game, playoff series after playoff series, unable to get to the final level. This had to frustrate him. He knew the torch would be passed eventually, but he didn’t want to have to play against him when it happened. Anderson was perfectly fine sitting back, allowing his team to stay at the middle of the league while Michael did his work. That was, until October 6, 1993. That was the day that Anderson got the worst news of his life. Michael had retired from the NBA. But that didn’t make any sense to Nick.
“Michael was the greatest of all time,” he thought. “He would never just retire in his prime. He’ll be back. I’ve gotta make sure the torch stays in Chicago until then.”
Nick needed a new plan. Laying back wasn’t going to work anymore. During the two years that Michael was out of the league, the east was wide open. But, if any team was young and energetic enough to become the dynasty of the late 90’s, it was the Magic. If Shaq and Penny weren’t enough, they added Horace Grant and suddenly they were heavy contenders. Nick thanked his lucky stars that there was no one team cementing itself at the top of the east. The Rockets were obviously on top of the west, but that was okay. That’s not how the torch works. It can’t be passed to the other conference, but the east torch had to move on soon.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Nick Anderson would have said if he was reading this.
He made it to the 1995 season, and the Magic were on fire. They were the young, hot streaks that the eastern conference was waiting for. And they were on their way to a dynasty like no other. This is where Nick Anderson’s strategy needed to come into play. The Chicago born vet wasn’t going to allow the great Michael Jordan to lose his chance at another 3 championships. Nick watched Michael play in the last few weeks of the ‘95 season. From all those years of watching him, he could tell that was not the same Michael. He needed to get back into basketball shape. If he was allowed to get to the NBA finals, he would have been embarrassed by Clyde Drexler and the world champion Rockets. In order to save the Bulls, they needed to be eliminated.
Fast forward to the 1995 eastern conference semifinals. The Bulls looked like they would take game 1. Down one point with a few ticks left, a normal Michael Jordan would have walked into the paint and scored a game winner no problem. Again, this wasn’t a normal Michael. Nick Anderson couldn’t watch his hero embarrass himself, so he stole the ball, and won the game. A normal Michael Jordan would have used this as fuel to win the next four, but as Nick Anderson knew well, that wasn’t the real Michael Jordan. That steal crushed Michael’s spirits and forced them to lose the series 4-2.
That takes us to the 1995 NBA finals. Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were coming off a championship but the Magic were the favorites to win. That wasn’t gonna fly with Nick Anderson. He knew that a series win here would send the all important torch down to central Florida. But if they lost, the torch would remain in Chicago and Michael could just continue his prowess in 1996.
Game one of the 1995 finals came down to the end. The Magic were up 3 with about 10 seconds left, and Nick Anderson was fouled in the bonus. He needs to make one free throw to put the game away and allow the Magic to go into game 2 with their heads held high. Anderson had no interest in making these free throws. Up until then, he had a career 70% free throw percentage. He would just about never miss a set. But that’s exactly what he did. He missed two free throws on purpose hoping that Drexler would be able to sync a 3 ball and send this game to overtime where the young, easily corrupted enthusiasm of Shaq and Penny wouldn’t be able to save the W. The only problem was that his second shot sent a rebound dangerously close to the 7’1” center. Even though Shaq was never the best free throw shooter, he couldn’t trust it. He needed to get the rebound for himself. So he did, and he clanked two more. This time the Rockets collected the ball and marched down the court to tie it up. They went to OT and the Rockets took game 1.
Nick Anderson knew his young teammates wouldn’t be able to come back from that game 1. They got swept, and the torch stayed in Chicago. Michael Jordan came out the next year with Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr and easily took the chip. And just in case people got suspicious, Anderson dropped his free throw percentage to 40% in 1996. That’s when everyone forgot about the Orlando Magic. The torch stayed in Chicago where Nick Anderson could sit on his couch and watch his team win it all for three more glorious years.
Isiah Thomas is a snake