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2002–03 NBA Season
The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the 2003 NBA Finals. This would be Michael Jordan's last season in the NBA. This season would also mark the first finals since the 1998–99 NBA season that the Lakers did not appear in, and the Spurs' first finals appearance since then. Notable occurrences *The Hornets relocate from Charlotte, North Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. *At halftime of the Hornets' first game in New Orleans, the team retired Pete Maravich's jersey number against their former tenants, the Utah Jazz. Though Maravich never played for the Hornets, he had been a star player with LSU Tigers and New Orleans Jazz. *The San Antonio Spurs played their first game at the SBC Center, (now the AT&T Center). *The Houston Rockets played their final season at the Compaq Center (formerly as The Summit). *The 2003 NBA All-Star Game was held at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. It is the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). It changed its name to the National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with the competing National Basketball League (NBL). In 1976, the NBA and the American Basketball Association (ABA) merged, adding four franchises to the NBA. The NBA's regular season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. The league's playoff tournament extends into June. , NBA players are the world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player. The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." He played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan is the principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA and of 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. He was integral in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s,Markovits and Rensman, p. 89. becoming a global cultural icon in the process. Jordan played college basketball for three seasons under coach Dean Smith with the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick, and quickly emerged as a league star ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lucas II
John Harding Lucas II (born October 31, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played basketball and tennis at the University of Maryland, College Park and was an All-American in both. Collegiate career Lucas attended the University of Maryland where he was an All-American in basketball. Lucas was a Second-team All-American for the Terrapins team in 1973–74, along with his teammates Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. The Terrapins had a record of 23–5 in the regular season, and 9–3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). However, they lost during the ACC Tournament, and they could not go to the NCAA Tournament. Elmore and McMillan graduated in 1974, but in the following 1974–75 season, Lucas was a First-team All-American. The Terrapins recorded a 24-5 regular season record, 10–2 in the ACC, and they won the ACC regular season crown. However, they lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Central Division (NBA), Central Division. The team began play as an expansion team in 1970–71 NBA season, 1970, along with the Portland Trail Blazers and Buffalo Braves. Home games were first held at Cleveland Arena from 1970 to 1974, followed by the Richfield Coliseum from 1974 to 1994. Since 1994, the Cavs have played home games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland, which is shared with the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. Dan Gilbert (businessman), Dan Gilbert has owned the team since March 2005. The Cavaliers opened their inaugural season by losing their first 15 games and struggled in their early years, placing no better than sixth in the Eastern Conference during their first five sea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Stotts
Terry Linn Stotts (born November 25, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He most recently served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After a playing as a forward in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), where he was coached by George Karl, Stotts became a part of Karl's coaching staff on multiple teams in the CBA and NBA. He later got opportunities as a head coach for the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, before helping the Dallas Mavericks win the 2011 NBA championship as an assistant coach. Early life and college career Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Stotts grew up in Illinois, Wisconsin, Guam, and Indiana and graduated from Bloomington High School North in Bloomington, Indiana in 1976. Stotts was a member of the 1976 Indiana All-Star Team. Stotts was a starter in all his four seasons with the University of Oklahoma Sooners basketball team and was an Academic All-American ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lon Kruger
Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is a retired American college and professional basketball coach (sport), coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State University. He has served as the head coach of the University of Texas–Pan American, Kansas State, the University of Florida, the University of Illinois, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Kruger was one of only three coaches ever (the others being Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith) to lead five programs to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament. His teams have participated in 17 NCAA Tournaments, including two Final Fours (1994 with Florida; 2016 with Oklahoma). Early life Kruger was born and raised in Silver Lake, Kansas. As a point guard, Kruger led the Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball, Kansas State Wildcats to bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at State Farm Arena. The team's origins can be traced to the establishment of the Buffalo Bisons in 1946 in Buffalo, New York, a member of the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) owned by Ben Kerner and Leo Ferris. After 38 days in Buffalo, the team moved to Moline, Illinois, where they were renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1949, they joined the NBA as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and briefly had Red Auerbach as coach. In 1951, Kerner moved the team to Milwaukee, where they changed their name to the Milwaukee Hawks. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, where they won their only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Musselman
Eric Musselman (born November 19, 1964) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. He is the former head coach of the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Between head coaching stints at Golden State and Sacramento, Musselman served as an assistant for the Memphis Grizzlies under Mike Fratello. He moved to the college coaching ranks in 2012 as an assistant at Arizona State. From 2014–19, he was the head coach for Nevada. The son of former NBA head coach Bill Musselman, Eric Musselman was a head coach in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) before becoming an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic (under Chuck Daly and Doc Rivers), and Atlanta Hawks (under Lon Kruger). Early life High school Musselman grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and San Diego, California, before moving to suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where he at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Winters
Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952) is an American former basketball player and coach. Career Winters attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York, graduating in 1970. He then played collegiately with the University of South Carolina, scoring 1,079 points over his career. While playing for South Carolina, Winters was hampered due to both a severe case of mononucleosis and a series of knee injuries. He was the 12th pick in the 1974 NBA Draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. Winters made the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Lakers before he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the deal that brought future Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the West Coast, which Abdul-Jabbar had demanded. On April 18, 1976, in the first playoff series of his NBA career, Winters scored 33 points and recorded 5 assists in a 107-104 Game 3 loss against the Detroit Pistons. On November 30, 1976, Winters scored a career-high 43 points i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, the Warriors moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1962 and took the city's name, before changing its geographic moniker to Golden State in 1971. The club plays its home games at the Chase Center. The Warriors won the inaugural Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship in 1947, and won again in 1956, led by Hall of Fame trio Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, and Neil Johnston. After the trade of star Wilt Chamberlain in January 1965, the team finished the 1964–65 season with the NBA's worst record (17–63). Their rebuilding period was brief due in large part to the Warriors' drafting of Rick Barry four months after the trade. In 1975, star players Barry and Jamaal Wilkes powered the Warriors to their third cham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Bzdelik
Jeffrey Joseph Bzdelik () (born December 1, 1952) is an American professional basketball coach who most recently served as associate head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the NBA for slightly over two seasons, from 2002 until he was fired near the end of 2004. He also served as a college head coach at UMBC, Air Force, Colorado, and Wake Forest. Early life Bzdelik earned four varsity letters while playing basketball at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and was named team MVP in 1975–76. He also spent six years in the Army National Guard. Coaching career Early career in college basketball Bzdelik began his coaching career in 1978 as an assistant at Davidson College in North Carolina. He moved to Northwestern University in 1980, where he spent six seasons as an assistant, helping the Wildcats to their first NIT appearance in school history. He then took the head coaching position at the Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Evans (basketball)
Michael Leeroyall Evans (born April 19, 1955) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player and coach. He played collegiately at Kansas State University where he is Kansas State's second all-time leading points scorer, behind Jacob Pullen, with 2,115 points. He was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 21st pick of the 1978 NBA draft and had a 9-year NBA career with four teams (the San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Denver Nuggets). He was widely regarded throughout his career as an excellent 3-point shooter, being among the league leaders in that statistical category during his stint in Denver. After his retirement as a player, he became an assistant coach with the Nuggets. In 2001, when Dan Issel was fired, Evans assumed coaching duties for the remainder of the 2001–02 season, after which Jeff Bzdelik was hired as the team's head coach. In 2006–07 he was a scout for the Toronto Raptors. He then joined the Raptors' coac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
