Cleveland's Finest. Vince McKee
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across him like E.T. across the moon and went right by him. I kept my hand in his face as long as I could, but he had the ability to stop on a dime, pull up, and hit the shot. When I watched it go in, it was the agony of defeat. Those three seconds seemed like slow motion to watch him get that shot off and make that play. When you talk to Michael or anyone with the Bulls at that time, they will all say that shot was exactly what propelled them into their championships.
The following 1989–1990 season was known for some critical injuries to Daugherty and Nance, as well as a controversial trade. Wayne Embry took a major chance that never panned out when he traded away young phenomenon Ron Harper. On November 16, 1989, the Cavaliers traded Ron Harper and three future draft picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams. It was a calculated risk based on the large amount of hype surrounding Danny Ferry’s amateur career.
Danny Ferry went to Duke University after being considered one of the best high school athletes in America. He was voted Parade magazine’s “Prep Player of the Year” from DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland. Because Ferry played so well during his college basketball career, many considered him to be the next Larry Bird. He was a two-time ACC player of the year as well as a 1989 NCAA All-American first-team member. Also that year, United Press International voted him College Player of the Year. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers as the second overall pick in the 1989 draft. However, Ferry had no interest in ever playing for the Clippers. Instead, he chose to play in Europe for the Italian League. He continued to excel while playing in Europe, averaging 23 points a game. The Clippers eventually grew tired of waiting for Ferry to come home to play for them, so they traded his rights to the Cavaliers. Once Ferry agreed to play for Cleveland, Embry signed him to a 10-year contract. Sadly for Cleveland fans everywhere, Ferry would go down as one of the biggest NBA busts of all time, because he never lived up to his expectations. He averaged just double digits in scoring twice for his entire NBA career.
The Cavaliers did manage to make the playoffs that year despite the injuries. They finished with a 42–40 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference Central Division. They ran into Charles Barkley and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. Sir Charles and his teammates eliminated the Cavaliers in five games.
The 1990–91 season got off to a horrible start because the Cavaliers lacked their full complement of draft picks due to the Danny Ferry trade. Things went from bad to worse as All-Star point guard Mark Price suffered multiple injuries and appeared in only sixteen games all season. Power forward John “Hot Rod” Williams suffered season-long injuries as well, and the Cavaliers finished with their worst record in years at 33–49.
The 1991–92 season, on the other hand, would be remembered as one of the best in Cleveland Cavaliers history. It was a perfect mix of players in their prime, young players improving daily, and veterans playing with the energy of rookies, blended together with a Hall of Fame head coach. With a full roster all season and confidence growing daily, the Cavaliers cruised to an impressive 57–25 record. They finished in second place in the Eastern Conference Central Division with high hopes to go far into the playoffs.
The Cavaliers promptly disposed of Dražen Petrović, Derrick Coleman, and the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the playoffs, earning a matchup with the elite caliber arsenal of the Boston Celtics. The matchup with Boston proved to be a classic as it was a back-and-forth battle that went on for all seven games. Early on, the Cavaliers fell behind in the series 2–1. Then pivotal game four went into overtime at the Boston Garden. Behind a 32-point performance from Larry Nance, the Cavaliers left Boston with the win. Game five at the Richfield Coliseum was a tight one throughout the first half, with neither team able to pull away. The Cavaliers, behind the halftime adjustments from Wilkens, came out in the second half with full guns blazing. They outscored the Celtics by 11 in the third quarter and never looked back, winning the game and taking a 3–2 lead in the series. Craig Ehlo described how it felt to advance so far so quickly in the playoffs after early exits in previous years:
The final game of Larry Bird’s career was in the old Richfield Coliseum, and it was very loud. It was a rough go for me because I had torn my MCL about six weeks prior. So when we got into the playoffs, I was still reeling and had to guard Petrović in the first round. Then in the second round I had to guard Reggie, who had been averaging 35 points a game against us. In the finals, we had to face Chicago again, and even with Gerald Wilkins it was a nightmare. I thought we had finally reached the pinnacle of all those years that we had put together before losing in six games to the Bulls.
Unfortunately, after a great fifth game, many Cleveland fans would like to forget game six as the Cavaliers got crushed 122–91. Nance reflected on reaching the Eastern Conference championship by beating Boston and on the overall atmosphere in the Coliseum that day:
Derrick Coleman wore me out in the first round; he was very tough. Then it was incredible to beat Boston, with it being Larry Bird’s last ride. I thought that if another team played together as well as we did, it was Boston because they really did play as a team. That series was two great teams out there playing great team ball, which made it very enjoyable. Then we ran into “the man” again.
A loud crowd packed the Richfield Coliseum on May 17, 1992, to see the final game of the exciting series. The Cavaliers ended Larry Bird’s Hall of Fame career on a losing note when they defeated the Celtics 122–104. Just like many times that season, the win was a total team effort with all five starters scoring in double digits. John “Hot Rod” Williams, who was coming off the bench in that series, also managed to have 20 points. The Cavaliers were off to the Eastern Conference Championship round for the first time since the “miracle season.”
Waiting for the Cavaliers in the 1992 Eastern Conference Championship round was their old friend Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers managed to make the series interesting by winning a couple of games, but in the end the developing dynasty of the Bulls was too much for the Cavaliers to overcome.
The following season, Cleveland would reach the playoffs yet again, this time making it to the second round before getting swept by Chicago. The addition of superstar Gerald Wilkins from the New York Knicks proved to be helpful but still not enough to get past the Bulls. Sadly, that series marked the last Lenny Wilkens would spend in Cleveland as head coach. The Cavaliers made the decision after the playoffs to go with Mike Fratello, a former head coach from the Atlanta Hawks turned analyst. It was a move that brought to a close one of the brightest eras in Cleveland basketball history.
Lenny Wilkens went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He coached in Atlanta, Toronto, and New York before retiring from the bench in 2005. By the time his career was over, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame again, this time as a coach who had won 1,332 games during his tenure. By the time he retired from active coaching, he had the most wins in NBA coaching history (before Don Nelson broke that record in 2010). In 1996, the NBA voted Wilkens as one of its all-time 10 greatest coaches. Craig Ehlo also shares his admiration of Coach Wilkens, saying,
It was unbelievable, as I had watched him with his Sonics teams. He had a mild-mannered disposition, but he also had a rip-your-heart-out competitiveness in him as well. You may not see it in his body language, but that was the way he plays and coaches. I loved that and that’s exactly what I wanted to be like. I remember I rode with him on the plane the first day I got there, and he was trying to explain to me some of the offensive things we were going to try and do. I remember after that the game when I didn’t play, he called me in and told me I would play the next night, which was a great thing because he really took me under his wing. He made me feel wanted and needed, and it was all because of him having that kind of demeanor. He loved us no matter what because it was a hard-working town and hard-working team. The people of Cleveland still loved us no matter what happened.
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