Vince with the “Miracle of Richfield” Cavaliers

      The first playoff-round matchup for the Cavaliers took place against the Washington Bullets, who later became the Washington Wizards. The Bullets were impressive opponents whose lineup included all-stars Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, both of whom went on to become Hall of Famers. So formidable was the Bullets lineup that they went on to win the NBA championship title the following season. The Cavaliers were known for their quick offense and their well-rounded attack on both sides of the ball; nevertheless, they would need all of their skills at hand to take down the Bullets. With Joe Tait on the microphone calling the action to hungry sports fans everywhere, the series was ready to kick off with a bang.

      Game one ended in heartbreak for the Cavaliers, who lost 100–95 in front of the hometown crowd. The team bounced back during game two in Washington, though, defeating the Bullets 80–79 on a 25-foot jump shot by Bobby “Bingo” Smith in the final seconds. The thrilling one-point win was a sign of things to come later in the series. The men in wine and gold kept the momentum going in game three with a hard-fought win in Richfield, outscoring the Bullets 88–76. Desperate for a win back home in game four, the Bullets came out with a 109–98 victory. The Cavaliers won game five at home 92–91 when Jim Cleamons rebound a shot by Smith and put it back in to beat the buzzer. Matt Morino, COO of Morino Ventures LLC and a current Strongsville resident, shared his memories of this playoff series:

      I was lucky to be able to go to a playoff game with my mom, who along with me was a big Cavaliers fan. It was game five of the series with the series tied at 2–2, so that game was critical as the series would be moving back to Washington for game six—a tough place to play, so we did not want that one to be a possible closeout game for the Bullets. I’ll never forget arriving at Richfield Coliseum more than an hour before game time and seeing the place packed. You could feel the electricity in the air with 20,000 fans chanting “Lets Go Cavs!” an hour before game time—no fire from the rafters, no blaring audio system with recorded chants, this was real! And when that old 1970s Cavs theme song, “C’mon Cavs,” began to play, the place went bananas—standing ovations with deafening cheers as the Cavs came out for warm-ups. The game was nip-and-tuck the whole way and, in what had become par for the course, it was going down to the wire. The Cavaliers had the ball and had called time-out to set up the final play for a basket they had to get in a game that was, up to this point, their biggest one ever. The ball was inbounded and went to Bingo Smith for a shot at another buzzer-beating jumper. But this time Bingo was forced much further away from the basket by that stingy Washington defense. Obviously, Bingo’s buzzer-beater in game three was still very fresh on the Bullets minds, and he really had to force this one up. Things looked bleak in those final few seconds, but then, out of nowhere, our point guard, Jimmy Cleamons, had somehow managed to sneak under the basket and, leaping high into the air, caught Bingo’s air ball and laid it in the basket all in one motion as the buzzer went off and the place exploded!

      The series only grew more exciting and intense by the day. Following game five, game six went into overtime, but the Bullets managed to bounce back and bring in a win at 102–98.

      There are few moments in sports that can match the buildup and thrill of a game seven. The feeling of do-or-die is one of pure anxiety that can only be cured with a win. Yells and excitement from the fans had the ground of Richfield Coliseum shaking an hour before the start of game seven. During warm-ups, the crowd containing more than 20,000 cheering fans chanted, “Let’s go Cavs!” If the fans had anything to do with it, the Cavaliers would not be having a first-round exit. Ruben Rodriguez, who was from Cleveland but had been stationed by the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia, was given tickets and flew back home for the final game in the series. He had these vivid memories of the game to share:

      I will never forget that game; it was the loudest crowd anywhere for any sport. You could actually feel the place shake! When Phil Chenier missed the last shot, there weren’t enough cops to stop the fans from cutting loose. There were dudes climbing on the baskets as if they were tearing down goalposts instead.

      Sulaiman Ahmad, from Euclid, also shared his thoughts from the time spent at the series:

      The main thing I remember about the Miracle of Richfield was the noise. I have never heard a crowd that was that loud. At times, Richfield Coliseum felt like it was literally moving.

      Joe Tait had a special viewpoint of the fan’s reaction from the broadcast table on the court:

      It was a “natural” crowd reaction, and that’s what made it so special. Nate Thurmond had his brother, George, come to one of the games and place a tape recorder on his lap so he could record the amazing sound of the crowd at the packed Coliseum. There had never been anything like what we were all experiencing. That entire season, the crowd response was just unbelievable. Those things don’t happen anymore because of the artificial commercial atmosphere produced at arenas now.

      As fate would have it, game seven would be an even more intense game than the previous six thrillers that the fans had witnessed. Local Cleveland fans were unable to watch the game due to an NBA blackout, but as Matt Morino shared, fans were still able to listen to and watch snippets of it:

      My whole family gathered around our radio at home to listen to Joe Tait call the biggest basketball game in Cleveland history. The TV news stations also had something called “Action Cams” that were stationed at the game and would interrupt TV programming for short snippets of film from this huge game. It was hard to hear Joe’s voice at times—the crowd was deafening. The game was tied at 86 with just seconds to go, and the Cavs had the ball and had called time-out to set up for the last shot again. We watched—yes, watched; even the NBA couldn’t keep their blackout for these last few seconds—as the Action Cams had interrupted all Cleveland TV stations to show this final, fateful play.

      Just like in previous games, it came down once again to the final shot. Dick Snyder was called upon to take the final shot with just under 5 seconds remaining. As his running 5-foot bank shot hit off the glass and went in, the Richfield crowd came unglued. The city had just witnessed the completion of a miracle.

      Although they would fall short in the next round of the playoffs, losing to the highly touted Boston Celtics in six games, no one could take away the pure joy Cleveland fans felt during game six of the Bullets series. Many believe that if starting center Jim Chones hadn’t broken his foot in a practice between the two series, taking the steam out of the red-hot locomotive engine that had become Cleveland basketball, the Cavaliers might have even upset the Celtics. The Cavaliers did manage to win two games in the series with outstanding plays at home in front of rabid fans. Backup center Nate Thurmond did his best to fill in for Chones, but the Celtics’ John Havlicek was too much for him. Joe Tait gave his firsthand account of what happened during those games against Boston:

      Nobody expected the Cavaliers to beat Boston at that particular time, and the fact