David Robinson Scores 71; Wins NBA Scoring Title

On April 24, 1993, On the final day of the regular season for the NBA, David Robinson, "The Admiral," of the San Antonio Spurs and Shaquille O'Neal, then on the Orlando Magic, were virtually tied as scoring leaders on the season, as their respected teams ended the year on a Sunday.

With Robinson's Spurs on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers, his game would conclude just as O'Neal's would begin; fearing that O'Neal would simply aim to outscore him, Robinson's teammates did everything they could to get him the ball.



When it was all said done, Robinson scored a remarkable 71 points -- joining Wilt Chamberlain, David Thompson, and Elgin Baylor as the only players to reach the 70s -- as his Spurs won 112-97. Robinson shot 26-41 from the field, made 18-25 free throws, and even knocked down a three-point shot.

His teammates deferred to him on every possession and even fouled down the stretch just to get him more shot attempts. Shaquille O'Neal needed 68 points to win back the scoring title, but he finished with a quiet 32.

In the final total, Robinson finished with 29.8 points per game, while Shaq ended with a 29.3 average.

 Members of the Orlando Magic cried foul, particularly head coach Brian Hill, who called it a "farce that's bad for basketball." "We certainly wanted Shaquille to win the scoring title," Hill said.

"But we didn't make a mockery of the game like they did in Los Angeles -- I hear the Clippers just let David score whenever he wanted ... We played a game tonight -- it wasn't a mockery."



Spurs coach John Lucas defended the point total, as did Robinson himself. "It is a lot of work going after those points," he said. "The Clippers didn't want me to get it. They were bumping and grinding and double-teaming me. That's the hardest I've ever had to work for some points."

NBA Suspends Rodman Indefinitely

On Jan. 17, 1997, ESPN reports bad boy Dennis Rodman was suspended indefinitely by the NBA season due to the first lockout that actually went on during the NBA season.

Rodman kicked a courtside cameraman and was fined $25,000 for the incident. Rodman was reinstated and went on to become one of the top rebounders in the league.

Rodman started his career in Detroit with the Pistons, after being drafted 27^th overall in the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft. On the Pistons, Rodman was part of the “Bad Boys” for their hard-nosed approach to basketball.

The squad featured Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars at the guard positions, Adrian Dantley and Sidney Green at forward, and center Bill Laimbeer.

Rodman would play with the Pistons from 1986-1993 and would earn two NBA Championships with the Detroit franchise. He would earn two NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards, two All-Star nominations, one All-NBA Third Team nomination in 1992, five NBA All-Defensive First Team nominations and two NBA Rebounding Champion awards.

The Detroit Pistons would retire his no. 10 jersey in 2011.

After his first five years with the Pistons, Rodman would move to the San Antonio Spurs for three years from 1993-1995. With the Spurs, Rodman would continue his dominance as a defensive presence, winning another All-Defensive First Team award in 1995, as well All-Defensive Second Team award in 1994, while earning the NBA Rebounding Champion every year in San Antonio. He would also earn another All-NBA Third Team award in 1995.

After his short stint with the Spurs, Rodman would make his best career move, joining the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan on his first return from retirement. During his four years with the Bulls, Rodman would win four more NBA Rebounding Champion awards, one more All-Defensive First Team award, and most importantly three more NBA-Championships from 1996-1998.

After the 1998 season Rodman would leave the Bulls for the Los Angeles Lakers. He would only play one year with the Lakers, during the lockout-shortened season he would only see action in 23 games before being released.

In the 2000 season Rodman would join the Dallas Mavericks. For the Mavericks, he played 12 games, was ejected twice and alienated the franchise with his erratic behavior until he was waived again; then Dallas guard and teammate Steve Nash commented that Rodman "never wanted to be [a Maverick]" and therefore was unmotivated.

After leaving the NBA in 2000, Rodman went on a hiatus from basketball for three years until picking up with Long Beach Jam of the newly-formed American Basketball Association during the 2003–2004 season, with hopes of being called up to the NBA midseason.

In the following 2004–2005 season, he signed with the ABA's Orange County Crush and the following season with the league's Tijuana Dragons.

After retiring from wrestling, Rodman became Commissioner of the Lingerie Football League in 2005.

In 2005, Rodman also made two visits to Finland. At first, he was present at Sonkajärvi in July in a wife-carrying contest. However, he resigned from the contest due to health problems. In November, he played one match for Torpan Pojat of the Finland's basketball league, Korisliiga.

That same year, Rodman published his second autobiography I Should Be Dead By Now and promoted this by sitting in a coffin.

The return to the NBA never materialized, but on Jan. 26, 2006, it was announced that Rodman had signed a one-game "experiment" deal for the UK basketball team Brighton Bears of the British Basketball League to play Guildford Heat on January 28, and went on to play three games for the Bears.

In spring 2006, he played two exhibition games in the Philippines along with NBA ex-stars Darryl Dawkins, Kevin Willis, Calvin Murphy, Otis Birdsong and Alex English. On April 27, they defeated a team of former Philippine Basketball Association stars in Mandaue City, Cebu and Rodman scored five points and grabbed 18 rebounds.

On May 1, 2006, Rodman's team played their second game and lost to the Philippine National Basketball team 110–102 at the Araneta Coliseum, where he scored three points and recorded 16 rebounds.

Apart from basketball, Rodman is a retired part-time professional wrestler and actor. He was a member of the NWO and fought alongside Hulk Hogan at two Bash at the Beach events. He had his own TV show The Rodman World Tour, and had lead roles in the action films Simon Sez and Double Team alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme. Both films were critically panned, with the latter earning Rodman a triple Razzie Award. He appeared in several reality TV series and was the winner of the $222,000 main prize of the 2004 edition of Celebrity Mole. Rodman won the first ever Celebrity Championship Wrestling tournament.

On April 4, 2011, it was announced that Rodman would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

This year Rodman got into some hot water with the media for his comments made during his trip to North Korea.

The Knicks Open Up The Garden

On Nov. 11, 1946, the New York Knicks play their first game at Madison Square Garden.

Although the Knicks have played at Madison Square Garden since 1946, the location of the Garden has changed, twice before the Knicks began playing basketball in 1879, and 1890 before its location change in 1925 where the 1946 Knicks played.

The 1925 Garden was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan on the site of the city's trolley car barns. It was the first Garden that was not located near Madison Square. 

The Knicks would call this location their arena for home games, although if there was an important college game, they played in the 69th Regiment Armory.

Then in February 1968 the Garden moved to its current location, where it has been renovated three times in 1991, 2011, and 2012. 

The Garden is now the oldest active major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area and is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League and the second-oldest arena in the National Basketball Association (after the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California). 

 The current configuration at the Garden has been host to several Knicks NBA Finals games including in 1970: when the Knicks won the NBA championship at Madison Square Garden.

The Garden was also host for the Knicks in the NBA finals in 1972, 1973, 1994 and1999: when the San Antonio Spurs won their championship at Madison Square Garden.

Mavericks Play First Game

On Oct. 11, 1980, the Dallas Mavericks play their first NBA game.

The franchise opened their existence with a 103-92 win against the San Antonio Spurs. Dallas won just 15 games in their first season. It would take 30 years for the Dallas franchise to win an NBA title, as they did in 2010.

The Mavericks are better known in the basketball community for their out going owner Mark Cuban, who runs up and down the court along with the players during the games. 

The Mavericks have been a staple in the NBA Playoffs since the late 2000’s and are a cornerstone in the Western Conference playoffs with Dirk Nowitzki every year, although they did miss out on the playoffs last year.