So what do you know about the Iceman? Everybody knows about his finger roll. Everybody knows about him scoring 63 on the final day of the 1978 season to take the scoring title from David Thompson. Everybody knows he's a San Antonio great. Not many know about his final year in the NBA, when?he put up some impressive numbers, on two weak legs, as a Chicago Bull that a certain other Chicago great wasn't too happy to be sharing a ball with.

Flashback to 1985, one day before the start of the season, the Bulls trade David Greenwood to the Spurs for the 33-year-old Gervin. Why? They were hoping he was the answer to their back court issues and could be a mentor for their second-year superstar named Michael Jordan. Not only did the young Jordan not want any advice from Gervin, he didn't even want him on the team.

"I have no comment on the trade," Said Jordan when asked about the trade. "Just say I am unhappy"

He was unhappy because he thought the guy who lost his job to Alvin Robertson and Wes Matthews was going to steal his shine and take his shots (he had Orlando Woolridge trying to do that). He also considered Gervin as part of the All-Star crew responsible for the infamous "MJ Freeze Out" in the 1985 NBA All-Star game.

The two only had to deal with each other for three games at the beginning of the season. In those three games, Gervin struggled to reach double figures and Jordan picked up where he left off from his rookie of the year campaign: 29 in a win vs the Cavs, 33/7/6/3/2 in a win vs the Pistons and 12 points in just 18 minutes against the Warriors. He only played 18 because?he fractured a bone in his left foot in the second quarter, after jamming his foot into the court.

"I don't feel too well." Said Jordan to the Chicago Tribune. "I've never gone through anything like this before, and I don't know how to deal with it. Right now, I can cry all night and wake up tomorrow and find out what it`s all about"

The "all about" was six weeks in cast. Bulls VP of Operations compared the loss to the Celtics losing Bird or the Lakers losing Magic Johnson and said the team should be alright as long as they don't "try to compensate by going one-on-one." In other words he was saying, "we will be alright as long as Orlando doesn't try to be Jordan."

The Bulls lost their next game with Woolridge missing 16 of 27 shots. In his first start with the team, Gervin played 28 minutes and scored 15 points. He followed that game up by playing 37 minutes and putting up the first of many 20 points wearing red and black. In his 13th game, he knocked down 15 of 18 shots for 34 points and four days later scored 32. The duo of Woolridge and Gervin were putting up a lot of points in the boxscore while the team was putting up a lot of Ls in the standings. After winning their first three games with Jordan, the Bulls lost 15 of their next 19 games. One of those wins came against the Spurs as Gervin scored 21 against his old team and the Bulls bench of Quintin Dailey and Sidney Green put up 27 and 20. It was the rare case of the Bulls playing team basketball...and it helped that Woolridge fouled out after only taking 12 shots.

Gervin's best game came on January 27th against?the high-scoring Dallas Mavs: 45 points, 7 boards and 3 assists. It's a game he will always remember because Jordan said to him, "What happened old man, you get tired?" Gervin replied, "Young fella, I was just showing you how I used to be."

A little over a month later, against the wishes of team doctors and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Jordan -- who accused Reinsdorf of wanting to tank the season -- made his return to the court with a minutes restriction. After putting up 20-point games while playing just 16 minutes, the Bulls (or should I say Jordan) increased his minutes to 20 something, then 30 something and his point totals did the same. At the same time, Gervin's minutes dwindled from the 30s to the 20s to the teens before the playoffs.

In the playoffs, the Bulls faced Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the first round and were swept in three. Gervin played a total of 11 scoreless minutes as Jordan put up 49 in Game 1, 63 in Game 2 and 19 points, 10 boards and 9 assists in Game 3. Gervin knew his time with the Bulls and in the NBA was up.

When asked in a 2017 interview with The Post Game if he thought about returning to the Bulls, Gervin said, "Hell no. I ain't think about playing no one. I went overseas."

But it wasn't just the games that made him realize it was time to move on, it was the practices with Jordan.

"The son of a bitch is crazy. He played just as hard at practice as he did in the game. I'll never forget it, I'm at practice with him one time, I'm lackadaisical going through it and stuff. I say, "Dang, young fella." He said, "Hey, old man, go sit down over there." I sat down. I was done. He helped me understand I was done. You've only got so long to be on top. I was on top for about 12 years. You only have your turn. My turn was pretty much up. I retired after that.

Three years after his time with the Bulls, Michael Jordan interviewed Gervin for this awesome episode of 'Greatest Sports Legends.'

And almost three decades after this interview, I had the honor of interviewing Gervin and talking about his final days with that 'crazy son of bitch.' But my favorite story from that interview had nothing to do with the GOAT, it was all about chicken!

NO CHICKEN TONIGHT!

My favorite story about Gervin happened during a game between the Spurs and Pacers in 1980. Indiana held a promotion saying everybody in the building would get free chicken if the Pacers could hold Gervin to under 30 points. Gervin took this as a challenge, especially since the man assigned to him was Dudley Bradley aka “The Secretary of Defense.”

So how did the Secretary do against Ice?

Gervin dropped 25 points in the first half and while he walked to the lockers at the half, he was yelling “No chicken tonight” to the crowd, even though he still needed 5 more points.

Did he get 5 more in the game?

He had 30 more and finished with an arena record of 55. Bradley fouled out with 6 points.

?

Sources: Chicago Tribune,?The Post Game

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Much more than a player with a cool nickname and the master of arguably the prettiest shot in basketball, George "The Iceman" Gervin was an unguardable 6'7" guard who led the league in scoring four times during a five-season stretch -- including the 1978 season when he scored 63 (53 in the first half) on the final day to edge out David Thompson for the scoring title. What many people don't know about the man Magic Johnson once called the best scorer in NBA history was his offensive repertoire was much more than just a graceful flip of the fingertips, he was just as likely to throw down on a defender or hit a mid-range jumper for two, over and over and over again.

Thanks to Gatorade at a recent event in Houston called The Frost House, I had a chance to chat with the 5 x All-NBA 1st Teamer about his nickname (given to him by Fatty Taylor); why his 33 in a quarter was more impressive than Klay Thompson's 37 (Ice didn't have the 3-point line); playing Dr. J one-on-one every day after practice (legendary stuff); putting up big numbers when he was playing on the Chicago Bulls when MJ went down with an injury (a near retired Ice was dropping 30 on a routine basis and scored a season-high 45 on two weak legs); And preventing the people of Indiana from enjoying some fried chicken.

NO CHICKEN TONIGHT!

My favorite story about Gervin happened during a game between the Spurs and Pacers in 1980. Indiana held a promotion saying everybody in the building would get free chicken if the Pacers could hold Gervin to under 30 points. Gervin took this as a challenge, especially since the man assigned to him was Dudley Bradley aka "The Secretary of Defense."

So how did the Secretary do against Ice?

Gervin dropped 25 points in the first half. And while he walked to the lockers at the half, he was yelling "No chicken tonight" to the crowd.

He still needed five more points to prevent the crowd from getting some finger-licking chicken. He got the five and 30 more to finish with an arena record of 55.

Bradley had six points before fouling out.

SOURCE: LA TIMES, GATORADE

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First lets take a look at one of the greatest NBA post men to ever play, Kevin McHale. Kevin stood 6"10 in his playing days and had ridiculously long arms which definitely helped out his post game. Sure McHale was known to be bit of a black hole when it came to possession of the ball, but his moves in the post where about one thing, patience. Take a look at his post move clinic highlight video with McHale's patented up and under.

Next move on the list is the Killer Crossover, the UTEP 2-Step by none other than the crossover godfather, Tim Hardaway.  Sleight of hand and a change in direction, that's all it took. Tim Hardaway just wanted to reach the rim for a layup without traveling in a straight line, and figured the best way was to go left, then right. Or right, then left. "My whole purpose was to confuse the defenders" said Hardaway, and it worked.

This is the first signature move on the list from this generation is the Tony Parker spin-cycle. We could've easily went with his devastating floater, but his spin move is way too effective to leave off. Tony first starts has move with a simple cross dribble to get his defender leaning towards the side he wants to spin away from, spins, takes a huge gather step and he's right there for an easy dish or a layup.

The last move on the on the list for this week is one of the most beautiful moves in basketball,  George Gervin's finger roll. Gervin was a smooth operator on the court with a dangerous mid range game and super lanky (think KD's body). The finger roll is probably not the most effective for most players, but it was sure effective for the Iceman. Take a look at beautiful montage.

Honorable Mention: Clyde "the Glide" Drexler had a MEAN fingeroll too

We'll be back next week with the Smitty half-spin, Connie Hawkins palming and  MUCH more signature moves, so stay tuned!

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One of the NBA's 50 greatest players ever, George "Ice Man" Gervin made an appearance on ESPN's first take and talked about what he thinks about Kevin Durant. I was never around to see George Gervin play so I'm not going to sit here and compare the two, but you also have to recognize Kevin Durant’s abilities and talent and in doing so you can’t deny that Durant has potential to one day be on a short list of greatest players of all time.

I also agree with George about the physical play argument being overrated and the misconception about today's players being soft; today's style of play is in no way a representation of the players and it isn't their fault that the refs blow their whistle for every little touch or contact. Now sure you can bring up the argument of flopping and by no means am I trying to defend flopping but I am trying to reason for it. When calls are made so easily you have to expect players to adapt and take advantage of the situation; it's just a natural process and characteristic of human beings and all living things. If the league still allowed physical play the players would adapt and adjust to that style of play and the same talented players would be standing atop the league.

In conclusion, before this turns into a conversation about science and philosophy, all I'm trying to say is although on the surface it looks as if the problem is caused by the players, it actually goes much deeper than that. The game is controlled by the people in the NBA offices, they are the ones who truly dictate how the play goes on the court.

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