High-low game

Sporting News, The, Jan 2, 1995 by Mark Heisler

The Sports Arena, the final frontier ...

Shaquille O'Neal has played to 99 percent of arena capacity in his pro career, but he is a harder sell in Los Angeles, what with the Clippers having all but given up the sport. A crowd of 12,498 filed in last week to see the Magic and Clippers, a matchup the guys at ESPN were calling "the ridiculous and the sublime." It was the Clippers' largest of the season in the Sports Arena by more than 3,000 -- and the smallest ever to see Shaq play in the NBA.

The game turned into the expected Magic cruise, 102-91. Clippers Coach Bill Fitch had to assign 6-foot-8, 210-pound Bo Outlaw to O'Neal, who outweighs him by 91 pounds. Shaq went 14 for 16, but only 4 for 15 from the free-throw line, where the Clippers sent him whenever possible.

Fitch also let aggressive, if less accomplished, Matt Fish take a whack at Shaq in the fourth quarter, or several of them: three fouls' worth in five minutes. "I always give him that piranha or guppy deal," Fitch says. "I told him if he got five fouls, the sixth, he could bite Shaq."

The Clippers may be the most overmatched NBA team of all time. The 76ers, who went 9-73 in 1972-73, had three players who had averaged double figures in the NBA. The Mavs, who started 2-39 last season, were a collection of superstars compared to the Clips, who have one player -- Elmore Spencer, on the injured list -- who finished last season as a starter.

Is it possible that 20 months before, they led the Rockets late in a Game 5 at Houston? A lot has changed since, mostly addresses. Larry Brown was the coach. Danny Manning, Ken Norman, Mark Jackson, Ron Harper and Stanley Roberts started. Only Roberts remains, and he is out for another season with another torn Achilles. The Clippers' treasure trickled away like oil into desert sand. They had six top-four picks in the '80s, 13 first-rounders in all. All gone.

Contrast that with the Magic, everybody's Team of the '90s. They got two No. 1 lottery picks in three years but made the most of their opportunities and took on that glow until players were doing somersaults over each other to get there. Horace Grant signed a contract with a one-year termination clause. When the league struck it down, Grant signed another deal with a two-year out.

A rocket ship and a meteor passing in the night, the Magic and Clippers go their separate ways, pursuing their destinies.

For the Magic, it's not hard to tell where it all went right. General Manager Pat Williams, who had once drawn the top pick with the 76ers, hit the jackpot in the spring of 1992 when O'Neal was leaving Louisiana State.

A year later, Lucky Pat did it again with one of the 66 balls in the hopper. This time, however, the choice wasn't automatic. Available were Chris Webber, who promised to be the next great power forward; Anfernee Hardaway, a wonderful point-guard prospect; Jamal Mashburn, a scoring-machine small forward; and Shawn Bradley, a 7-7 center.

Everyone assumed they would take Webber. With Shaq, he would form the most powerful frontcourt tandem the NBA had ever seen. Hardaway was interesting, but he had been inconsistent at Memphis State and his workout in Orlando was only OK.

Hardaway went off to Los Angeles to shoot a movie, "Blue Chips," with O'Neal. Magic Vice President of Basketball Operations John Gabriel, still intrigued by Hardaway, kept calling around. He reached O'Neal on the phone in the car Shaq garaged on the West Coast so he'd have something suitable to drive there.

"I wanted to hear his thoughts because Shaq was a big Chris guy," Gabriel says. "I said, 'I hear you're playing with Hardaway.'

"He says, 'Yeah.'

"I said, 'Tell me about him.'

"He said, 'He's the real deal. Forget about everyone else, this kid can play.'

"I call Pat at home Sunday morning, find him on his way to church, in the car. I say 'Pat, I don't know what your schedule is the beginning of the week, but I want to bring Hardaway back.'

"Pat says, 'Gabe, what are you doing? Why are you even on the phone? You've got predraft jitters. I want you to hang up, go back and lay down.'"

The workout took place a few days later, in a church gym in Orlando with Magic players and collegians from Rollins and Central Florida. After three games to 11, the Magic brass was in love.

"I go and sit by myself in the bleachers," Gabriel says. "Hardaway picks up a loose ball, comes down the floor, shoots a reverse layup on (Magic forward) Jeff Turner.

"I sort of look over my shoulder to Pat and he gives me a little glimpse like, what was that? He's getting a little excited.

"They play another game, and Hardaway does a wraparound pass, hits a Rollins kid in the head with the ball. It drops in his hand, he lays it up and they win game two.

"I look at those guys again -- I'm a little nervous, I'm dragging everybody back out -- and now I get Pat and Brian (Hill, soon to be named coach) staring at me.

"The third game, they're down two and he drills a three for his club to win it. Here comes Pat walking towards me and he says, 'Well Gabe, you screwed it up.' Because we knew we had to go back and retool the whole thing."