Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
Pete was a mixture of Steve Nash and Kobe
Pete was a mixture of Steve Nash and Kobe
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
LOL, same here Dr. J, my man and Pistol when I could see him play was just a treat, like a bicycle as a Christmas present. I loved Dr. J, but watching Pistol was like an out of body experience, he threw passes that would go through his teammates hands that would get me as excited as Dr. J doing a tomahawk in traffic.
Apparently Pistol was crushed when they lost Dr. J, he was the only guy who could catch Pistols passes with those meathooks of his. Pistol is such an enigma, you hear overrated, gunner, etc. but look what happened when they gave him the Doctor, happy to pass to a guy who could catch it, 19 assists in an exhibition game with Dr. going 14-15, exhibition game, you know these guys probably didn't come close to playing 48 minutes to put up those numbers either.
If anyone questions if Pistol could play today, I think if you're willing to play a peak 1972 version of Dr. J one on one every night for money (dinner), it's a safe bet you could play in any era, lol.
They had MUCH different rules for palming and carrying the basketball back then and Pete still did what guys can't do today. Reincarnate Pete and show him the new rules, "I can do THIS with the ball and it's not a travel??? I might average 44 points like in college."
What would really excite me is to see him with any good team today playing point guard, he could average 15 assists without breaking a sweat, he would create a new category the 20-20 man with points and assists, he would ring up 20-20's like they were going out of style. I hate the NBA for not showing us complete games of Pistol from the 70's, the NFL archived just about every game since the 50's.Comment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
Watch this clip, it's only 47 seconds long, you will see 2 passes from Pistol that will blow your mind, never seen them on any other compilation. This was routine when you watched a Pistol game.Comment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
Nice 10 minute video of Pistol vs. Pistons, never saw it before.Comment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
I'll go in the middle of you two, Steve Nash (passing) Larry Bird (shooting) and throw in Marques Haynes (dribbling).
Pete was offered millions to be the first white Globetrotter coming out of college. If you watch the youtube videos you will see the snippets of Pete doing the Meadowlark Lemon routine in warmups passing to his teammates, he did this before every game with LSU.
His story as a player though is a much sadder, stranger mix. The young prodigy, the basketball version of Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods, skills beyond belief of anyone who came before him. The early brilliance of Mike Tyson with the potential to be the best ever, but instead put up as a freak show instead of surrounding him with the proper supporting cast. The Bo Jackson flashes of brilliance before injuries started to take their toll. The alcohol abuse and the expectations since he was a child that weighed on him. The misunderstood genius who would have been happy to get 20 assists instead of scoring 40. Led the league in scoring, the next year he's close to leading the league again and the Jazz are finally a decent team on a 9 game winning streak and he tears his knee to shreds A heart condition that rarely saw anyone live past the age of 20. He's basketballs most tragic figure.
Even in his greatest game 68 against the Knicks, he made a driving layup and was called for a totally bogus charge for his 5th foul, and an even more bogus charge for his 6th foul to foul out. Think David Stern would allow that with his superstars???
The expansion Jazz were the worst team in the league, and do you know what their record was when Pete was in the line-up before they got Truck Robinson, a really good player? 93-92. Don't forget that stat when he scored 40 or more his team won 82% of their games compared to Jordan 68% and Iverson 69%.
Imagine Jordan just as the Bulls were getting good being shipped to an expansion team, the worst in the league, he would have had to suffer his early Bull years all over again and deal with the question of being a "gunner" and not a winner. That's the cards the Pistol were dealt.Comment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
Any floppy haired white boy is of the Pete Maravich tribeConcrete evidence/videos pleaseComment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
Pete saved his strength for offense, lol. But I guarantee you this, Kobe, nor anyone else could hold Pete, none of the all time great scorers could be held. Pete would be great in a zone though because of his anticipation and zen knowledge of the game, he would tip a lot of balls if he only had to play in a zone.
With the new rules for palming, traveling and hop-stepping, Pete is looking down on the NBA and drooling to play a game. He's on the short list of guys who are/were capable of scoring 100 in a game.Comment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
Top 10 plays of the 77 All-Star game, some awesome Dr. J stuff, number one play, Pistol to the Dr.
This guy on youtube has games from the 50's, 60's, 70's.
It looks like he has the complete game where Pistol scored 68, not the edited stuff, he posted part 1 with the National Anthem and the intro's and the beginning of the game. When he posts the whole game, I'll put it on this thread.Comment
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Re: If Pistol Pete Maravich played today...
A bit off-topic but I had to post it! 1978 AllStar game:
#3 is NASTYYYYY!!!!! #1 is sweet!My Specs:
ZX Spectrum
CPU: Z80 @ 3.5 MHz
GPU: Monochrome display
RAM: 48 KB
OS: Sinclair BASICComment
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