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Retired Uniform Numbers:
(7) Bingo Smith, (22) Larry Nance, (34) Austin Carr, (42) Nate
Thurmond,
(43) Brad Daugherty
Franchise History:
Cleveland Cavaliers 1970- Present
Season Recaps
The Slow Rise to Prominence
The
Cleveland Cavaliers joined the NBA for the 1970-71 season. A franchise
that has known its share of ups and downs, the Cavaliers have
scraped the bottom of the barrel at times, both on and off the
court. Still, after struggling through much of its first two decades
of existence, Cleveland turned itself around in the late 1980s
to become a consistent Central Division contender.
The Cavs joined the league as part of an expansion that also included
the Portland Trail Blazers and the Buffalo Braves. Expansion forced
the NBA to realign into two conferences, with two divisions in
each. The Cavs were put in the Central Division along with the
Baltimore Bullets, the Atlanta Hawks and the Cincinnati Royals.
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1970-71: A Less Than Memorable
Debut
The
first-year Cavaliers were a motley crew, even by expansion team
standards. Coach Bill Fitch, who had been hired away from the
University of Minnesota, had his work cut out for him. The cast
of characters included Luther Rackley, Johnny Egan, Len Chappell,
Larry Mikan (son of NBA great George Mikan), and Gary Suiter.
The team's regulars were Walt Wesley, first-round draft pick John
Johnson, Bobby "Bingo" Smith, and John Warren. After looking over
the team, Fitch was reported to have said, "Just remember, the
name is Fitch, not Houdini."
Cleveland entered the league with a thud. The squad played its
first seven games on the road because the Cleveland Arena had
been booked by the Ice Capades. The team dropped all seven outings
by an average of 17.3 points per game. Fitch may not have been
amused, but he was amusing. "We're the only team who could play
back-to-back games on What's My Line and stump the panel," he
told the press. "Mission Impossible didn't even want us on their
show."
The Cavaliers finally got to play in Cleveland and lost their
home opener on October 30 to the San Diego Rockets, 110-99, before
9,119 spectators. The losses continued to mount, but Fitch's sense
of humor didn't flag. "I phoned Dial-a-Prayer, but when they found
out who it was, they hung up," he quipped.
The losing streak ran to 15 games before the Cavaliers finally
posted their first victory by beating the expansion Trail Blazers,
105-103, in Portland. The Cleveland squad promptly dropped a dozen
more before the schedule gave the players a home-game crack at
Buffalo, the third expansion team. Cleveland beat the Braves by
a single bucket before only 2,002 fans to claim the franchise's
first home victory.
The rest of the season continued in a similar vein. The club was
2-34 at one point and stood at 3-36 before engineering a three-game
winning streak with victories on December 25, 26, and 27. Cleveland
reached its nadir for the season when guard John Warren, in a
game against Portland, converted a layup into the opposing team's
basket. But Portland wasn't faring much better-Trail Blazers center
LeRoy Ellis tried to block Warren's shot.
The final tally for the first season was 15-67. The only thing
the Cleveland faithful had to cheer about was rookie John Johnson,
who earned a spot in the NBA All-Star Game on his way to a fine
first campaign in which he averaged 16.6 points. The team struggled
at the box office, as well. A four-game home stand in early January
drew a total of 13,214 fans, and on three occasions fewer than
2,000 people showed up to watch the action.
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1971-74: Cavs Acquire A
Productive Carr But Run Out Of Gas
The
Cavaliers got a boost during the offseason by selecting Notre
Dame standout Austin Carr as the top pick of the 1971 NBA Draft.
Carr came to Cleveland after averaging 34.5 points during his
college career. Alfred "Butch" Beard, an expansion draft pickup
who had spent the previous season in the Army, rejoined the team
for its second season. The Cavaliers also acquired center Rick
Roberson from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Through the first 39 games of the 1971-72 campaign, Cleveland
looked like playoff material. Even with a record of 15-24, the
Cavaliers were only one game behind the first-place Baltimore
Bullets. Midway through the season the Cavaliers sent two players-Johnson
and Beard-to the All-Star Game.
But the Cavs fell into a big-league swoon in the new year, dropping
11 straight from January 2 to January 26 and winning only 2 of
24 through the middle of February. Once again Cleveland occupied
the Central Division cellar, finishing 15 games out with a 23-59
mark. In spite of the dismal record, Carr made the NBA All-Rookie
Team after averaging a team-high 21.2 points, while Roberson set
a franchise mark of 12.7 rebounds per game that still stands two
decades later.
Despite the eight-game improvement between Cleveland's first and
second seasons, the team underwent a major retooling prior to
the 1972-73 campaign. Fitch sent Beard to the Seattle SuperSonics
and got guard Lenny Wilkens and forward Barry Clemens in return.
He also plucked second-year player Jim Cleamons from the Lakers
for a draft pick and selected Dwight Davis from the University
of Houston in the first round of the 1972 NBA Draft.
Wilkens sat out the first seven games of the season, and the Cavaliers
stumbled to an 0-7 start. The team then took four of five and
began to look competitive. In January, Cleveland went 9-5, and
in March the club set a new mark by winning six straight. When
all was said and done, the Cavaliers were still the worst team
in the Central Division, but they had taken a major step toward
respectability by winning 32 games. Wilkens finished second in
the NBA with an average of 8.4 assists per game, and he and Carr
tied for 17th in the league by each scoring 20.5 points per contest.
Looking to add some toughness, the Cavaliers sent Johnson and
Roberson to Portland prior to the 1973-74 season in exchange for
the opportunity to draft University of Minnesota forward Jim Brewer.
But Brewer had a disappointing rookie year, and the Cavs were
left with a pair of 6-9 centers: Brewer and Steve Patterson. The
weakness in the middle took its toll as the team fell back below
30 wins (29-53) for the 1973-74 season and maintained its stranglehold
on the Central Division cellar. On March 24 the Cavs blew out
the defending NBA-champion New York Knicks in their last home
game of the season and their final contest at the Cleveland Arena.
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1974-75: A New Coliseum,
But The Same Old Results
After
the 1973-74 season the Cavaliers made some major offseason changes.
Lenny Wilkens left the team to serve as player-coach for the Portland
Trail Blazers. A swap of first-round draft picks brought veteran
guard Dick Snyder to Cleveland from Seattle, and the Cavs solved
the problem in the middle by sending a first-round draft choice
to the Lakers for the rights to American Basketball Association
standout Jim Chones. They also selected the University of Michigan's
Michael "Campy" Russell in the first round of the 1974 NBA Draft.
The moves paid off in 1974-75-Chones averaged 14.5 points and
9.4 rebounds, and Snyder chipped in 14.2 points per game.
The Cavs were 3-3 in their first six games of the season. On October
29, 1974, the team christened the brand-new Coliseum in Richfield
before 13,184 fans but lost to the defending NBA-champion Boston
Celtics, 107-92.
The club had climbed to 9-7 when Austin Carr was sidelined with
a knee injury that required surgery. The team nevertheless hung
tough and was 20-16 when Chones broke his foot, forcing him out
for 10 games. Cleveland stood at 33-29 when starting guard Jim
Cleamons suffered a separated shoulder. In his absence, the Cavs
dropped seven of eight decisions. Suddenly the club found itself
in a three-way duel with Houston and New York for the last two
playoff berths in the Eastern Conference.
Houston clinched its spot with a handful of games remaining. Then,
with two games left, the Knicks came to Cleveland for a head-to-head
matchup. Both teams owned 39-41 records, and the Knicks possessed
the tie-breaker advantage. An NBA-record 20,239 fans watched as
the Cavaliers held on to win by five points. That meant that either
a Knicks loss or a Cleveland win over the playoff-bound Kansas
City-Omaha Kings on the final day of the season would assure the
Cavaliers a trip to the postseason.
The Knicks clobbered Buffalo, and the Cavs trailed the Kings by
14 points with four minutes left to play. A furious comeback pulled
Cleveland to within a point with three seconds remaining. But
Fred Foster's last-gasp shot was blocked, and the team went home
for the season. Cleveland finished at 40-42 and averaged 8,161
fans per home game, a big jump over the 4,013 of the previous
year.
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1975-78: Bingo! Cavs Make
The Playoffs
Fitch
did not tinker with his rapidly improving team during the offseason,
but when the 1975-76 club got off to a 6-11 start, he sent two
players to the Chicago Bulls and acquired 34-year-old future Hall
of Famer Nate Thurmond. Shortly after that, Austin Carr returned
to action after sitting out the first part of the campaign because
of offseason knee surgery.
The Cavaliers stitched together winning streaks of seven, five,
and then eight games to vault to 35-22 and take over the top spot
in the Central Division. On March 31, 1976, the Cavs downed the
New Orleans Jazz to clinch the first playoff spot in franchise
history. Ten days later Cleveland clinched the Central Division
championship with a win over the Knicks, finishing with a mark
of 49-33, one game up on the Washington Bullets.
The solid record was built on defense and balance. The squad finished
as the NBA's No. 2 defensive unit and placed a pair of players-Jim
Brewer and Jim Cleamons-on the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.
Even more impressive, seven Cavaliers averaged in double figures,
with Jim Chones leading the way at 15.8 points per game.
Cleveland faced the archrival Washington Bullets in the first
round of the 1976 NBA Playoffs. The Cavs won the series, four
games to three, but it took a 30-foot miracle shot from Bingo
Smith with two seconds left in Game 2, a buzzer-beating putback
from Cleamons in Game 5, and a Dick Snyder bank shot with four
seconds remaining in Game 7.
The Cavaliers appeared to have a legitimate shot against Boston
in the Eastern Conference Finals, but their hopes were dashed
when center Chones broke his foot during a practice session before
the series got underway. The Celtics took the first two games
at Boston Garden, and Cleveland countered by taking the next two
at the Coliseum. The Celtics prevailed in Game 5 to go up three
games to two. Back in Cleveland, Fitch was presented with the
NBA Coach of the Year Award before the start of Game 6, but Boston
pulled out a 94-87 win to clinch the Eastern Conference title.
Injuries thwarted the 1976-77 club's efforts to repeat as Central
Division champs. Chones was still hobbled by the broken foot when
the new season got underway. Campy Russell missed a dozen contests
with an ankle injury. At the point guard spot, both Cleamons and
Clarence "Foots" Walker missed significant time. And on February
8, Thurmond suffered a knee injury that effectively ended his
career.
The Cavs finished at 43-39, but that was only good enough for
fourth place in the very competitive Central Division. They faced
Washington in a best-of-three first-round playoff series and dropped
the first game away from home. Back in Cleveland for Game 2, the
Cavs pulled out a 91-83 win, thanks in part to Thurmond, who took
the floor for the first time since his knee injury. His final
NBA appearance lasted only one minute, but in that minute he inspired
both the fans and the team. In the deciding game the Cavaliers
fell behind by 17, rallied to tie in the closing minutes, then
lost, 104-98.
After five years with the franchise, Cleamons played out his option
and signed with the Knicks during the offseason. Fitch took 32-year-old
Walt Frazier as compensation. Cleveland was hot at the start of
the 1977-78 season, winning 13 of 18 to open the campaign before
slumping to 19-21. A 10-6 surge pulled the Cavs back into the
playoff race, but their postseason plans were put in jeopardy
as the team fell to 34-38 with 10 games left to play. Amazingly,
Cleveland took nine of those contests and finished in third place
in the Central Division with a 43-39 record. The Cavs advanced
to the playoffs but were swept by the Knicks in a best-of-three
first-round series.
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1978-79: Off On The Wrong
"Foot": Cavs Miss Postseason And Fitch Quits
After
three straight seasons in the playoffs, the bottom dropped out
for the Cavaliers during the 1978-79 campaign. The aging Cleveland
team was beset by injuries. Shotblocker Elmore Smith missed the
first 56 contests because of knee surgery, Bingo Smith sat out
the first 10, and Frazier lasted only a dozen games before sitting
out the rest of the year with a foot injury. Foots Walker was
hampered by leg injuries that sidelined him for 27 games and slowed
him in most of the rest.
Cleveland finished out of the playoffs with a 30-52 record. Campy
Russell enjoyed a fine season, however, tying Austin Carr's franchise
record with an average of 21.9 points per game, and rookie forward
Mike Mitchell had a promising first year, averaging 10.7 points.
An era ended for the Cavaliers in 1979 when Bill Fitch stepped
down as head coach at the end of the regular season to take the
helm at Boston. Two months later, Los Angeles Lakers assistant
coach Stan Albeck was hired to fill Fitch's shoes.
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1979-81: Anything That Can Go Wrong...
The
Cavs' roster also underwent major changes during the offseason
and early in the 1979-80 campaign. Cleveland acquired guard Randy
Smith, then sent Jim Chones to the Lakers for Dave Robisch. Four
days before the season commenced, Elmore Smith had the first of
three knee operations that would keep him out of action for the
entire year. A week after opening day Walt Frazier was released,
ending his remarkable career. Five days later the Cavaliers picked
up Kenny Carr from the Lakers. Soon thereafter, Bingo Smith, the
franchise's No. 2 all-time scorer, was sent to the San Diego Clippers
for a draft pick and future considerations.
Despite the roster renovations, midway through the season Cleveland
was within a game of .500 at 19-20. That was as close as the team
would get. The Cavs fell to 27-43 before winning 10 of 12 to close
the season at 37-45. Second-year player Mike Mitchell averaged
22.2 points to rank 10th in the NBA, and Randy Smith provided
a solid 17.6 points per contest. Walker finished third in the
league in assists (8.0 apg) and ninth in steals (2.04 per game).
If 1979-80 looked like turmoil to Cavaliers fans, the next three
seasons would prove to be chaos for the franchise. During the
offseason Nick Mileti, the team's original owner, sold his interest
in the club, and the Ted Stepien regime began. During Stepien's
three-year reign the club would win an average of 22 games per
season, shuffle through six head coaches, and lead the league
in personnel changes as 39 different players donned Cleveland
uniforms. The franchise would also rank dead last in attendance
in two of those three years.
Stepien's first move was to hire Bill Musselman as head coach.
The team sent Campy Russell to the Knicks and lost Austin Carr
to the Dallas Mavericks in the expansion draft. Through December
the team posted a 13-27 mark but then went on a tear in January,
winning 9 of 14 games. Mitchell (who averaged 24.5 points for
the year) was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team. The
game was played in Cleveland, and Mitchell delighted the hometown
crowd by scoring 14 points in 15 minutes of playing time.
Mitchell's All-Star Game appearance proved to be the season's
high point. The club lost 22 of its final 28 games, and with 11
games left to play Musselman was relieved of his coaching duties
and replaced by General Manager Don Delaney. Cleveland finished
in fifth place, with a 28-54 record. But the worst was yet to
come.
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1981-83: Four Coaches and
23 Players
The
1981-82 version of the club was a catastrophe. The Cavs tried
23 players and four head coaches. Delaney lasted until December
4, assistant coach Bob Kloppenburg filled in for a game, and then
owner Stepien brought in Chuck Daly, who went 9-32 before making
way for the return of Musselman. Cleveland managed two winning
streaks during the season-three games in a row on one occasion
and back-to-back victories on another. Losing streaks were another
matter. The club lost four in a row twice, seven straight twice,
eight in a row once, and nine in a row once. The team ended the
year in a nosedive, losing its final 19 games to finish the season
at 15-67.
The Cavaliers continued to turn over players and coaches. Musselman
stepped down a week before the 1982-83 season began, and Tom Nissalke
was hired in his stead. The biggest player change came in December
when Cleveland traded Ron Brewer to the Golden State Warriors
for World B. Free. The Cavs, who lost the first five games of
the season to run their two-season losing streak to 24, were 3-19
when Free joined the club. He scored at least 20 points in every
game in January and helped the club win 5 of 15 games that month.
In February the team won four straight and almost broke even for
the month at 6-7. Cleveland finished the year at 23-59.
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1983-84: New Owners, New
Uniforms, Familiar Results
The
Stepien era came to a close during the offseason. On May 9, 1983,
Gordon and George Gund acquired the club, and the franchise began
a slow march back to respectability. The Gund brothers revamped
the team, signing Lonnie Shelton from Seattle and adding four
rookies to the roster. To symbolize the new start the Cavaliers
unveiled a new logo and new team colors, replacing the old wine
and gold with orange, white, and blue.
The uniforms may have been different, but early in the year the
results looked very much the same. At the end of January 1984
the Cavs owned a 13-30 record. But then the team went on a tear,
posting a 9-5 mark in February to close to within three games
of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. That was
as near as the Cavaliers would come. The squad dropped seven straight,
beginning with a loss in Detroit on February 26. The team's next
road win didn't come until the final game of the season in Washington.
The string of 16 consecutive road losses set a franchise record.
The Cavaliers finished the 1983-84 season with a 28-54 record
and won only five games on the road. A fourth-place Central Division
showing was the team's best since the 1978-79 campaign. Average
home attendance improved to 5,075, a jump of nearly 30 percent
over the previous year.
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1984-85: Karl Steers Cavs
Back Into Playoffs
The
Gund brothers continued to put their stamp on the new club. Six
weeks after the end of the season they fired Coach Tom Nissalke,
and two months later they hired 33-year-old George Karl to take
his place.
Offseason roster moves included the acquisition of 6-11, 240-pound
rookie center Mel Turpin, picked up in a trade with the Washington
Bullets for Cliff Robinson and Tim McCormick.
These changes did not immediately bear fruit. The 1984-85 Cavaliers
posted an 0-9 mark before claiming their first victory, then fell
to 2-19 before winning back-to-back games in mid-December. From
that point on the Cavs were a different team. After a 7-9 January,
the club posted back-to-back months of 9-6, and on April 9 they
faced the New Jersey Nets with a chance to clinch a playoff berth.
Down by seven points with less than 10 minutes remaining in the
game, the Cavs proceeded to outscore the Nets, 30-9, to nail down
a spot in the postseason for the first time in seven years.
The team finished at 36-46 and was seven games over .500 following
the dreadful 2-19 start. Credit for the turnaround went to Coach
Karl, forwards Phil Hubbard and Roy Hinson (who each averaged
15.8 points), and Free, who cashed in 22.5 points per game.
Cleveland faced the defending NBA-champion Celtics in the first
round of the 1985 NBA Playoffs, and the Cavs found themselves
heading back home two games in the hole after losing by three
points in Game 1 and two points in Game 2. The Cavaliers took
Game 3 behind Free's 32-point effort. Then, despite leading by
five points with four minutes left in Game 4, the club finally
succumbed to Boston by a score of 117-115.
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1985-86: A Fall from Contention
The
Cavaliers selected power forward Charles Oakley with the ninth
pick in the 1985 NBA Draft. Before the draft was through, however,
the club sent Oakley and second-round pick Calvin Duncan to Chicago
for Keith Lee (the No. 11 overall pick) and Ennis Whatley. Oakley
went on to have a solid career, first for Chicago and later for
the Knicks. Whatley played a total of eight games for the Cavs,
and Lee lasted for two relatively unproductive seasons in Cleveland.
The Cavs also picked up John "Hot Rod" Williams of Tulane in that
year's draft. The NBA, however, declared Williams ineligible pending
the conclusion of the Tulane sports bribery trial. Willliams was
found innocent the week before the 1986 NBA Draft and immediately
signed a contract with the Cavaliers.
Despite a five-game losing streak at home to start the new campaign,
Cleveland got off to a decent start, largely by posting a winning
road record through early January. But the team won only four
games that month and five games in February. Following a 2-6 start
in March, George Karl was fired and Gene Littles was brought in
to try to pilot the club to a second straight playoff appearance.
On March 22 the Cavs beat the Bulls in Cleveland, and they held
a 21/2-game lead over Chicago in the race for the final postseason
slot in the Eastern Conference. But the team lost seven straight
down the stretch to fall out of contention at 29-53.
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1986-88: Productive Drafts
Pave Road To Success
The
following summer the Cavaliers began to assemble the pieces that
would eventually turn the franchise into a serious contender in
the Central Division. Holding the first and eighth picks in the
1986 NBA Draft (the No. 1 pick resulted from a trade with the
Philadelphia 76ers), the Cavs took 7-foot center Brad Daugherty
and 6-6 guard Ron Harper, respectively. The Cavaliers also acquired
the draft rights to guard Mark Price. In addition, Cleveland appointed
former Cincinnati Royals standout Wayne Embry as vice president
and general manager. Later that summer Lenny Wilkens was hired
as the Cavs' head coach.
Because of all this reshuffling, Cleveland fielded a promising
young team in 1986-87. The club's inexperience showed in its 31-51
record, but Harper, Daugherty, and first-year forward Hot Rod
Williams all sparkled. Harper led the team in scoring (22.9 ppg),
games played (82), minutes (3,064), steals (209), and assists
(394). And the trio of youngsters were Cleveland's top three scorers,
marking the first time since the 1955-56 season that a team was
led by a trifecta of rookies. At season's end, Harper, Daugherty,
and Williams were all selected to the NBA All-Rookie Team.
After the season the Cavs added first-round draft pick Kevin Johnson
but stood pat otherwise. The club started 1987-88 without Williams,
who missed the first five games because of a sore left foot. Playing
against Atlanta in only the second game of the season, Harper
suffered a severely sprained left ankle and missed almost two
months of action. Despite the injuries, the Cavaliers managed
to hover around the .500 mark throughout the first half of the
season, thanks in part to Daugherty, who played well enough to
earn a trip to the NBA All-Star Game. He was Cleveland's first
representative in the contest since Mike Mitchell in 1981.
On February 21 the Cavs stood at 28-25. Three days later Cleveland
engineered a blockbuster trade that sent Johnson, Tyrone Corbin,
and Mark West to Phoenix for Larry Nance and Mike Sanders. The
Suns also received a first-round draft choice and two second-round
picks from the Cavs.
Cleveland struggled after the trade, losing 12 of its next 15
games. But the new pieces began to fit as March came to a close,
and the team took 11 of 13 to end the season and clinch a playoff
spot. The Cavaliers finished the year at 42-40. They were the
second-best defensive team in the league, ranked second in three-point
percentage (.378), and were third in blocked shots (526).
Cleveland faced Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in a first-round
playoff matchup. The Bulls took the first two games as Jordan
became the first player in NBA playoff history to score 50 points
or more in back-to-back contests. Cleveland answered by winning
the next two, despite performances of 38 and 44 points from Jordan.
The Cavs jumped out to a 35-23 first-quarter lead in Game 5 before
Jordan took over, scoring 21 of his 39 points in the second half
and leading Chicago to victory. He averaged 45.2 points for the
series to set an NBA playoff record for a five-game series. It
wasn't the only time that Jordan almost single-handedly bumped
the Cavs from the postseason.
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1988-89: Don't Ask Cleveland
How To Stop Michael Jordan
With
Williams, Harper, Daugherty, and Price playing in their third
season together, and with Wilkens in his third season as head
coach, everything fell into place for the 1988-89 team. Opening
day saw Cleveland rout the expansion Charlotte Hornets by 40 points,
the second-largest margin of victory in franchise history. An
8-3 start in November was the team's best beginning in 11 years.
On December 15 the Cavs embarked on a franchise-record 11-game
winning streak. As usual, the success was built on defense. Emblematic
was a 104-96 win in January over the Knicks in which the Cavs
tied an NBA record by blocking 21 shots. Two weeks later Cleveland
showed that the team could light up the scoreboard as well, pounding
the Warriors, 142-109.
From December 16 to March 13 Cleveland boasted the No. 1 record
in the league. The club nailed down win No. 50-a franchise first-with
a victory against Dallas on March 28. Although the Cavs finished
six games behind the Detroit Pistons in the Central Division,
Cleveland owned a 57-25 record and tied with the Los Angeles Lakers
for the second-best showing in the league.
The Cavs faced the Bulls in the opening round of the playoffs
for the second straight year. The teams split the first two games
played in Cleveland. Then the scene shifted to Chicago, where
they split another pair of games. The Cavaliers forced Game 5
with a 108-105 victory in Game 4, but on May 7 Michael Jordan
nailed a 16-foot jump shot at the buzzer as the Bulls eliminated
the Cavs, 101-100. The image of Jordan hitting the clutch turnaround
shot over Craig Ehlo lives on as one of the great moments in playoff
history.
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1989-91: Injury Bug Stings
Cavs For Two Straight Seasons
The
1989-90 season was a disappointment, but injuries were a large
part of the reason. The team started the year without Brad Daugherty
(who missed the first half of the season) and Larry Nance. Mark
Price also sat out 8 of the club's first 15 games. In a surprise
move made only two weeks into the season, the Cavaliers sent Ron
Harper and three future draft choices to the Los Angeles Clippers
for Reggie Williams and the rights to Danny Ferry.
Down the stretch, the Cavaliers dueled with the Atlanta Hawks
for the final playoff spot in the East. The Cavs squeaked into
the postseason by winning 17 of 23 to end the year at 42-40. For
the third year in a row the club went five games in the first
round before bowing out, this time to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Much of the team's success during the 1989-90 campaign came from
behind the three-point line. The Cavs set a new franchise record
by sinking 8 three-pointers on November 15, then poured in 9 on
December 11. On January 6, Steve Kerr went 5-for-5 from three-point
distance in the fourth quarter of a game against the Orlando Magic.
Nine days later the team hit 10 treys. For the season, the Cavs
set an NBA record for team three-point percentage (.407) and led
the league in three-pointers made (346) and attempted (851). Kerr
led the league in individual three-point field goal percentage
with a .507 mark.
The Cavaliers may have been hampered by injuries in 1989-90, but
the team was demolished by the bug in 1990-91. The squad's injured
players missed a combined total of 241 games because of various
physical ailments and disabilities, and only Craig Ehlo appeared
in all 82 contests. Cleveland started well enough and was 6-3
after nine games, tied for the Central Division lead with the
defending NBA-champion Detroit Pistons. Then, on November 16,
Hot Rod Williams sustained a sprained foot that knocked him out
for 37 games. Two weeks later Price tore the anterior cruciate
ligament in his left knee and was lost for the season.
Daugherty and Nance did their best to keep the Cavs competitive.
Daugherty became the first Cavaliers player to average more than
20 points and 10 rebounds in a season, and Nance chipped in 19.2
points per game. But Cleveland finished out of the playoffs with
a 33-49 record.
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1991-92: All-Stars Daugherty
And Price Lead Cavs To 57 Wins
After
battling bad luck for two seasons, the team survived 1991-92 relatively
unscathed. The only significant loss was Ehlo, who missed 19 games
late in the year with a sprained left knee. But with the rest
of the lineup basically healthy, Cleveland returned to the form
it had displayed during the 1988-89 season and went 57-25.
Cleveland showed the league just how dominating a team it could
be on December 17, when the Cavs demolished the Miami Heat, 148-80,
setting an NBA record for margin of victory. The Cavs lost to
New Jersey the next day, then won 11 straight to tie a franchise
mark. At the All-Star break the team was 31-14. Daugherty and
Price represented the Cavaliers in the midseason classic.
The 1991-92 Cleveland squad's 57 regular-season wins were a 25-game
improvement over the previous season. Along the way Daugherty
became the franchise's all-time leading rebounder, Lenny Wilkens
won game No. 800, and Nance surpassed Elvin Hayes as the most
prolific shotblocking forward in NBA history. Price led the NBA
with a .947 free throw percentage, which at the time was the second-best
mark in league history.
Cleveland faced New Jersey in the playoffs and dispatched the
Nets in four games to advance past the first round for the first
time since 1976. The Cavs moved on to confront the Atlantic Division
champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals,
and Cleveland took the series in seven games, routing Boston by
18 points in the deciding Game 7.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers went up against
the Chicago Bulls. The teams took turns pounding each other through
the first five meetings and headed into Game 6 with the Bulls
leading the series, three games to two. Chicago then eliminated
Cleveland with a 99-94 victory.
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1992-93: Jordan Sends
Cavaliers Home-Again
The
Cavs signed Knicks free agent Gerald Wilkins in the offseason
but fielded basically the same club going into the 1992-93 campaign.
The team started off slowly, posting a 6-7 record in November.
Six of those losses came after Daugherty was sidelined with tendinitis
and bursitis in his left knee. In a game in mid-December, Cleveland
and Washington played to a 90-90 tie, then went crazy in overtime.
The Cavs beat the Bullets, 111-107, outscoring Washington, 21-17,
in the extra period. The 38 points scored by the two teams missed
the NBA record for an overtime period by a single point.
Cleveland reached the end of January with a 25-18 record, then
fashioned the best month in team history by winning 12 of 13 games
in February. With a February 12 victory against the Milwaukee
Bucks, Lenny Wilkens moved past Bill Fitch into fourth place on
the NBA all-time coaching victory list with 846 career wins. Cleveland
sent three players-Daugherty, Nance, and Price-to the 1993 NBA
All-Star Game.
After a 6-6 March the Cavaliers put together a solid April, going
11-3 to finish at 54-28, three games behind the Bulls. The sharp-shooting
Cavs staked a claim as one of the most accurate clubs in NBA history,
leading the league in field goal percentage (.497), free throw
percentage (.802), and three-point percentage (.381).
For the second year in a row the Cavs faced the Nets in the first
round of the playoffs. They advanced once again but needed all
five games to subdue New Jersey. Cleveland moved on to face Chicago
for the fourth time in six years, and once again Michael Jordan
and the Bulls were a playoff curse for the Cavaliers. This time
it was a sweep. In Game 4, Jordan dropped an 18-footer at the
buzzer to seal a 103-101 victory for Chicago.
One week after the Cavs' final playoff game, Wilkens resigned
as head coach, ending his seven-year tenure at the team's helm.
On June 17, 1993, Cleveland announced that Mike Fratello had signed
on to become the 11th coach in Cavaliers history.
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1993-94: Phenomenal Price
Can't Save Cavs
Mike
Fratello's arrival did not result in immediate improvements for
the Cavaliers. In 1993-94 the team fell seven wins short of its
total from the previous year and went out meekly in the playoffs.
Injuries were the main culprit. Brad Daugherty missed 32 games
due to a back injury, and Larry Nance was on the sidelines for
more than half the campaign with a knee injury. The team started
poorly and then rallied with 11 straight wins from February 18
to March 8.
However, without Daugherty and Nance, the team played .500 ball
through the end of the regular season. In the playoffs an injured
John Williams joined his ailing frontcourtmates on the bench,
and the Cavs started Tyrone Hill at center and Rod Higgins and
Bobby Phills at the forward positions. It was a short postseason-the
Chicago Bulls swept Cleveland in three games.
Mark Price was again one of the league's better point guards.
He led the Cavs in scoring (17.3 ppg) and ranked ninth in the
league in assists (7.8 apg), 12th in three-point shooting (.397),
and fifth in free throw percentage (.888). A member of the All-NBA
Third Team, he won the NBA Long Distance Shootout at the All-Star
Weekend for the second consecutive season and was a member of
Dream Team II at the 1994 World Championship of Basketball.
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1994-95: Cavs' Defense
Saves Injury-Plagued Season
Injuries
hit the 1994-95 Cleveland Cavaliers hard, but the team adopted
an unusually slowed-down style of play and somehow squeezed out
a winning season. The club lost two of its most potent weapons,
Brad Daugherty and Gerald Wilkins, for the entire campaign because
of injuries. Mark Price and Terrell Brandon also missed significant
time, but Coach Mike Fratello made the most of what he had to
work with, using a slow, deliberate, defense-oriented approach
that was dull but effective enough for a 43-39 record. Cleveland
led the Central Division for much of the season's first half.
Defense was the story for the Cavs this season, as the club allowed
opponents an average of 89.8 points per game, the second-best
mark in NBA history. (The Syracuse Nationals were the last NBA
team to give up fewer points per game when they held opposing
teams to 89.7 points per contest in 1954-55, the first season
in which the 24-second clock was used.) On offense, Cleveland
finished last among the NBA's 27 teams with an average of 90.5
points per outing. No Cleveland player finished in the league's
top 40 scorers.
The Cavs tied the longest winning streak in team history when
they won 11 in a row from December 9 to December 30, the third-longest
winning string in the NBA in 1994-95. Tyrone Hill played a big
role in Cleveland's success, averaging 13.8 points and 10.9 rebounds
and earning selection to the All-Star Game for the first time
in his career. Guard Bobby Phills and forward Chris Mills developed
into legitimate NBA starters, and the closer three-point line
adopted in 1994-95 allowed Danny Ferry to become an offensive
threat off the bench.
Despite these bright spots, the Cavaliers suffered from a manpower
shortage all season. They finished nine games out of first place
and were beaten in the playoffs by the New York Knicks, three
games to one. In that series 10 all-time records for low performances
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1995-96: Fratello Slows
Pace to Stay in Race
The
1995-96 Cavaliers, under the guidance of Coach Mike Fratello,
never were in danger of overloading the scoreboard, but were a
success story nonetheless. Despite an offense that ranked next
to last in the league, (91.1 ppg) the Cavs excelled by allowing
the fewest points in NBA history (88.5 ppg).
But while critics of the Cavaliers slow-paced style called it
boring, basketball purists saw a team that played hard, played
together, recognized the little things that win games and didn't
let egos get in the way of success. Fratello's overachievers finished
47-35, the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference.
While the Knicks used superior talent to sweep the Cavs in the
first round of the playoffs, the Cavs established a solid foundation
from which to build. Terrell Brandon developed from a bench player
into an All-Star and a big-time contributor. Danny Ferry received
consideration for the league's Most Improved Player award and
set a team record with eight straight three-pointers against Charlotte
on February 13. Other players, including Chris Mills, Bobby Phills,
Dan Majerle, Tyrone Hill, Michael Cage and Bob Sura understood
their roles and played them well.
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1996-97: Last Day Dooms
Playoff Hopes
The
Cavaliers' quest to reach the playoffs in 1996-97 was hard-fought.
Under Mike Fratello, the team continued to employ a style of ball
that maximized the team's talent - the result was a 42-40 record,
but a loss to the Washington Bullets on the final day of the season
allowed Washington to leapfrog past Cleveland for the final Eastern
Conference playoff spot.
Though the season ended with a dark cloud, there were several
silver linings to dull the bitter taste of failing to reach the
playoffs. With a 73-70 win over Chicago, Cleveland handed the
Bulls one of only 13 losses on the season. They also dealt the
Los Angeles Lakers a 103-84 drubbing at the Forum.
Individually, Terrell Brandon was dubbed by Sports Illustrated
as the best point guard in the NBA. Brandon earned his second
straight All-Star berth, and the opportunity to play among the
league's best in front of the home crowd at Gund Arena. Second-year
guard Bobby Sura emerged as an effective playmaker and a potent
defensive force. Tyrone Hill, one of the league's most underrated
players, was among the league leaders in rebounding and field
goal percentage.
With their deliberate style of play, the Cavs allowed an NBA record-low
85.6 points per game. They gave up just 57 points to the Orlando
Magic on December 4, tying an NBA record for fewest points allowed.
However, it wasn't quite enough to propel the team into postseason
play, snapping a five-year streak in which the team had qualified
to the playoffs.
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1997-98: Revamped Cavs
Return to Postseason
In
response to being shut out of the playoffs in 1996-97, President
Wayne Embry and the Cavs spent a busy offseason revamping their
entire starting lineup. Gone were Terrell Brandon, Chris Mills,
Tyrone Hill and Bobby Phills. In their place were veterans Shawn
Kemp and Wesley Person, as well as a quartet of rookies who made
quite an impact in their first NBA season. The result -- a surprising
47-35 record, and a return to the postseason.
"I like the people we have and I like what they're about," said
Cleveland Coach Mike Fratello of his new-look team. There were
many reasons to like Kemp, a five-time All-Star with Seattle who
was acquired in a three-way deal that sent Hill and Brandon to
Milwaukee on September 25. The 28-year-old power forward quickly
adapted to his new team and averaged 18.0 ppg and 9.3 rpg,, becoming
the first player in franchise history to be named a starter in
the NBA All-Star Game. Person, who came to Cleveland as part of
a three-way deal with Denver and Phoenix, ranked second on the
team in scoring at 14.7 ppg.
Kemp was among friends at All-Star Weekend. An unprecedented four
Cavalier rookies, Cedric Henderson, Brevin Knight, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
and Derek Anderson, were selected to play in the Rookie Game.
When guard Bob Sura missed 33 games with a left ankle injury early
in the season, it was Knight who stepped in and stepped up, averaging
8.2 apg (8th in the NBA) and 9.0 ppg. He also led the league in
total steals (196), ranking second in the NBA with 2.45 spg. Ilguaskas
led the Cavaliers with 1.65 blocks per game to go with 13.9 points
and 8.8 rebounds. Anderson (11.7 ppg) and Henderson (10.1 ppg)
shored up the small forward position.
As a team, the Cavaliers recorded the most steals in franchise
history this season with 814; their 9.93 spg average ranked second
in the league. Cleveland also forced 17.6 turnovers per game (third
in the NBA), shot .372 from three-point range (fourth) and held
its opponents to 89.8 ppg (fourth). The team finished in the sixth
playoff position, and lost a first-round series with the Indiana
Pacers in four games.
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1998-99: Agony of Da Feet
The
lockout-shortened season looked bright for the Cleveland Cavaliers,
who had a roster of promising young players to complement perennial
All-Star Shawn Kemp. And then starting center Zydrunas Ilgauskas
broke his left foot.
Ilgauskas, MVP of the 1998 Schick Rookie Challenge, averaged 15.2
points and 8.8 rebounds in the first five games before suffering
the season-ending injury. Cleveland finished the season 22-28
and missed the playoffs for only the second time in eight years.
Kemp had another stellar season, scoring a career-high 20.5 points
per game and averaging 9.2 rebounds. Brevin Knight was seventh
in the NBA in assists (7.7 apg).
Cleveland made one trade during the season, acquiring Andrew DeClerq
and a first-round pick from Boston for center Vitaly Potapenko.
DeClerq played 33 games for the Cavs, including 32 starts, and
averaged 9.0 points and 5.8 rebounds.
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