The NBA has just wrapped up Heritage Week, so forgive me if I reminisce a bit and sound like an old man sitting on his porch talking about basketball from a previous era.
Over the course of Heritage Week, many moments were highlighted which got me thinking back to watching basketball in my younger years.
I was a hockey fan, or more specifically a Toronto Maple Leafs fan growing up, but my time spent with relatives in Queens, New York introduced me to basketball and made me an ardent follower of a game that only a select few of my Canadian friends cared for.
My earliest NBA memories as a kid centre around the New York Knicks, another team that was at one time close to my heart but now couldn't be further away geographically.
That's right, I'm talking about the forgotten team in Los Angeles, the Clippers.
At one time, the "sad sack" Clippers were the proud Buffalo Braves. With the Buffalo Bills soon to embrace Toronto as their "home away from home," the Braves were in a similar position in the mid-'70s, developing a huge following in the Toronto area.
Today's trip to Buffalo to watch the Bills, was being made back in the '70s by basketball fans to the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium to take in NBA basketball.
"The Aud," as it was affectionately known, was the spot to see NBA games and to watch some of the greats up close. But Maple Leaf Gardens soon became a hot spot if you didn't want to travel down the QEW to watch hoops.
I can remember going to watch games at the Gardens and sneaking my way down to court level to get a look at legendary players and then worming my way back into the tunnel to stand beside some of the greats like Lenny Wilkens, and Pistol Pete Maravich.
In the 1974-1975 season, the Braves went 5-1 in their six contests played in Toronto with wins over the likes of Philadelphia and the powerhouse Knicks, with the only loss coming at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
Of course I was cheering for the Braves, Hall of Fame head coach Jack Ramsey and role players such as forwards Garfield Heard and Jim McMillan, and guards William "Bird" Averitt, Ken Charles and Bob Weiss.
But it was the stars that made the Braves attractive in the Toronto area. Randy Smith was a local kid from the University of Buffalo and he achieved all-star status. If you check the Clipper record book, his name can be found in many different categories. Smith was named All-Star game MVP in 1978, the last year the Braves played in Buffalo.
Adrian Dantley made a splash in the NBA as Rookie of the Year as a member of the Braves in 1977 fresh off his Olympic Gold Medal as a member of team USA at the Montreal games. Dantley wasn't the only big-time rookie in Braves history.
Ernie DiGregorio won top rookie honours in 1974 and John Shumate was a member of the All-Rookie team in 1976. But the brightest spotlight was reserved for Bob McAdoo. "Doo," amazingly the only MVP not voted amongst the NBA's Top 50 all-time players, was spectacular. He was a one-man-gang on some nights, putting up huge numbers on a regular basis.
McAdoo was the Rookie of the Year in 1973 and he won the scoring title in '74, '75 and '76.
He later won a championship as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
"Bob McAdoo's play and the excitement he brought to the game is the reason I selected number 11," said Raptors broadcaster Leo Rautins.
"The first NBA game I ever saw was Pete Maravich against the Braves in Toronto," recalls Niagara Falls native and Raptors assistant coach Jay Triano.
Although Triano didn't sneak down to the floor or make it as far as the tunnel as I did because as he put it "he was scared to death being in Toronto at such a young age," he did cut the elastics out of his socks so they would flop like Pistol Pete's.
Unfortunately for the Braves, the market looked better out west and during the 1978-79 season they became the San Diego Clippers, later moving up state to Los Angeles.
Take a look at the Clippers media guide and if you are a basketball fan from way back in the day, the recognizable and great names that played for this franchise will have you shaking your head.
Ron Harper, Doc Rivers, Mark Jackson, Marques Johnson, Billy Knight, Moses Malone, Cedric Maxwell, Bill Walton, Dominique Wilkins, Kiki Vandeweghe, Jamaal (Keith) Wilkes, Sidney Wicks, Matt Goukas, Terry Cummings, Marvin "Bad News" Barnes and Nate Archibald.
It will be an east vs. west matchup when the Braves er I mean, Clippers take on the Raptors in Los Angeles Tuesday but remember at one time, the Los Angeles Clippers were Toronto's team.
