basketball is a sport where the craziest dunks and the most beautiful moves usually get the spotlight but there was one NBA player who used a move so simple and effective that it made him the top scorer of the league for nearly 40 years straight this Legend was K kareim Abdul Jabar and his famous sky hook a move that every Defender saw coming but nobody could stop to find out how he won six MVPs alongside six NBA championships only using one move we have to go back to March 29th 1967 4 days after Lu Alcindor and his UCLA teammates had won the National Collegiate Association Championship the NCAA decided to make a shocking decision while many pointed towards another Powerhouse team Houston as the reason for this change the real truth was that the sophomore from New York was far too dominant elendor who stood at 7'2 tall had been heavily recruited from Power memorial Academy for not only his height but his incredible ability to move move around the court you see Lou was unlike any other big with many fans believing the rising Superstar was as if you combine the defense of dominance of Boston Celtics Legend Bill Russell and the offensive talents of his rival Will Chamberlain however given that Lou had just lost the ability to use his favorite move would he still dominate as the offseason progressed elendor would think back to his days as a giant child remembering the lessons a local college player had taught him and while Lou failed to remember his name he did remember the drill they worked on that day Ray Meer the head coach at depole University had taught his big man George mikin a simple exercise to help him with his finesse around the hoop the Young Center would continue to practice coach race draw every day and mik gave it credit as one of the main reasons he was able to win five NBA championships for the Minneapolis Lakers elendor frustrated with the ncaa's ruling would spend hours upon hours with his UCLA bronze head coach John Wooden using the mik and drill to perfect a new way of scoring around the basket it was this time spent with Coach wooden that would help the now Junior big man develop a new weapon which alcendor Knew by the time he made it to the NBA would make him unguardable however coach wooden knew there was still an issue with his Big's new move January 20th 1968 the Bruins have won 47 games in a row and are set to face Alin Big E Hayes and the Houston Cougars in what many were dubbing the game of the century as hay entered the match flashbacks of the final four defeat at the hands of his rival last season played in his mind and he knew today in front of 52,000 fans was his chance to finally get revenge early in the first half Lou decided to attempt his new and improved move only for Big E to rise up and send it flying not only did Elvin hold Alcindor who was still recovering from a scratched cornea to just 15 points he would score 39 of his own leading his cougars to Victory to add insult to literal injury a few weeks later Sports Illustrated would put an image of Hayes shooting over Alcindor on their front cover with the title Big E over Big L angered by this headline the UCLA star would rip the cover clean off and tape it to the inside of his locker counting down the days until he could get his Vengeance 22nd of March 1968 the day has finally arrived elendor would start the game by showcasing the changes he had made to his signature move because his code had identified a huge floor coach wooden would spend hours with the star adding more Arc meaning Lou was able to get what was now being dubbed the Skyhook over any Defender and he would lead his Bruins to what was at the time the largest win in Final Four history throughout his final Collegiate season still refrained from dunking by the NCA Lou would continue to refine and develop his unique move UCLA star would average 24 points per game win his third Collegiate championship in a row and was named as the player of the year elendor was clearly ready to play professional basketball so who would he be playing for the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks had both entered the NBA in the 1968 1969 season and had struggled finishing last in their respective divisions while the modern NBA uses a lottery system before 1985 the worst team in each conference would simply flip a coin to decide who would get the number one pick Phoenix I call head the coin has come up Hil so with his original signature move of dunking put back on the table would the new Milwaukee Buck big man continue to utilize his patented hook shot or would he leave it in California 18th of October 1969 the Milwaukee Bucks opened their second season as a franchise against the Detroit Pistons at home Lou understanding how dominant his new move was decided that he no longer needed to try and dunk instead he could rely on his Skyhook to score with ease and as the first half progressed it seemed like Alcindor was literally unguardable you've just played your first 24 minutes as a pro what are your impressions of this first half it's kind of hard to say you know I'm really caught up in the midst of it I want to make the best contribution to the team and I I made quite a few mistakes I'm worried about it but uh you know that's something I have to overcome the Bucks rookie would into his debut having stuffed the stat sheet scoring an incredible 29 Points grabbing 12 rebounds throwing six assists blocking three shots and getting three steals but this wasn't all throughout the remainder of the 1969 1970 season thanks to his 28. 8 point 14. 5 rebound and 4.
1 assist averages Lou would help add an extra 29 wins to his team's record in just his rookie year elendor had carried the sophomore NBA franchise to their playoff debut earning him Rookie of the Year honors however given that the buck star was only 225 lb tiny for a center would he still be able to dominate against the much stronger Philadelphia 76ers game five University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse over the past week elendor has averaged as many points as his jersey number which he chose to honor his favorite athlete New York Giants running back Mel triplet but something was different about Milwaukee's strategy throughout this must-win game because their Rookie of the Year big man was being fed shot after shot while he would only average 21 field goal attempts in their first four contests throughout the win or go home match he shot 36 times allowing the young star to drop 46 points this sudden scoring explosion appeared with a 26 rebound outing saw Philadelphia being sent back home empty-handed winning just seemed to follow the New York star wherever he went and it seemed likely the buck would be going all the way April 17th 1970 another loss today would Place Milwaukee in an impossible hole therefore under understanding of the situation at hand Lou would score Skyhook after Skyhook not only did alcendor drop 33 points he would also grab a new career high 31 rebounds saving the bucks from certain death however just 3 Days Later despite their Superstar scoring 38 in game four and 27 in game five the New York Knicks would end Milwaukee's Championship dreams whilst the Bucks thanks to their number one pick were a much improved team it became clear clear to their management that no matter how dominant their star big man Skyhook was they needed another Superstar almost a year later Milwaukee led by their 1970 1971 NBA Most Valuable Player and scoring champion found themselves in the Western Conference Finals elendor has had this specific matchup circled on his calendar since he was a teenager in New York because wels the big deer Chamberlain who led the Lakers lived in the Big Apple throughout the offseason and sponsored as well as part participated in street ball tournaments throughout the city it was here where alcendor would be inspired seeing not only the strength of Chamberlain but the Finesse of his Newfound Idol throughout the Western Conference Finals the buckstar big man would average 25 points 17. 2 rebounds and 4. 2 assists dominating his Idol who despite having a reported 40 plus in vertical and allegedly being able to touch the top of the backboard was never able to even get a finger on his Prodigy Skyhook as the series continued it only took the Bucks five games to dispose of our Le however Lou would have never beaten his Idol if it wasn't for Milwaukee's offseason acquisition because just a day after they were sent packing by New York the Bucks had traded for Oscar Robertson a star point guard who had failed to make it to the NBA finals in his 10-year career thanks to the quick work of Milwaukee's management they had found themselves in their first NBA finals against the Baltimore Bullets over the course of the next 9 days the combination of outside scoring and passing from Robertson and the interior domination on both sides of the floor from Lou saw the Bucks sweep the bullets winning every game by an average margin of 12.
25 points crowning Milwaukee as the champions of the NBA L congratulations Oscar just paid you a great compliment you had a great series congrat big help it was a big help not to play the hell of a game how about yourself you played a great game congratulations on the MVP thank you very much how about the way Oscar put this ball club together don't you think that the addition of Robertson at the last year put a great ball club together well in this last game like uh you know we weren't we weren't all together today you know we were missing some of our offensive players he just came right in made the big play got the rebound put the ball in the hoop made three-point plays he did everything however something would change about the buck Superstar over the off season 1966 Lou a freshman at UCLA was spent his free time reading listening to jazz music and it was a particular book that really began to change the way he viewed the world Malcolm X's autobiography would see alcendor further explore the Muslim religion coupled with some classmates sharing a Quran with him alcendor ultimately decided to convert to Islam alongside alcindor's religious change he would also receive a new name so it's Abdu Al Jabar and Abdu Al Karim meaning servant of the noble servant of the irresistible but it wasn't until just after his incredible championship winning season that Lou made his decisions public and Kareem had set a new goal be the first team since 1969 to win backto back NBA championships yet his idols team had made a huge change Bill Shaman a four-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics was named as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers before the 1971 1972 season Shaman would bring in the same style of play Boston had used as they built a dynasty that would win 11 championships over 13 seasons and it was this coaching change that led Los Angeles to carry a 33 game win streak with them to Milwaukee on January 9th 1972 as this regular season game progressed Jabar scored 39 points grabbed 20 rebounds and threw five assists completely crushing his Idol and his team's hopes of winning 34 games in a row Milwaukee would maintain this momentum to end the their back-to-back Championship campaign Kareem would average 34 points per game his dominance earning him his second MVP award the Buck's path of Destruction carried them back for a rematch of last year's Western Conference finals and many assu Milwaukee's group on the NBA would remain however something was very different about wils because with each passing game reporters that had followed Chamberlain his whole career were noticing something different the Big Dipper was contesting every single buck shot grabbing almost every rebound and doing something that no one had been able to since 1968 block the unblockable Kareem Abdul Jabar Skyhook and it was jabbar's Idol who would be moving on to the NBA finals while many thought this would be a small speed bump in his journey it was only the beginning of Kareem's issues you see for the first time in his 12-year career Oscar bigo Robertson was not voted in as an Allstar why well his long career was starting to take a toll on the once dominant guard's body he was forced to wear a protective covering over his hamstring making it obvious that Oscar's career was nearing its end however the Bucks had planed for this drafting a guard that they believed could fill Robertson's shoes once he decided to retire and Bob Dandridge was only getting better with each season because thanks to his 20. 8 point per game average during the 1972 1973 season dandri essentially replaced his veteran teammate in the All-Star Game while Bob could replace scoring there was a skill he couldn't replicate without their point guard at full strength to correctly distribute the ball Kim struggled in their first round matchup against the Golden State Warriors Jabar would shoot a shocking 42% from the field and the player Milwaukee was betting on to step up faled dandridge's scoring average plummeted to just 13. 8 per game so was this the end of The Buck dominance 10th of May 1974 Milwaukee is down 1 point with 7 seconds remaining failing to score here and their insane effort throughout the 1973 1974 season was for nothing but how did the Bucks get back in the NBA Finals anyway firstly Bob Dandridge had learned from his failures his confidence had grown throughout the season allowing him to maintain his 21.
2 point per game average secondly Big O understanding how crucial his role was would slim down significantly his lighter frame meant he remained injury-free and on the Court which all led up to this crucial moment osar Robertson cl to Kar 7 Seconds Kareem with a big pressure shot nothing but net again I can't believe the way these players are performing out here Pat just absolutely fantastic Jo Joe White will throw it in this time goes to westall D white his long jump shot is no good Milwaukee wins it Milwaukee wins it in double overturn game seven Milwaukee Arena motivated to win his second NBA Championship in Four Seasons Kareem despite facing double and triple teams would pour in 26 points his signature move meant that he could shoot over multiple Defenders without having to use any strength or even risk losing the ball however once again the rest of Milwaukee struggled dandri only scored 14 points and even more shocking was Robertson who only made two of his 13 field goal attempts Boston was one once again NBA champions not only had Kareem lost the 1974 Championship he would also lose his All-Star teammate a few days later jabbar's future in Wisconsin was looking Bleak and all this frustration reached its boiling point in a preseason game because frustrated with what he believed to be unfair treatment from the officials the buck star punched the basket resulting in his right hand being broken therefore Milwaukee without their two-time MVP struggled throughout the 19 74 1975 regular season and for the first time since the Superstar big man was a child he had missed the postseason entirely this failure caused a discouraged Kareem to sit down with Buck's management and formally request a trade asking to be moved to either his hometown or where he had spent his Collegiate years so join us won't you in welcoming the newest Laker Kareem Abdul Jabar do you feel any particular great pressure as a man on the spot that's going to supposed to bring the championship all of a sudden no not really uh everybody involved knows that it's going to take more than one man I think I'm going to be very instrumental in helping to achieve that throughout the 1975 1976 season the new Laker big man's dominance would continue his signature Skyhook meant he could rely Less on his talent and more on his incredible skill jabbar's 27. 7 Point 16. 9 rebound and 4.
4 block average helped add an extra 10 wins to Ali's record allowing Kareem to be awarded his third MVP despite this Los Angeles for the second season in a row had missed the playoffs an unacceptable fact for a franchise that had made it to the finals 15 times since the 1948 49 season something had to change we might surprise some people but they have found a way every night we've had someone to come off the bench that has contributed to to us winning and I think that's the encouraging thing May 4th 1977 throughout this win or go home game Jabar would pour in hook shot after hook shot ending the game with an incredible 36 points yet it wasn't just Sky hooks that kareim provided he would Block in insane nine shots in game two and pull down 26 rebounds in their final game meaning for the first time in three seasons the Lakers had won a playoff series however awaiting them was a another young talented Big Man William Theodore Walton II or better known by his nickname bill was another John Wooden disciple who had also been selected number one overall by the struggling Portland Trailblazers in 1974 over the past few seasons Walton has turned Portland into a championship contending franchise but standing between him and the trophy was the Los Angeles Lakers and Kareem Abdul Jabar both pig men would battle throughout the series with neither one of them willing to give the other an inch Jabar would average 30. 3 points pull down 16 rebounds and send back 3. 8 shots per game Walton would retaliate with 19.
6 points 14. 8 boards and 2. 3 blocks of his own however despite the Lakers star winning the individual battle it was the Blazers who won the war Kareem was devastated he had reached the highest peak of basketball in just his second year in the NBA and Jabar knew all he needed was a superstar teammate an individual who could relieve him of some of the scoring pressure provide spacing and force defenses to reconsider their double teams yet throughout the 1977 1978 offseason the Lakers failed to make any moves to bolster their roster and on opening night all of their Superstar's frustration reached its peak Not only was Jabar ejected he had punched Kent Benson so hard that he had broken his hand it was due to this Behavior and the fact that they main option had missed the first two months at the start of the Season that for the first time in his career Kareem was not named as an All-Star so what was Los Angeles's plan to get back to Championship contention anyway because on April 25th 1979 for the second season in a row the Lakers were eliminated by the Seattle SuperSonics in just the second round of the playoffs despite this tragic loss everything was about to change in Los Angeles August 6th 1976 Gail Goodrich the Lakers leading scorer before their star big man arrived has just been traded to the seconde expansion team the New Orleans Jazz Louisiana's new NBA team would send the Lakers their 1980 first round pick betting that their new player will turn their franchise around however Four Seasons later Goodrich after yet another losing season has decided to retire the Jazz franchise is moving to Utah and the Lakers are set for a coin flip against the Chicago bulls for who gets the number one pick with ratings attendance and general interest in the NBA dwindling Bulls general manager Rod Thorne decided to hold a fan vote allowing Bulls faithful to choose hits or tails the prize for making the corer call 6'8 in sophore from Ling Michigan Urban Magic Johnson Gonzalez looking for help oh what a pass by Johnson that now and here goes Johnson it's Johnson back to go keler I can't believe oh my Chicago fans much like Rod Thorne would do when signing a player dissected the analytics understanding that in the past 10 coin flips it had landed on taals and incredible nine times therefore bull supporters voted for thorn to select heads so who would get the right to select magic the Los Angeles Lakers select Urban Magic Johnson mate 6800 lb October 12th 1979 101 102 Lake his ball sideline out of bounds Nixon Magic Johnson and Kareem Ford sends it to Kareem sky hook up and good Lakers win I run real fast I jump in his lap and start choking him hugging him just all this enthusiasm and just crazy over-the-top uh joy and uh I said jeez you know magic uh we got 881 more games and I said Kareem if you ever hit a shot like that 81 more times I'm going jump in your arms 81 more times magic was clearly the solution to La's problems the addition of a second Superstar allowed Jabar more room to operate resulting in the Lakers big man winning his sixth Most Valuable Player of the award of his career and this wasn't all because led by Johnson's energy the Lakers began to push the ball at an incredible Pace dominating the NBA on route to 60 wins however the Lakers would have to do something they hadn't been able to since kareim arrived game one Western Conference Finals the six-time MVP would shoot an incredible 12 from 16 from the field resulting in 26 points but Los Angeles would yet again lose to the defending NBA champion Sonics however Kareem who many believe should already have multiple championship rings wasn't going to let his team down no over the next week at 32 years old he would Skyhook his way to a 30 31 Point per game average a performance that would lead Los Angeles after three long Seasons back to the NBA finals so who were they set to face April 10th 1972 the Milwaukee Bucks after just being defeated by welts and the Lakers are looking to bolster their roster they already have an elite point guard and Center therefore they selected University of Massachusetts and current American Basketball Association player Julius Irving with their 12th pick yet Irving never played a single minute for Milwaukee as he had signed with the Atlanta Hawks before the draft however he didn't play a single regular season minute for them either no Julius was stuck in a long legal battle which resulted in him being forced to remain in the ABA but after the two American professional basketball leagues merged in 1976 Irving would finally play his first minutes in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers pursuing him to fill the whole wil Chamberlain left in 1968 over the next 4 years Julius who had been nicknamed DrJ and the 76ers would grow and develop as a team until May 4th 1980 where they were set to have their second shot at winning an NBA championship however Jabar motivated to win his second ring would again drop as many points as the number on his jersey leading LA to a game one victory over the next three contests the series would Teeter back and forth neither team was willing to give the other an inch but in game five thanks to to yet another incredible scoring performance from their Superstar it seemed like La would be taking the crucial three games to two lead until karim's hurt kareim Abdul Jabar is hurt he pulled something coming around kareim Abdul Jabar is injured there's no question about it taking him into the locker room that is Jack ker and that is DrRobert klin trailing not too far behind and when Kareem Abdul jaar goes off like this he is injured boy they are three and four and serious trouble with that here I don't think they can Pi this CL the Lakers and their fans waited anxiously until 10 minutes later when Jabar would Hubble his way back onto the court okay Jack tell us quickly what's the extent of the injur brain he spr his anchor we took him in DrC examined him and IED him his tight as we can Kareem would continue his domination his signature move didn't require him to be in good shape all Jabar needed to do was simply reach his ginormous arms over his Defender and flick the ball in softly at this stage in his career after spending nearly his whole life developing his unguardable Skyhook playing on one leg meant nothing to the Lakers Superstar who ended the game with 40 and placed La just one win away from the crown 2 Days Later something is very different about the Lakers because why is Magic Johnson jumping and where's Kareem well their star bigs injury was so severe that the team opted to have Jabar remain in Los Angeles in order to focus on rehabbing for a potential game seven head coach Paul westad handed the keys to their rookie point guard hi Mom and Dad but was magic ready for the challenge well thanks to his tremendous size and skill Johnson was capable of doing just about anything not only could he run LA's offense he could also guard the opposing team's point guard or big man and when he wasn't throwing flashy dimes on The Fast Break he was pouring in bucket after bucket because throughout game six Johnson would score 42 points grab 15 rebounds and throw seven assists a performance that earned him the finals MVP award and Kareem his second NBA championship ring some food words to say to the big fell back in La yeah big fell we love you we did it for you and uh we want you to get up and dance a little bit tonight I know for your boy hey man they got everything W for on man all the ladies all the what you talking about yall us I'm the valy Now 1 year later La is 15 seconds away from one of the biggest upsets in NBA history the Houston Rockets who barely even made the playoffs were about to send a team who many thought had a guaranteed second Championship home but how well Rockets Ford Moses Malone dominated game one scoring a whopping 38 points whilst grabbing 22 rebounds however the ball was in the hands of their 1980 Finals MVP score here and their lost in game one would just be remembered as a small bump in their backto back Championship Journey but Johnson's off balance shot is short Moses Malone rebounds and the rockets can feel an upset so was their dynasty really over well later that year in November the same player who had cost them the Houston series had requested a trade from the team who selected him number one but why well magic was frustrated with coach westad Johnson wanted to further increase the pace at which La played compared to westad who was focused on playing slower and having the offense run through jaar therefore new Lakers owner Jerry bus had a decision to make while it may seem like a difficult Choice it was easy for bus and former Laker guards Pat Riley and Jerry West were hired to become the new coaches of Los Angeles almost immediately head coach Riley and offensive coach West bought in a blistering Pace Johnson was now the true focal point of their approach and he led with such Flash and flare that La was dubbed the showtime Lakers May 27th 1982 Kareem and Magic have swept their way back to the NBA finals yet have found themselves down 11 points at halftime against Philadelphia therefore Coach Riley would bring out a secret defensive scheme that the NBA had not seen before allowing his team to go on an insane 40 to9 run to end game one however however Riley's genius move had some issues who's backing no play an illegal defense who pad Los Angeles banned from using their secret weapon would lose game two and this was only the start of their issues because Kareem struggled to stay out of foul trouble in game three his frustration much like it had in the past was getting the best of him and it seemed like Jabar would fall short yet again but understanding that if he failed to make a change the Lakers would head home empty-handed once again Kareem would opt for a different approach I find that if I try to keep an emotional level that is uh consistent and balanced and use my brain R and my emotions it benefits my [Music] game to do it and as the second alltime scorer badly wants to win a title tonight his third kareim Abdul Jabar had finally won his third NBA title his an one was a crucial Turning Point late in the fourth quarter yet there was still something he had failed to achieve May 31st 1983 Los Angeles is back in the NBA finals and their roster has only gotten better because in another genius move La had traded Don Ford to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1980 in exchange for their 1982 first round pick and much like the jazz Cleveland ended up with the NBA's worst record so for the first and only time in the history of the league the defending Champions would select number one in the following season's draft choosing University of North Carolina standout James Worthy however Philadelphia had added the same player who eliminated the Lakers in 1982 coupled with their number one choice going down with a serious injury in April Kareem's 23.
5 point average was meaningless not only did Los Angeles lose the 1983 NBA Finals they were swept by the 76ers at this point the six-time MVP's goal of doing something that no other team had done since the 60s seemed impossible but Jabar was about to set another record that would stand until 2023 because on April 5th 1984 Kareem in the only way he knows how would pass his Idol becoming the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA an achievement that was honored at their next home game by Chamberlain himself as Los Angeles progressed into the playoffs their big man would continue to play second fiddle to their point guard with Jabar being content in his role while still dropping 30 points three times in the playoffs on route to another NBA Finals birth yet it wasn't Pennsylvania that La would be visiting in game one no it was Massachusetts specifically Boston Garden against the Boston Celtics who who thanks to Larry Bird have been revitalized into a championship winning franchise despite being the second option Kareem would drop 32 points in game one a performance that forced Boston's head coach Casey Jones to change his game plan because throughout game two Jabar would see double sometimes triple teams yet the six-time MVP would either reach over the defense and hook the ball into the basket or pass it off to his open teammates Jabar had placed his team mere seconds away from Victory all all they needed to do was not turn the ball over back over to worthy and it's Pi off the H he lays it off there it's all a great play by him throughout overtime it was once again Boston's defense who stole what seemed like a guaranteed win and turn it into a Lakers loss despite this blunder Los Angeles would respond with a 33-point victory in game three and a 32-point performance in game four from Kareem made it seem likely that Los Angeles was about to grab a cral three games to one lead however overcome with frustration because of the over physicality of Boston Jabar snapped he threw a vicious elbow one that if it had connected would have knocked bird out with ease resulting in the Laker star fouling out of game four and Boston tying the series Los Angeles's issues would only get worse because with Boston winning game five Kareem was now just one loss away from losing another NBA title Jabar knew he had to respond game seven Boston Garden we have a chance to do something that no other team has ever done go back to Boston Garden and win a world championship on that paret floor thanks to their star and his Sky hooks in game six it all came down to this Jabar would repeat his series saving performance from their previous game hooking his way to 29 Points but this wasn't enough and it was Boston who had won their second championship of the 1980s once again Kar was shattered not only had he failed the Lakers star was getting older he turned 36 just a couple of months before a year older than when his former point guard had decided to hang up his shoes perhaps it was time for the big man to do the same it's the NBA world championship series and one more time it's the Celtics and the Lakers last year they let him [Applause] alone and a loose ball foul against Los Angeles inside Kareem [Applause] Skyhook and hope to tie out Mel before the end of the game a big key there in that first half defense Kareem rarely misses from that close in 28th of May 1985 it's the morning after the now 37-year-old Kareem had only scored 12 points in the Lakers 34o game one loss LA's struggles just a year ago were enough for people to question his place on the Lakers but Kareem's failure in the opening game had many praying that the Los Angeles star would finally retire game two Boston Garden the Lakers aging Superstar would drop in signature hook after signature hook on route to an insane 30 points however it wasn't his scoring that was mind-blowing it was the fact he skyed to the top of the square on the backboard to block kin male's game-winning attempt saving Al and stealing a victory in Boston feel good you know to know that you not dead you know they had people throwing dirt on my face it's good to know that uh that was a little premature over the next week of games the Lakers Superstar big would average 28.
