A Magic Basketball game and a Couple Others

     Today we are going to focus on Basketball and games with special performances. We start at the Forum in Inglewood, California on February 21, 1984, when the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Seattle SuperSonics. It did not the fans long to see that there was Magic in the air that evening. Earvin "Magic" Johnson was on the top of his game, he had 12 first quarter assists and six more in the second quarter for a total of 18 assists in the half. Johnsons teamwork gave the Lakers the boost that they needed for a 128-112 win over the SuperSonics.

    Another way to contribute to a win without scoring yourself is to steal the win as Thomas Gugliotta of the Minnesota TimberWolves tried to do on February 21, 1995 in a game against the Portland TrailBlazers at Portland. Gugliotta had 7 steals in one quarter, unfortunatly his teammates did not cooperate in his efforts as the home club won anyways by a score of 99-86. One year later in a game at The Spectrum in Philadelphia the '76ers and the Miami Heat played as if they were all afraid of the basket. The final score of that game showed that the Heat won by a score of 66-57. Are they sure that they even played all four quarters?

   On February 21, 1999 the Toronto Raptors played their first home game at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat their transcontinental rivals the Vancouver Grizzlies by a score of 102-87. The game occurred just one day after the Maple Leafs hockey team played their first game in the new arena a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in overtime. The final game we are looking at this a 136-132 win by the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League over the Arkansas RimRockers on February 21, 2007 in double overtime at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

   Trivia answer time, the answer to yesterday question about the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League is the Rochester Americans who have been in the league since 1956, the Providence Bruins who have in the league since 1992 and the Portland Maine Pirates who have been in the league since 1993. The Providence market had been out of the league since 1977. The Providence Reds had fielded a team from 1926 until the team moved following the 1976-77 season. The Portland club would have been firmly in third place except for a one season gap before the Pirates arrived, the City of Portland has been in the league since 1977. The City of Springfield, Massachusetts has been in the league since 1954 however, there was a change of franchises after the 1993-94 season. The long standing franchise was transferred to Worcester, Massachusetts and was replaced in Springfield by an expansion franchise. The City of Albany, New York would have made the list having been in the league since 1993, however they had the same situation as the City of Springfield.

    Now for todays question. On May 4, 1975 Bob Watson of the Houston Astros scored baseballs 1,000,000 run since the National League began play in 1876. How many runs have scored since Watson crossed the plate on that fateful day? The answer will be posted in tomorrows blog about the great Miracle on Ice Hockey game.