This Day in Basketball History
1994 - Streaks on streaks
On this day in 1994, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf extended his streak of consecutive free throws made to 53, giving him three such streaks on the season. He had previously also hit 81 and 57 straight, making him just the second player ever to have three 50-free throw streaks in a season (the other was Bill Sharman).
Abdul-Rauf would play 586 games in nine NBA seasons spanning 11 years - he went to Turkey and then retired for a season from 1998 to 2000 - retiring with a 90.5 percent mark from the strike for his career. That's the best mark for anyone who ever attempted at least 1,000 free throws.
2001 - The game changes
On this day in 2001, the NBA Board of Governors approved four rule changes:
- Illegal defense guidelines were eliminated
- Defensive three-in-the-key was introduced
- Time to advance the ball past half was cut from 10 seconds to eight
- Hand-checking rules were relaxed
It's the latter of those four that gets the most attention in today's NBA, but the introduction of defensive three-in-the-key had an impact, too, as the rate of blocked shots in the NBA dropped immediately after.
| Year | Blocks | Blocks/gm |
|---|---|---|
| 1999-00 | 12296 | 5.17 |
| 2000-01 | 12499 | 5.26 |
| 2001-02 | 12412 | 5.22 |
| 2002-03 | 11919 | 5 |
1954 - The first three-peat
On this day in 1954, the Minneapolis Lakers became the first team in NBA history to win three consecutive NBA championships, defeating the Syracuse Nationals 87-80 in Game 7 of their series.
Of course, since this was just the fifth year of the NBA (eighth if the BAA is included), that's not really a big deal. The Boston Celtics would win eight straight beginning in 1959 when they beat, you guessed it, the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Guys. Make Leigh replace AI w/Brad Miller cornrows on the hair scale. C'MON, LET'S SEE A LITTLE MUTINY! #TheStarters pic.twitter.com/GHG5h6DXnN
— Airball Acolyte (@mrdangdang) April 3, 2014
Birthdays
1976 - Brad Miller
1990 - Tyshawn Taylor