Over And Back: Stories About Nba History

To celebrate a new book about NBA Jam, Jason and Rich explore the history of basketball video games, NBA Jam’s launch and discuss the game’s best and worst duos.Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch devote an entire episode to one of the greatest basketball video games of all-time: NBA Jam!The discussion begins with a talk about Reyan Ali’s new book “NBA Jam” including a brief review of what you can expect in the book and how it greatly exceeded our expectations.We then move onto the history of NBA-licensed video games including the forerunners of NBA Jam: Double Dribble and Arch Rivals as well as a discussion on license games like Bulls vs. Blazers, Lakers vs. Celtics, Dr. J vs. Larry Bird and more.We’ll also discuss a bit of how NBA Jam came to be, the importance of Midway in the video game world at the time and some of the game’s infamous secrets and codes.After that, it’s time for the main discussion as we dig into the best and worst duos in NBA Jam, which teams stood out to us, which teams did we use most often w

In anticipation of the upcoming 2019-20 NBA season, Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch look at records and milestones that can and will be broken and achieved in the upcoming season. Some of these include historic longevity records from Vince Carter, Jamal Crawford’s potential to become an all-time shooter, Chris Paul continuing to cement his claim as one of the best point guards of all-time and LeBron James’ ascension to greatest of all-time status.Before diving into this year’s potential records and milestones, we look back at what records, streaks and milestones took place last season including Klay Thompson’s all-time three-point game, James Harden’s unbelievable three-point totals, a random day in January that became one of the all-time great shooting days in NBA history, Russell Westbrook’s triple-double streaks, a bevy of 50-point games, Dirk Nowitzki and Carter tying for most NBA seasons played, Gregg Popovich’s rise up the coaching win ranks and his San Antonio Spurs making the playoffs for a record-tying

Marc Gasol made history this summer becoming one of a select few to win both a gold medal and NBA Finals ring in the same summer — our latest episode looks at the others who achieved this feat and how it impacted their career.This week on the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast, Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch go international with a fun topic about NBA players who won a gold medal and an NBA Finals ring in the same summer. We’ll look at the players who achieved this feat — Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Lamar Odom, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Marc Gasol — and discuss how the summer impacted their careers.For each player we will start with a look at their NBA careers prior to the fateful summer, their NBA Title run and of course their international playing history and what the gold medal meant for their NBA careers, personal brands and Basketball Hall of Fame candidacy.Topics include Jordan’s brand exploding after the “passing of the torch” moment in 1992, the dominance of the 1992 Dream Team, comparing the 19

NBA.com recently released their All-Decade Team article looking at the best players of the 2010s and we’re here to tell you if they were right or wrong!All-Decade teams are a tricky endeavor, but NBA.com just released their three teams for the best players of the 2010s, which means it’s time for a pod debating those choices! Here’s a look at their selections for all three teams:First Team:Stephen CurryJames HardenLeBron JamesKevin DurantKawhi Leonard Second Team:Chris PaulRussell WestbrookAnthony DavisBlake GriffinCarmelo Anthony Third Team:Dwyane WadeKobe BryantPaul GeorgeLaMarcus AldridgeGiannis Antetokounmpo Topics include a look at who made the team and why, who shouldn’t have been named to any of the three teams, reactions to Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade’s inclusions, whether Kawhi Leonard or Russell Westbrook should have made the First Team, where to place Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin’s surprisingly great decade, how Giannis Antetokounmpo made himself a contender for this list in just a few years, as wel

This week on a very special edition of the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast, Jason and Rich do live commentary over the 2007 Western Conference First Round Game 6 matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State WarriorsThroughout the game, we answer listener questions about the Warriors’ horrendous jerseys at the time, their mascot Thunder, the Over and Back podcast beginnings, how we got the idea of doing the show, how we ended up on The Step Back/Fansided, favorite topics we ever researched, older episodes that stood out, concepts behind show topics and much more.Game Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2c3BNc-nLwWe also delve, of course, into the Warriors vs. Mavericks with discussions on the Warriors’ playoff drought, disappointment in Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, which of the 2007 Golden State Warriors would fit into today’s NBA, the power of Don Nelson, playoff choking, Avery Johnson’s defensive sets, differences between the 2007 and 2011 Dallas Mavericks, how this Warriors team sta

In the finale of Over and Back’s 50-point game series, Jason and Rich recap 50+ point games from the year 2000 to the present including a record-setting year in 2019, the emergence of stars like Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, James Harden and Steph Curry, the curious case of Shaquille O’Neal’s lack of 50+ point games, Jamal Crawford being the best, Tony Delk’s random 50, players who got all of their 50+ point games in the same season and much more!Join us as we put a bow on the 50-point series with overarching thoughts on 50-point games, the evolution of the 50-point game from a seemingly everyday occurrence during Wilt’s era to the lean years of the late 70s and early 80s. We talk about the re-emergence and proliferation of 50+ point games over the last handful of years and what we can expect to see in the future.In this episode, we cover each and every year from 2000 to 2019, the 50+ point games and some fun facts about each. Additionally, we look at some big-picture items includin

We celebrate the NBA Finals finally coming to Toronto with our look at the history of the Toronto Raptors. Topics include pre-Raptors Toronto pro basketball history, why the Raptors nickname was selected, the Isiah Thomas years, Vince Carter's superstar emergence, the Chris Bosh era and what led to this year's NBA Finals team.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The next installment of our series on 50-point games in NBA history looks at the Michael Jordan era of 1987-1998. In this episode, hosts Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch look at Jordan’s emergence as the NBA’s most prolific scorer since Wilt Chamberlain and the NBA three-point line gives us a handful of unlikely 50-point scorers.This era sees 83 50-point games with 37 coming from Jordan, six from Dominique Wilkins and four from Karl Malone. We look at all three of these players, the early competition between Jordan and Wilkins, how/why Jordan out-paced Wilkins and more.Additional players profiled and discussed include Sleepy Floyd, Alex English, Clyde Drexler, Dale Ellis, Tom Chambers, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Terry Cummings, Charles Smith, Vernon Maxwell, Bernard King, Michael Adams, Nick Anderson, Reggie Miller, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Jamal Mashburn, Jim Jackson, Willie Burton, Dana Barros, Glen Rice, Cedric Ceballos, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Alonzo Mourning, Allen Iverson and Trac

Jason and Rich celebrate the life and career of the late, great John Havlicek.The show begins with a look at Havlicek’s innovative and inspiring play-style, his role as the Sixth Man on dominant Boston Celtics teams and his emergence as Boston’s top scoring option.Next, we look at the many accolades of Havlicek’s career including being named to 13 All-Star teams, eight times an NBA champion, 11-time All-NBA (including four times as All-NBA First Team), eight-time All-Defense and many more.Additional topics include where the “Hondo” nickname originated from, Havlicek being drafted by the NFL’s Cleveland Browns as well as his spot among the all-time leaders in points, games played and more.Then we get into the primary topic of the show and look at Havlicek’s greatest individual games including a 40-point performance against the Royals in 1964, his legendary and iconic steal in Game 7 of the Eastern Division Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, another 40-point game in a big spot this time Game 6 of the 1968 N

We discuss the NBA contributions of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2019 with Curtis Harris of Pro Hoops History. We discuss Bobby Jones, Sidney Moncrief, Jack Sikma, Paul Westphal, Al Attles, Carl Braun, Vlade Divac, and Bill Fitch. We also consider whether the Hall of Fame could find a better method of celebrating African-American pioneers and look at who we'd most like to see join Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett in the 2020 Hall of Fame class. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast continues its series on 50-point games continues with a look at the post-merger era, where no dominant stars emerged and 50-point games became increasingly rare.On this episode, hosts Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch discuss the changing of the guard as the ABA merged with the NBA bringing down the total number of professional basketball games and, by doing so, reducing the number of 50-point games immediately.We also delve into the league’s slowing pace, the last year of double-digit 50-point games until the late 80s, a check-in on stats as they related to 2019 and all-time in 50-point games, the lack of dominant stars in the era and much more.We also take a few minutes to talk about one of the greatest duals in NBA history as David Thompson and George Gervin battled for the NBA scoring title on a single night resulting in both players putting up all-time great scoring totals (with some all-time great stories as well!)Additional players discussed include Marvin “Bad News” Ba

The newest installment in our ongoing series on 50-point games takes us to the late 60s and early 70s, a transformative period in NBA history and for 50-point games. Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring fades away, Jerry West bows out and new stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rick Barry emerge. A new upstart pro basketball league (ABA) joins the fray and their inclusion of a 3-point line makes 50-point games easier than ever.During this period, the 50+ point club becomes less exclusive. Up to this point (1949-66), we’ve only had 18 players with 50+ in a game (169 times—116 by Wilt Chamberlain). All of the previous 50+ scorers were eventual Hall of Famers with the lone exception of 5-time All-Star Rudy LaRusso.In this time period though, we’ll have 35 new members of the club with only 21 of them eventually making it to the Hall of Fame. Overall from 1967-1974, we’ll see 84 50-point games overall with Barry leading the charge at 17, Kareem chipping in eight and Wilt still putting up 7 including a heroic final 50+ point

Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch examine 50+ point games from 1962-66, an era that is perhaps the equivalent of the MLB’s “juiced ball” era where 50-point games went from rare to almost routine thanks to the heroics of Wilt Chamberlain.In this episode filled with mind-blowing Chamberlain stats we look at the insane explosion of 50-point game, Chamberlain’s decimating of the record books, the emergence of both Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, oh, and more crazy Chamberlain and NBA stats of the time including that 7% of all NBA games from 1962-66 featured a 50-point game.We examine backlash related to Chamberlain’s scoring outburst, the NBA having more 50-point games in a two-year period than at any point in the league’s history before or after, why the league couldn’t adjust, the success of Chamberlain teams during these scoring binges and dive into some non-Wilt players to score 50 in this era including Baylor, West, Rudy LaRusso, Hal Greer, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson, Rick Barry, Sam Jones, Cliff Hagan and Richie G

The Hawks and Knicks dueled in a four-overtime classic, with Paul Millsap giving an iron-man performance in 60 minutes with 37 points and 19 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony scoring 45 and twice forcing extra periods with clutch shots. With only 14 games in NBA/ABA history that have gone four overtimes or more, we thought it appropriate to look back at who stood out in these battles in the latest episode of The Step Back's Day-to-Day NBA Podcast, hosted by Jason Mann. Who better than Rich Kraetsch, co-host of the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast, to lend some historical expertise to the proceedings? We start with the only six-overtime game in NBA history (Indianapolis vs. Rochester in 1951), a 75-73 pre-shot-clock yawner in which future legendary Knicks coach Red Holzman reportedly played 76 minutes and scored 3 points. We also discuss the only two five-OT games: Dolph Schayes leading Syracuse past Anderson (Ind.) 125-123 in the newly merged NBA's first season in 1949, and Dale Ellis scoring 53 points fo

The Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast continues its series on 50-point games with a look at some of the great scorers of all-time who never had 50 points in a game.Throughout the episode we look at these all-time greats who never got to 50 points in a game, discuss that players career-high point total, how close they got to the elusive 50, their amount of 40-point games and how surprising it was that they never reached the big 5-0.The list is broken down into a few categories including Top 50 all-time players who never reached 50 points like Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson, Paul Arizin, Isiah Thomas and Walt “Clyde” Frazier. Our next category looks at other all-time PPG leaders including Mitch Richmond who despite being 43rd all-time in PPG, never reached 50 points. We also highlight Glenn Robinson, Walt Bellamy and World B. Free.Next, we look at all-time points leaders who never hit the 50 point plateau including perhaps most shockingly Kevin Garnett, Artis Gilmore (ABA excluded), Robert Parish and G

We officially begin our series looking at 50-point games with a look back at the days when 50-point games were a rarity. We discuss the first 50+ point games in NBA history, the early dominance of George Mikan, "Jumpin" Joe Fulks, Bob Cousy's 50+ in the playoffs, Neil Johnston and more. We also delve into the strange disappearance of 50-point games in the early shot clock era, the return with Bob Pettit, George Yardley. Lastly, we discuss the explosion of 50+ point games beginning in 1959 thanks to stars like Elgin Baylor, Jack Twyman, Richie Guerin and the man who will totally transform the league: Wilt Chamberlain.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In NBA and ABA history, there have been nearly 600 50+ point games. Most of them were from legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. There were also ones from Willie Burton, Walt Wesley and Andre Miller. In this episode, we explore the most random, improbable and unlikely 50-point scorers in NBA history including Cleveland Cavaliers' forward Walt Wesley, our only ABA entry with Carolina Cougar Larry Miller going for 67, Mike Newlin breaking out for 52 with the New Jersey Nets, San Diego Clippers then-star Freeman Williams, the infamous Joe Barry Carroll, fellow Golden State Warrior Purvis Short... and hey another Warriors player, this time a breakout performance from Sleepy Floyd in the playoffs and Charles D. Smith. More modern examples include Nick Anderson's 50 points off the bench that was immediately overshadowed by Shaq breaking the backboard, Willie Burton's 50 points with only 19 field goal attempts, Dana Barros putting an exclamation point on his breakout season, Trac

In Part 1 we worked our way through the early days of the NBA, the Boston Celtics' dominance in the 1960s and the continued and consistent parity of the 1970s.In Part 2, we look at the 1980s including changing legacies for Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers striking out in the early parts of the decade and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar failing to live up to lofty expectations in Los Angeles.In the 1990s, we look at a very different early portion of the decade with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls only winning one title, Portland getting back to the promised land and a few other surprises along the way. The San Antonio Spurs dynasty starts early and the Seattle Supersonics finally get their championship.In the 2000s, we transformed Kobe Bryant's career with only one championship to his name, Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, Mike Bibby and the Sacramento Kings change their fortunes with a championship and Dirk Nowitzki's legacy has a different look with an early deca

The annual tradition continues as Jason and Rich welcome guests Curtis Harris (ProHoopsHistory.com & Sixers History) and Reinis Lacis (The Handle Podcast) as they live commentate one of the greatest games of all time: the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 between Philadelphia and Boston. Watch along at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djvvm_tA4L4Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We are regular-season stans here at the Over and Back Classic NBA podcast. What if we valued the best team in the regular season as much or more as the NBA tournament winner? The regular season is obviously longer with a greater sample size — you could argue it's more reflective of the quality of the team that season (obviously a lot of people would argue otherwise)How would it change how we think of teams in NBA history? Whose legacies would be affected most?Listen to Part 1 of this two-part series as we examine how the championship would play out over the course of NBA, ABA and pre-NBA history if we awarded titles to the league's best regular-season team. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy