The 80s and the 90s were the golden era of basketball that saw many players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan turn into GOATs but some incredible talents missed out on it.
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Mike Gminski was a tremendous player even before his college career started at Duke. He was only 16 years old when he got to Durham, and even then, he was a dominant, near-perfect big. He was already good at everything – scoring, blocking shots and rebounding.
Having won ACC player of the year in 1979 the previous year and was at the top of All-ACC First Teams in the last three years of college, the 6’11 Blue Devil sensation was the 7th overall pick in 1980 for the New Jersey Nets.
Although he never got anywhere close to the success he should have gotten as soon as he came into the league, the now college basketball TV analyst for CBS Sports had a 14-year NBA career, and in some games he used to have tremendous bursts even against some of the best in the game.
Mike Gminski once took on Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, and Luke Walton single-handedly
The Boston Celtics of the 80s were a team that only a few players in the league would want to go against. They won a championship in the first year Mike came in and went to four more Finals in the next six years, winning two more.
1985-86 is one of the greatest teams of all time. Their frontcourt was Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, and Dennis Johnson and the 2x Finals MVP used to come off Bill Walton off the bench.
Storming towards a 67-15 season finish which is still their second-best record, they met the New Jersey Nets who would barely make the playoffs that season with a 39-43 record. Little did they know what Gminski had in store for them.
Having no All-Star appearance with a career average of under 12 points, 7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks, this game was the Duke legend’s biggest career highlight that might still send his fans thinking into those “what could have beens”.
