NBA Showdown - 1987-1988 Season

 With a current season set on the way, and the original based in the early 2000s, I wanted to include another generation of players. This leads to a better spread of player wealth and the 1987-88 season was a historic one for its time. While the star of Michael Jordan was shining prior, this particular season he made NBA history becoming the first player to win the league MVP, defensive player of the year and the scoring title. Also in this season John Stockton led the league in assists, which we later would find out would be the first on 9 straight years leading the league in assists. Michael Cage of the Clippers won the rebounding title over Charles Oakley by .03, one of the closest statistical margin victories in NBA history. 

This project came along rather quickly and I wasn't even expecting to do something like this but, I was watching some NBA action and got the itch. During this time period there was only 23 teams in the league although 4 more would be coming in the next two seasons as in this season the NBA awarded franchises to Charlotte and Miami who would debut the following season, and Minneapolis and Orlando who would start in the 1989-90 season.

The Los Angeles Lakers won the championship over the Detroit Pistons in a seven game series. There we some iconic performances in this long series as well. Isiah Thomas scored 25 points in the third quarter of game 6, a record that still stands today. While that was impressive as is, he sustained an ankle sprain in the game prior to that, and still managed to have a 43 point effort. In game 7 "Big Game" James Worthy became the first player to record a triple double in game 7 of the NBA Finals with an impressive stat line of 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

SEASON LEADERS

Points — Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls (35.0)

Assists — John Stockton, Utah Jazz (13.8)

Rebounds — Michael Cage, L.A. Clippers (13.03)

Steals — Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls (3.2)

Blocks — Mark Eaton, Utah Jazz (3.7)

FG % — Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics (.604)

FT % — Jack Sikma, Milwaukee Bucks (.922)

3PT % — Craig Hodges, Milwaukee Bucks/Phoenix Suns (.491)

AWARD WINNERS

Most Valuable Player — Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

Rookie of the Year — Mark Jackson, New York Knicks

Defensive Player of the Year — Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

Most Improved Player — Kevin Duckworth, Portland Trail Blazers

Sixth Man of the Year — Roy Tarpley, Dallas Mavericks

Coach of the Year — Doug Moe, Denver Nuggets

All-Star Game MVP — Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

Finals MVP — James Worthy, L.A. Lakers 

FINAL STANDINGS

#	Eastern Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-Boston Celtics	57	25	.695	–
2	y-Detroit Pistons	54	28	.659	3
3	x-Chicago Bulls	50	32	.610	7
4	x-Atlanta Hawks	50	32	.610	7
5	x-Milwaukee Bucks	42	40	.512	15
6	x-Cleveland Cavaliers	42	40	.512	15
7	x-Washington Bullets	38	44	.463	19
8	x-New York Knicks	38	44	.463	19
9	Indiana Pacers	38	44	.463	19
10	Philadelphia 76ers	36	46	.439	21
11	New Jersey Nets	19	63	.232	38

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Los Angeles Lakers	62	20	.756	–
2	y-Denver Nuggets	54	28	.659	8
3	x-Dallas Mavericks	53	29	.646	9
4	x-Portland Trail Blazers	53	29	.646	9
5	x-Utah Jazz	47	35	.573	15
6	x-Houston Rockets	46	36	.561	16
7	x-Seattle SuperSonics	44	38	.537	18
8	x-San Antonio Spurs	31	51	.378	31
9	Phoenix Suns	28	54	.341	34
10	Sacramento Kings	24	58	.293	38
11	Golden State Warriors	20	62	.244	42
12	Los Angeles Clippers	17	65	.207	45

Now of enough of the History lesson, lets meet some of these teams and players, some who haven't been thought about in many many years. Also as a prewarning, finding pictures from 30+ years ago was very difficult. There a few that you will see the Getty images water mark, and if I wasn't lucky enough to find pictures like that, they may be in a different team uniform, college uniform, or even in black and white. It is all for fun anyways so we can laugh at those pictures together. I also encourage that if you have any memories from this season please share, I wasn't born until the next season, so all the games from this season I have seen are probably from the finals.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

BOSTON CELTICS

DETROIT PISTONS

CHICAGO BULLS

ATLANTA HAWKS

MILWAUKEE BUCKS

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

WASHINGTON BULLETS

NEW YORK KNICKS

INDIANA PACERS

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

NEW JERSEY NETS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

LOS ANGELES LAKERS

DENVER NUGGETS

DALLAS MAVERICKS

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

UTAH JAZZ

HOUSTON ROCKETS

SEATTLE SUPERSONICS

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

PHOENIX SUNS

SACRAMENTO KINGS

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

There ya have it, the entire 1987-1988 NBA Season, what a travel back through time, seeing some legends in their prime, and some legends early in their career before they took off. What team do you think is the best? Is it the champion Lakers? If there was a draft who are you looking at to build your team around?? Here is the top 20 players in terms of points, the top of the league is very familiar in the list of all time greats. 

Finally here are two special strategy cards I made for the 80s era. First we have the infamous Jordan rules, on defense you're hoping to take away some of the scoring punch from the other teams best player.

Second is paying homage to the Champs and their well known style of play. The risk reward of firing up the speed of your team, to be traded with weakening the teams power on defense.