The 1969–70 NBA Season was the 24th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the New York Knicks winning the NBA Championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.
The 1969-70 season saw the NBA into a new decade as well as a new era. The retirement of Bill Russell from the Celtics at the end of the 1968-69 season effectively signaled the end of the Celtics dynasty that had dominated the NBA for the past decade.
The New York Knickerbockers were the top team in the league. The Knicks, as they were well-known, had a solid team of players led by star center Willis Reed and rising star guard Walt Frazier. Dave DeBusschere, who had been acquired from the Detroit Pistons the previous year, combined with Frazier and Reed to anchor the league's best defense. Coach Red Holzman led the club to wins in 60 of its 82 regular season games to top the league.
In just their second season in the league Milwaukee Bucks totaled 56 wins behind rookie superstar Lew Alcindor. The 7'2 230-pound center had caused controversy in boycotting the 1968 Summer Olympics, urging Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld and Bob Lanier to do the same. The Bucks, however, were happy to sign him after a bidding war with the ABA. The rookie averaged 29 points per game on 52% shooting. He was also third in rebounds, seventh in shooting accuracy, second in minutes played, and blocked more shots than any center since Russell or Chamberlain, making him a strong MVP candidate in just his first year. Coach Larry Costello's team also had a strong backcourt of Jon McGlocklin and Flynn Robinson, and two ex-Cincinnati Royals, but Alcindor's arrival on the team nearly doubled their win total from the previous season, earning him rookie of the year honors.
Willis Reed, Jr. (born June 25, 1942) is a retired American basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, his outstanding record and achievements were recognized by his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1997, he was voted one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History".
After retiring as a player, Reed served as assistant and head coach with several teams for nearly a decade, then was promoted to General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations (1989 to 1996) for the New Jersey Nets. As Senior Vice President of Basketball, he led them to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
Reed was born in 1942 in Hico, Louisiana and named after his father, Willis Reed. He grew up on a farm in nearby Bernice, a lumber town in an area of pine woods. His parents worked to ensure Reed got an education in the segregated South. Reed showed athletic ability at an early age and played basketball at West Side High School in nearby Lillie.
Cornelius (Connie) L. Hawkins (born July 17, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York) is a former National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association player, Harlem Globetrotter and New York City playground legend. It was on the New York City courts that he earned his nickname The Hawk.
Hawkins was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where he attended Boys High School. Hawkins soon became a fixture at Rucker Park, a legendary outdoor court where he battled against some of the best players in the world.[citation needed]
Hawkins did not play much until his junior year at Boys High. Hawkins was All-City first team as a junior as Boys went undefeated and won New York's Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) title in 1959. During his senior year he averaged 25.5 ppg, including one game in which he scored 60, and Boys again went undefeated and won the 1960 PSAL title. Hawkins then signed a scholarship offer to play at the University of Iowa.
During Hawkins' freshman year at Iowa, he was a victim of the hysteria surrounding a point-shaving scandal that had started in New York City. Hawkins's name surfaced in an interview conducted with an individual who was involved in the scandal. While some of the conspirators and characters involved were known to or knew Hawkins, none - including the New York attorney at the center of the scandal, Jack Molinas - had ever sought to involve Hawkins in the conspiracy.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., April 16, 1947) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP Awards. In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. Abdul-Jabbar also has been an actor, basketball coach and an author. In 2012, he was selected as a U.S. cultural ambassador.
Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., on April 16, 1947, and grew up in Manhattan in New York City, the only child of Cora Lillian, a department store price checker, and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician. At birth, he weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces (5.73 kg), and was twenty-two-and-a-half inches (57.2 cm) long. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended St. Jude School in the Inwood section of Manhattan. Later in life, he converted to Islam. He initially joined the Nation of Islam in 1968, before retaking the Shahada and converting to Sunni Islam that same summer.
Robert Joseph "Bob" Cousy (born August 9, 1928) is a retired American professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard with the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969-70 season. Cousy first demonstrated his basketball abilities while playing for his high school varsity team in his junior year. He obtained a scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, where he led the Crusaders to berths in the 1948 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1950 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and was named an NCAA All-American for 3 seasons. Cousy was initially drafted as the third overall pick in the first round of the 1950 NBA Draft by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, but after he refused to report, he was picked up by Boston. Cousy had a very successful career with the Celtics, playing on six championship teams, being voted into 13 NBA All-Star Games and 12 All-NBA First and Second Teams and winning the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 1957.
relaxin maxin to the maximum
to tracks a hum
the wicks where the stacks are from
inside the styles of a funky lyrical wiz
what a miracle is
get down to spiritual business
now my tounge kissed
put words in your system wished em
respect the blackness em
give in em win em the peace they want
but dont want the peace signs unless its in the mind
become a victim because i kick em sick em
supposed to be black but they be wack
those who pretend to be a muslim i gooshed em
positive ones i pushed em
into the path or righteousness might get dissed
those who pump a fist but aint right with this
i increase rhymes wacks and weak minds
if it aint real stop throwin up peace signs
dont give him no peace sign if you dont mean it from your heart
untied we can get over, yet were still apart
terror wished em ima terrorize elorize in disguise
those for side for tizin and i begin
to creepin seepin thought out unrighteousness and dissed
connect of venomous gangs with the rhytmness
figured they manifestin g i can address
individually each emcee is throwin up peace but dont pray to the east
i write the lect the soul should be playin towards mecca
but snakes and devils wont letcha
freestyle some religous free dump see
to letcha know how come dumb some be
ignorance a comish to look like a fish
and since we whipped from bars to a ghetto priz
ima wiz some brains i give em a brain washin
when im walkin devils im squashin
science fiction mixed in tricks in fixin
the ways of all sort for good
come in my fortress ima gonna force this
cuz it holy dont try to fold me
some just say peace tryin to the black guy
some say peace thinkin it means bye bye
so g if ya never mean this from the heart and the mind
stop throwin up peace signs
lets walk the path of a vo-cab-ulary
you'll cary the thoughts of every righteous man
lets fight this plan of a other man
waxin thoughts of a brother man
satans waitin for us to be hatin each other
sister brother or mother color
blackness dont try to attack this fact this lets now practice
true peace new salon one who is a peace
cease when you see hunger than give peace
blacks a supplied them and applied them identified them
you suffer inhale and say why them
cuz you did not follow the path that i layed out
say blackness and get played out
like children wildin some try to kick a fist
pick a fist i take a piss wikedness to get crushed up
movin up on that bustop while stand inhale bustop
so you must stop
fakin the holy faith in wakin
star dont come apart our hearts get a stake in
so dont be mad so what minds to the minimum
cuz in the em sendin em holy wisdom
to let you know from the heart and the mind
It's time to fight the invader
To raise the flag of rebellion
No peace as they live
No peace as they breathe
Kill the ennemy
It don' t matter women children
Bleed for what you believe
Die to be free
Gonna give death to your enemies
Gonna bring pain into their families
No peace as they live
No peace as they breathe
Kill the enemy
It don' t matter women children
Bleed for what you believe
Die to be free
Gonna give death to your enemies
Gonna bring pain into their families
Gonna give death to your enemies
Gonna bring pain into their families
No peace
It's time to fight the invader
To raise the flag of rebellion
No peace as they live
No peace as they breathe
Kill the enemy
It don' t matter women children
Bleed for what you believe
Die to be free
Gonna give death to your enemies
Gonna bring pain into their families
Gonna give death to your enemies
Gonna bring pain into their families
Gonna give death to your enemies
[Tung Twista]
relaxin maxin to the maximum
to tracks a hum
the wicks where the stacks are from
inside the styles of a funky lyrical wiz
what a miracle is
get down to spiritual business
now my tounge kissed
put words in your system wished em
respect the blackness em
give in em win em the peace they want
but dont want the peace signs unless its in the mind
become a victim because i kick em sick em
supposed to be black but they be wack
those who pretend to be a muslim i gooshed em
positive ones i pushed em
into the path or righteousness might get dissed
those who pump a fist but aint right with this
i increase rhymes wacks and weak minds
if it aint real stop throwin up peace signs
[chorus 2x]
dont give him no peace sign if you dont mean it from your heart
untied we can get over, yet were still apart
terror wished em ima terrorize elorize in disguise
those for side for tizin and i begin
to creepin seepin thought out unrighteousness and dissed
connect of venomous gangs with the rhytmness
figured they manifestin g i can address
individually each emcee is throwin up peace but dont pray to the east
i write the lect the soul should be playin towards mecca
but snakes and devils wont letcha
freestyle some religous free dump see
to letcha know how come dumb some be
ignorance a comish to look like a fish
and since we whipped from bars to a ghetto priz
ima wiz some brains i give em a brain washin
when im walkin devils im squashin
science fiction mixed in tricks in fixin
the ways of all sort for good
come in my fortress ima gonna force this
'cause it holy dont try to fold me
some just say peace tryin to the black guy
some say peace thinkin it means bye bye
so g if ya never mean this from the heart and the mind
stop throwin up peace signs
[chorus]
lets walk the path of a vo-cab-ulary
you'll cary the thoughts of every righteous man
lets fight this plan of a other man
waxin thoughts of a brother man
satans waitin for us to be hatin each other
sister brother or mother color
blackness dont try to attack this fact this lets now practice
true peace new salon one who is a peace
cease when you see hunger than give peace
blacks a supplied them and applied them identified them
you suffer inhale and say why them
'cause you did not follow the path that i layed out
say blackness and get played out
like children wildin some try to kick a fist
pick a fist i take a piss wikedness to get crushed up
movin up on that bustop while stand inhale bustop
so you must stop
fakin the holy faith in wakin
star dont come apart our hearts get a stake in
so dont be mad so what minds to the minimum
'cause in the em sendin em holy wisdom
to let you know from the heart and the mind
stop throwin up peace signs