by Although they would fall short in the next round of the playoffs, losing to the highly touted Boston Celtics in six games, no one could take away the pure joy Cleveland fans felt during game six of the Bullets series. Many believe that if starting center, Jim Chones, hadn’t been hurt in a practice between the two series, the Cavaliers may have even upset the Celtics. Chones had broken his foot during a practice and was lost, taking the steam out of the red hot locomotive engine that had become Cavalier basketball. The Cavaliers did manage to win two games in the series with outstanding play at home in front of the rabid fans.
Backup center, Nate Thurmond, did his best to fill in for Chones, however, John Havlicek was too much for him. Joe Tait gives his first-hand view of what happened during the games against Boston : “Nobody expected the Cavaliers to beat Boston at that particular time and the fact that they came back in that series got people pumped up to an even higher level. People began to think that even without Chones, this team could still be a team of destiny. It was in the fans minds that they could pull off one of the all-time great upsets. It was easy for the fans to get swept away in it. The problem was that Thurmond had to pick up extra minutes for the hurt Chones and it was simply too much to ask. Despite their best efforts, we fell short in six games.”
Austin Carr reflects back on that magical time in Cavaliers history, “That was the best basketball team I have ever played on. Not just talent wise but also personality wise as I’m still close friends with them today. When I first got to the Cavs we had to weed out all the guys with personal goals, and once we got them out of the way we were able to focus as a team on winning as a team. That is how we came together and the city embraced us for it. We were very close the year before as we only missed the playoffs by one game. We played hard and as a team every night, our losses weren’t for a lack of effort. The city embraced us because of the hard work ethic that we showed a nightly basis.
We started off that season at 6 – 11, and then we got Nate Thurmond and we took off winning games. I really believe that if Jim Chones never got injured we would have won the championship. We worked hard and everyone in the league knew it too. Everything happens for a reason and we couldn’t get over the hump. We were a well oiled machine as everyone knew their role and played it well. Once you took a guy out of the rotation it kind of messed up how we functioned.
We were ten men deep and our locker room was loaded with great human beings. If someone said something to you as a teammate in the locker room, you didn’t take it personal, you just tried to do it better the next time. That is a winning formula, to have guys who can self correct themselves. We knew that if we ever lost two games in a row, that we didn’t even need to say anything, the third game we would be bringing it, and bringing it strong.”
The truth was that Cleveland sports teams were in the midst of a miserable run. The Browns hadn’t been good in years. The Indians never made it back to the playoffs after getting swept in the World Series in 1954 against the San Francisco Giants. The Cavaliers had struggled until this magical run. It gave the city some hope it desperately needed. It didn’t matter if it was the clever nicknames or the colorful uniforms, Cleveland fans were just happy to have a winner.
