Worthy,
Hearn inducted into basketball Hall of Fame
SPRINGFIELD,
Mass. (AP) -- Entering the Hall of Fame
together didn't end the rivalry between
Robert Parish and James Worthy, stars of
the 1980s showdowns between the Boston Celtics
and Los Angeles Lakers.
"Robert,"
Worthy said Friday night, "I think
I still owe you a couple of elbows."
Parish,
known for his stoic on-court demeanor, actually
smiled at the remark. And he poked fun at
himself in his acceptance speech.
"You
might not believe this, but I hated basketball"
as a 6-foot-6 seventh-grader in Shreveport,
La.
"I couldn't catch it. I couldn't hold
it. I couldn't pass it. I couldn't shoot
it."
He
credited his junior high school coach, Coleman
Kidd, with seeing "something in me
that I didn't see in myself."
By
the time he joined the Boston Celtics in
1980, there was no doubt about his talent.
Worthy's skills were equally evident at
North Carolina and as the top pick in the
1982 draft by the Lakers.
Parish
and Worthy joined five other new members
for the induction ceremony -- Meadowlark
Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters, NBA pioneer
Earl Lloyd, longtime Louisiana Tech women's
coach Leon Barmore, Italian player Dino
Meneghin and the late Chick Hearn, who broadcast
3,338 straight Lakers' games.
Like
Parish, Worthy was a reluctant basketball
player.
"I
just hated the sport" as a youngster,
he said. But he played so he could get a
scholarship and help his parents, who were
supporting his two older brothers in college.
"That
was the only reason I wanted to play basketball,"
Worthy said.
Parish
was just one part of "The Big Three"
of the Boston Celtics with Larry Bird and
Kevin McHale. Worthy had a supporting role
in "Showtime" with the Los Angeles
Lakers with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic
Johnson.
The
others drew more headlines and honors, but
Parish and Worthy played huge roles in their
teams' success and all six are among the
NBA's top 50 players of all time.
"I'm
very honored to be going in with James,"
Parish said before the induction ceremony.
"I always felt like James was the X
factor on that Lakers team. As good as Magic
and Kareem were, I always felt that James
made the difference."
Parish
played with little expression -- his punch
that struck Detroit's Bill Laimbeer after
a tussle under the basket in the 1987 playoffs
was a rare display of emotion -- and didn't
have the all-around flair of Bird or the
inside moves of McHale.
But
Worthy admired him.
"There's
always one opponent on the opposing team
that you like, and Robert was the guy that
I really liked among the Celtics,"
Worthy said.
Hearn
watched all their matchups.
"He
would have loved to have been here but probably
he's up there watching us," said Marge
Hearn, his widow.
Hearn
didn't miss a game from Nov. 21, 1965, through
Dec. 16, 2001 and died on Aug. 5, 2002 at
age 85 after a fall at his home. He left
an indelible mark on the game, giving Worthy
the nickname "Big Game James"
and coining the term "slam dunk."
It
became part of the NBA's vocabulary and
was a part of Parish's and Worthy's games.
"For
me to be going in with James, I'm very proud,"
Parish said.
The
start of his NBA career didn't indicate
it would be a long one. He spent four seasons
with Golden State and said he was ready
to quit before going to Boston. The teams
also exchanged first-round draft picks and
the Celtics used theirs to take McHale.
"I
was very unhappy with the Warriors,"
Parish said. "If I had not been traded
I would not be here today."
He
was part of Boston's last three championship
teams, in 1981, 1984 and 1986 and finished
with a 14.6-point average. He holds NBA
records with 21 seasons and 1,611 games
and 10,117 defensive rebounds.
The
44-year-old Worthy entered the NBA in 1982
out of North Carolina and played on three
championship teams with the Lakers in 1985,
1987 and 1988. He retired after the 1993-94
season, his 12th with the Lakers, with a
17.6-point average.
They
faced each other in three NBA Finals with
Boston winning in 1984 and Los Angeles winning
in 1985 and 1987.
"It's
appropriate," Worthy said of their
inductions together. "It was a tremendous
era and we had some great battles."
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