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Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images
Personal accolades: Nine-time All-Star, five-time 1st Team All-NBA, two-time 2nd Team All-NBA, All-Star Game MVP Career averages: 26.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.8 bpg on 51.1 FG% Closest he came to winning: Two Western Conference Finals appearances, one Eastern Conference Finals appearance
The Iceman George Gervin finished Top 3 in the MVP vote three straight seasons from 1977 and 1980, leading the league in scoring in all three of those campaigns. He didn’t experience that much playoff success in those years, though, as his San Antonio Spurs only won one playoff series in that stretch. To this day, Gervin is remembered far more for his scoring prowess than for his team success.
That might be a bit unfair, however, as Gervin did make two Western Conference Finals appearances and one Eastern Conference Finals appearance in his career, all as a member of the Spurs (they moved to the Western Conference in 1980-81).
Gervin’s best chance to at least make a Finals appearance in his career came in 1978-79, when he and Spurs took the reigning champion Washington Bullets to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, a series in which Gervin was magnificent, averaging 31.0 points and 6.3 rebounds on 52.4 percent shooting.
Game 7 was a classic, too, with Gervin going off for 42 points on 16-of-31 shooting to go with six rebounds and three steals but it wouldn’t be enough, as Washington took home the victory 107-105 to seal another trip to the NBA Finals.
Hall-of-Famer Bob Dandridge hit a late game-winner in that game and Gervin wasn’t able to get the ball to get a final shot up for San Antonio, as Washington sealed the victory and the series.
Gervin was certainly a better playoff performer than he might be remembered for today (not winning a title will do that), considering he made eight straight playoff appearances with the Spurs upon the franchise joining the NBA in 1976-77 – and averaged 27.9 points on 50.8 percent shooting in the postseason NBA appearances.
He just didn’t have enough help to get him over that hump to win a championship in his NBA career.
Had NBA players been allowed to play for Team USA in the Olympics during his prime, Gervin might not be on this list. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t the case yet. He also didn’t have any luck winning any team accolade during his time in the ABA, reaching one semifinal in 1976, falling in seven games to Julius Erving and the New Jersey Nets. The two eventual NBA legends had one heck of a back-and-forth in that series, with the Iceman averaging 27 and nine and Dr. J putting up 32, 11 and five to take the victory.
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