What a fantastic upload! Complete San Diego Clippers games are extremely rare. Such a great nucleus they had with Walton, Chambers, and Cummings. All they needed was for these three to stay healthy for a full season and an all-star caliber point guard and they would've been a force in the West. Fascinating to see Chambers at this stage of his career - a highly mobile leaping big man, but his free throw shooting was awful. He'd develop into one of the best shooting big men and a terrific FT shooter later on. Deadly.
The biggest knock against Chambers which he never improved on was his defense and was very average in rebounding at best despite his height and leaping ability. He was remarkably consistent though as a scorer / shooter to go with luck in avoiding serious injuries. If Walton only had the durability of either Jack Sikma or Bill Laimbeer.... things for the Portland in the 1980's would've been very different.
When Sterling took over all he talked about was LA...San Diego had a "we hate LA complex" to begin with...and Sterling rubbed it in our faces - and then pulled the trigger. To this day, the Clippers are viewed by us old time SD sports fans as the ugly step child of the Lakers. Much like the Chargers who are the gum on the shoe of the Rams.
The sea of empty seats for a televised cable game is telling of the popularity of the NBA in general at that time. This was a common sight in many, if not most of the arenas pre-1985. Only a handful of franchises were filling the building at that time. Amazing how quickly it changed once the Celtics and Lakers played each other, and Michael Jordan came in.
Certainly the NBA had its issues then but this game was played two years after Bird and Magic entered the league and got the Celtics - Lakers rivalry going way before Jordan's Bulls caught fire.
San Diego city government set up a sports council in the 60's to build the stadium and sports arena and to attract pro sports. The Chargers moved back, the Padres went from minors to MLB, the Gulls were high level minors, and then there was short lived (2 plus decades) of pro hoops...from the Rockets to the Conquistadors to the Sails to the Clippers...Every team owner threatened or followed through on moving the team out of San Diego. Such a shame. Ironically the only team left, the Padres, was all but gone to DC until Ray Kroc saved the day...
I don't know if it's the footage and camera angles or the game itself (or both) but basketball before 1985 or so (maybe even 1990) seems both faster but the athletes also seem to move more stiffly and less fluidly. It's odd and yet very distinctive.
What a fantastic upload! Complete San Diego Clippers games are extremely rare. Such a great nucleus they had with Walton, Chambers, and Cummings. All they needed was for these three to stay healthy for a full season and an all-star caliber point guard and they would've been a force in the West. Fascinating to see Chambers at this stage of his career - a highly mobile leaping big man, but his free throw shooting was awful. He'd develop into one of the best shooting big men and a terrific FT shooter later on. Deadly.
The biggest knock against Chambers which he never improved on was his defense and was very average in rebounding at best despite his height and leaping ability. He was remarkably consistent though as a scorer / shooter to go with luck in avoiding serious injuries. If Walton only had the durability of either Jack Sikma or Bill Laimbeer.... things for the Portland in the 1980's would've been very different.
When Sterling took over all he talked about was LA...San Diego had a "we hate LA complex" to begin with...and Sterling rubbed it in our faces - and then pulled the trigger. To this day, the Clippers are viewed by us old time SD sports fans as the ugly step child of the Lakers.
Much like the Chargers who are the gum on the shoe of the Rams.
Walton, Cumming, AND Chambers across the front line. Goddamn!
gonna glom onto some of the rarest footage in the world: a San Diego Clippers game, on ESPN, in the early 1980s. What a find.
I remember watching this on DirecTV
The sea of empty seats for a televised cable game is telling of the popularity of the NBA in general at that time. This was a common sight in many, if not most of the arenas pre-1985. Only a handful of franchises were filling the building at that time. Amazing how quickly it changed once the Celtics and Lakers played each other, and Michael Jordan came in.
I think San Diego would be a great nba market now versus back then. All they need is an arena. Heard the twolves want to move with new ownership.
Certainly the NBA had its issues then but this game was played two years after Bird and Magic entered the league and got the Celtics - Lakers rivalry going way before Jordan's Bulls caught fire.
People forget that ESPN did NBA games in its very early days....
The two start talking about Terry Cummings and the shot cuts to Tom Chambers...
Walton was a beast in his prime.
San Diego city government set up a sports council in the 60's to build the stadium and sports arena and to attract pro sports. The Chargers moved back, the Padres went from minors to MLB, the Gulls were high level minors, and then there was short lived (2 plus decades) of pro hoops...from the Rockets to the Conquistadors to the Sails to the Clippers...Every team owner threatened or followed through on moving the team out of San Diego. Such a shame.
Ironically the only team left, the Padres, was all but gone to DC until Ray Kroc saved the day...
Gulls are now high level minors again with switching out of the ECHL to the AHL (American Hockey League); still wished IHL didn’t cease ops
We have the Sockers
If San Diego ever gets another NBA franchise, I hope they'll call the Conquistadors again.
Coolest name ever
@@jamescurran9002 I was also a fan of that name, but it's not pc now,lol
I don't know if it's the footage and camera angles or the game itself (or both) but basketball before 1985 or so (maybe even 1990) seems both faster but the athletes also seem to move more stiffly and less fluidly. It's odd and yet very distinctive.
The refs used to call travelling and double dribble back then.
The clippers looked like a pretty good team but had a losing record
Did Walton break his foot in this game?
No
If I’m not mistaken, Walton is the only player in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame to play in less than 50% of his games. Astounding.
BIG TRIO....
Nobody in the stands.
San Diego wasn’t a good sports city. At the time.
omg......empty