I really do not know much about NBA BB. Pro ball has never been exciting to me and I seldom watch either the NBA or WNBA. I never lived in an area where Pro BB was readily available, never developed any team loyalty so just did not watch. So for Pete’s Pro career I am not a good source.
And even then, Maravich passes were designed to keep the spot light on him.
Pros? or College? College he averaged 46 pts a game his senior year. Obviously he shot more than PB, he shot more than anybody. Do you remember him in the Pros?
You have to put it in its era. During the 50's and 60's the game was b o r i n g. No 3 point shout, no shot clock. Many teams were adopting a game style of possession vs shooting (Princeton's four corner). And then along came Pistol, Calvin Murphy and Doctor J. The game was invigorated and reborn.
How do you know? Did you see Pete play? Obviously he was an incredible passer, which suggests he did care about his teammates. Like Paige, if you're the best player, you should take the most shots.
Was a great passer, if hitting teammates with great passes isn't team building what is. Played most of pro career with crummy teams.
No 3 PT at that time. He like many top draft picks got drafted by a crummy team. Never got to a good team, Celtics, until injuries had slowed him. Part of his last year 1980.
I saw him in Washington when he was with the Celtics. A mere shell of what he was. Similar to Bill Walton in Boston.
Maravich saw the entire floor, and could see plays developing BEFORE they happened. The thing about Pete and Paige is that they were/are not afraid to pull the trigger on a difficult pass, like the one Paige threw to a cutting Westbrook to start the DePaul game. A thing of beauty, and it got UConn on the board right away.
I like the Larry Bird comparison---great vision, passing, and shooting
Watched that game on TV, he was unbelievable. At the time the Knicks had the distinction of being the team that that highest scoring games by the 3 positions guard, forward and center had been scored against them.Remembering the night Pistol Pete scored 68 points
Forty years ago today, Feb. 25, 1977, Pete Maravich played one of the most spectacular games in New Orleans basketball history. “The Pistol” scored 68 points in a 124-107 winwww.nola.com
Maravich victimized five different Knicks guards: Walt Frazier; Butch Beard; Earl Monroe; Dean Meminger; and Tickey Burden. Frazier was known as one of the best defenders in the NBA but Maravich averaged 35 points a game in his three previous matchups with Frazier. “We tried everything humanly possible to stop him,” Knicks coach Red Holtzman told The Times-Picayune that night. “We double-teamed him, we tried to have guys help out. We tried trapping him. He was just so darned hot, we couldn’t handle him.”
Maravich made 26 of 43 field goals and 16 of 18 free throws en route to his record-setting night. And this was before the 3-point shot had been instituted. At the time, it was the seventh highest scoring output in NBA history. It set the benchmark for the most points ever scored by a guard, eclipsing Jerry West's mark of 63 in 1962. The mark still ranks fourth among guards all-time and 12th overall in NBA history.
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Bob McAdoo, the Knicks starting center and a three-time NBA scoring champion, said, “He was shooting from everywhere: every corner of the court, fast breaks, set plays. The man beat us by himself."
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Knicks guard Earl Monroe: “There was no way we could stop him. The Pistol was hot tonight, he was really going off. The thing that came to mind was that he was hitting shots from everywhere. Unconscionable shots”
There was no 3 point line for Maravich. Someone went back and estimated Maravich would have averaged an additional 13 points per game with a 3 point line. Similar situation for our own Wes Bialusuknia.
