Moses Malone, page 12
Moses had support off the court as well. His aunt Naomi and cousin Diane moved from Petersburg to Houston during his early teen years. Moses stayed with them in the Fifth Ward neighborhood the summer before his junior year of high school and contemplated relocating to Houston to play for powerhouse Wheatley High School.15 Naomi served as a surrogate mother for him, and Diane was the sister he never had.
Moses joined a Rockets team that had never posted a winning record, though suddenly the future looked bright in Houston. The NBA of the 1960s and ’70s was dominated by big men. Oscar Robertson in 1964 was the only noncenter to win the MVP award between 1960 and 1980. The other key component to a successful team was a point guard who could run the offense. Over a few months, the Rockets acquired dynamic prospects at both positions in Malone and Lucas.
Lucas was a pass-first point guard who ignited the offense by delivering timely passes to the team’s shooters. He also brought enthusiasm to the locker room, pumping up guys before games and pulling Moses out of his shell.16 Calvin Murphy was an explosive scorer despite his diminutive 5-foot-9 frame. Malone would later call him the greatest shooter he ever played with.17 He was joined in the backcourt by another sharpshooter in Mike Newlin, and All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich had excellent range for a forward.
Malone’s new teammates were curious about the twenty-one-year-old with the big Afro. They noticed his unusually small hands and wondered if he would play forward or center. He remained a mystery for much of his first season in Houston, slow to let down his guard after being discarded by Portland and Buffalo.18
It was easy to forget that Malone was only twenty-one and just two years removed from high school. Developmentally, he was the equivalent of a junior in college. His game was still raw, and he lacked fundamentals. He didn’t position his feet wide enough apart to create a solid base when battling for position, routinely dribbled after grabbing an offensive rebound rather than going right back up with the ball, and released layups from his hip instead of above his head.19
The one thing the Rockets agreed on was that the man could jump. “There are bigger players in the league and ones who can jump higher,” said Murphy, but no one elevated quicker, he concluded. Most players squat before leaping. Moses barely flexed his knees, which enabled him to come down and go back up again faster than anybody else.20
Nissalke focused primarily on the guards and Harris the big men, though the head coach often worked one-on-one with Malone after practice. In one drill, he threw the ball at the basket, and Moses had to grab the rebound and dunk it 20 times in a row without stopping. Sweat poured from his face as Nissalke told him to do the drill again, pointing out that he had to learn to push through fatigue late in games.21
It took a few months for Nissalke to figure out how to best utilize Moses. He initially brought Malone off the bench as a backup to center Kevin Kunnert. After a couple weeks, he began starting Moses and Kunnert together against big lineups, with Moses guarding power forwards. In early December, Moses took over the center position, and Kunnert moved to the bench.
Initially, Malone was ineffective offensively. His confidence appeared shaken after being shuffled around two leagues. He held the ball down low where guards could swipe at it and dribbled too much. He also shot poorly from the free-throw line. It was his defense that impressed the coaches early in the season. He had 7 blocked shots, including one in the closing seconds to win the game against Philadelphia on December 29.
Hoping for more stability at center, Nissalke reinserted Kunnert into the lineup and moved Moses back to power forward in January. The move jump-started Malone’s game. No longer required to bang with the opponent’s biggest player, he was free to roam on defense and block shots. Power forwards struggled to keep him off the backboards.
Despite the youngster’s up-and-down play, Nissalke consistently praised him to the press. “I think Moses has got the potential to be another Bill Russell,” the coach said in December. “He’s probably the fastest guy on our squad. Calvin Murphy is the quickest, but in a 100-yard dash it would be Moses.”22
Malone gradually rediscovered the form that made him an All-Star in his rookie season. His shooting percentage skyrocketed in March and April, and he began pummeling teams on the glass, repeatedly topping the 20-rebound mark. In early March he outscored and outrebounded the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a Rockets win over the Lakers.23 A few nights later, Moses contributed 19 points and 21 rebounds against the Nets. “That’s as good a domination of a game as I’ve seen this year,” said Nets coach Kevin Loughery.24
The Rockets found their groove over the final two months of the season, winning nine-consecutive games in March. They finished atop the Central Division with a record of 49-33. “They’re the success story of the league,” said 76ers general manager Pat Williams. “Six months ago, they had no ownership, there was worry that the league would have to assume operation of the franchise. All of a sudden, it all just completely turned around.”25 Nissalke was named Coach of the Year.
Moses averaged 13.5 points and 13.4 rebounds (third in the league behind Abdul-Jabbar and Walton) and ranked seventh in blocked shots, while playing just thirty minutes per game. He also set an NBA record for offensive rebounds with 437, shattering Paul Silas’s record of 365.26
The Rockets received a bye in the first round of the playoffs and faced a Washington Bullets squad featuring Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes in the second round. Houston lost Game One, then evened the series behind 31 points and 26 rebounds (15 offensive) from Malone. Washington won Game Three, followed by three consecutive Houston wins to close out the series. Malone averaged 19.5 points and 16.7 rebounds against Washington, prompting Bullets coach Dick Motta to say he “is going to be a dominant force in this league.”27
The Rockets faced a stacked 76ers team in the Eastern Conference Finals in a contrast of styles. The 76ers pushed the ball up the court and relied on the speed and scoring ability of forwards Julius Erving and George McGinnis, whereas the Rockets played at a slower pace, utilizing Malone’s and Kunnert’s size. One Philly sportswriter compared the matchup to a cheetah versus a water buffalo.28
Philly pulled out a hard-fought six-game series. The final game hinged on a dubious charge call against Lucas in the final seconds of a two-point game. The Rockets believed they were robbed of an opportunity to win the championship. Philly lost to Portland in the Finals. Houston won three of four games against Portland that season and would have had home-court advantage in the series.29
Moses’s offense was inconsistent against the 76ers, though his performance in the Bullets series was enough to establish him as a budding star. “In that Washington series, we truly began to see the form that would eventually turn Malone into an MVP,” wrote Tomjanovich in his autobiography. “Moses had shown flashes throughout the regular season, but now he was, at times, dominating the likes of Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld. The maturity Moses gained in that first year with the Rockets was amazing. We all had the feeling this was indeed a Moses who could take us to the promised land.”30
* * *
Moses returned to Petersburg for the summer as he had after his first two professional seasons. He stayed at his mother’s house and met up with Gholson and his boys from the Heights. They played ball at Lee Park with his high school teammates and some younger guys. Petersburg native Mark West, who later played in the NBA, was five years younger than Moses and in awe of him. He couldn’t believe that one of the best players in the NBA showed up at his park and played with him and his friends. “He’s just playing for the love of the game and the love of the neighborhood and his hometown,” recalled West.31 Moses stopped by the courts at Farmer Street and Mackenzie Street as well, where he taught young kids the fundamentals of the game.32
It was evident to anybody who encountered him how much he loved basketball. If he was in town during the season, he’d attend a Hopewell or Petersburg game with Gholson or drive up to Richmond to catch a VCU game.33 He followed the local high school and college teams in Houston too.34 During the season, when teammates went home to rest after a long practice, Moses stuck around the gym to play one-on-one with Newlin, or H-O-R-S-E with a rookie.35 It was that extraordinary love of the game that convinced teammates Moses would achieve greatness.
* * *
Big Mo, as they called him, took on a leadership role in his second season in Houston. Robert Reid was one of the rookies to participate in summer league. Moses showed up to get in some extra work and encouraged Reid from the start. The rookie was a longshot to make the team, though he impressed Nissalke enough to earn an invitation to veteran’s camp. Malone’s locker was across from Reid’s, and he regularly exhorted the rookie on. “Reid, just work hard,” he’d say. “Just work hard. I like your game. Big Mo likes your game. Just work hard.” It was a tremendous boost for the youngster.36
Phil Bond, Houston’s third-round pick, was also inspired by Malone. The rookie had never seen a player compete with such intensity. “You almost had the confidence to shoot because if you missed there was a real good chance he was gonna get the offensive rebound,” he said. The Rockets took some of their players to the Dominican Republic before the start of the season. Bond was standing on the sideline during practice when Moses grabbed him from behind and started wrestling him. The gesture made him feel welcome. When the players drove around the island, Moses stuck his head out of the car and hollered at women. Bond was struck by the contrast between the two sides of Moses: the focused professional and the juvenile clown.37
The Rockets had lofty expectations for the 1977–78 season after advancing to the conference finals. They returned the same nucleus, with Reid, a pleasant surprise out of St. Mary’s University, joining the rotation. Houston began the season 6-12, including nine losses in ten games in late November. Nissalke moved Kunnert to the bench and introduced new plays designed to create more scoring opportunities.38 The Rockets responded with three wins in four games.
Then the team flew to L.A. to play the Lakers on December 9. Early in the third quarter, Kunnert and Lakers forward Kermit Washington engaged in a scuffle in the backcourt. Rudy Tomjanovich was filling the lane on the fast break when he heard whistles blow and turned around to see Abdul-Jabbar grabbing Kunnert from behind while Washington continued to swing at him. Rudy ran toward the action. Washington saw him out of the corner of his eye, reared back and punched him in the face.39
Tomjanovich crumbled to the floor in a pool of his own blood. C. J. Kupec, a backup forward on the Rockets, saw yellow stuff oozing from Rudy’s head, which turned out to be spinal fluid.40 The punch shattered bones in his face and nearly killed him. Tomjanovich’s teammates were horrified. He was respected in the locker room as the longest-tenured Rocket, along with Murphy. The injury hung like a pall over the rest of their season.
Moses produced some sensational performances, including 39 points and 26 rebounds (16 offensive) in a November 16 loss to the Braves. “They ought to find a new league for Moses,” said Braves coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. “They ought to take him out of the NBA and find him someplace to play where the rest of the people are immortals like he is. There’s no one in this league who can play with him. I just haven’t seen anything quite like what he did tonight.”41 Malone failed to string together those types of performances and turned in some disappointing results, particularly on the road, where he appeared to be uncharacteristically unfocused at times. Despite the team’s struggles and his inconsistent play, Moses was selected to his first NBA All-Star Game.
Big Mo began experiencing soreness in his right foot in mid-February. He sat out a game against the Pistons on February 22. The swelling went down, and he returned to the lineup against the Nets on the 24th. Late in the first half, he turned to Murphy on the bench and said, “Murph, I broke my foot.”
Murphy responded, “What do you mean your foot’s broken? You have like 13 rebounds.”42
Moses finished with 28 points and 24 rebounds. Sure enough, he’d been playing with a stress fracture in his right foot and was out for the rest of the season. Moses lived by the old-school mentality that one should show up for work every day, regardless of the circumstances. Throughout his career he played through broken bones, badly sprained ankles, the flu, and other ailments.
He was the sixth Rocket to break a bone that season. Houston went into a tailspin and finished 28-54. Moses averaged 19.4 points and 15.0 rebounds (second only to Truck Robinson) and led the league in total offensive rebounds even though he missed twenty-three games. After four years of professional experience, which he referred to as his “college years,” Malone was on the threshold of stardom.
12
Chairman of the Boards
Shortly after Moses’s first season with the Rockets, he found himself sitting next to a beautiful woman named Marilyn Hartfield on a flight to Houston. The two started talking, and Moses asked her out on a date. Marilyn, an eighth-grade science teacher at Furr High School in Houston, said, “I’ll tell you what. My favorite student is flunking my class. If you talk to him and get him to get his grades up, I’ll go on a date with you.” That student’s name was Floy Johnson.
Moses agreed and told Marilyn to have Floy meet him at Fonde Recreation Center, where he worked out in the offseason. The fourteen-year-old showed up early and waited for Moses on the first row of bleachers. Moses walked in and asked, “Are you Floy Johnson?” The two talked. Moses had his date with Marilyn, though nothing came of it. Instead, he gained a sidekick.
Moses invited Floy to hang out at his house on numerous occasions. When the boy turned sixteen, he began joining Moses at the clubs. They hit on women together, leading to some wild nights. Floy did favors for Moses, like driving him to the airport and cleaning out his garage, and became a regular in the Rockets locker room. People started calling him “Lil Mo.” Some of Moses’s teammates and friends resented having a high school kid around, but Moses didn’t care. Floy was his boy.
Floy’s friendship with Moses opened doors for him. Floy drove Darryl Dawkins to the club one night and entertained the 76ers center until Moses arrived. Years later, he was invited to one of Michael Jordan’s exclusive card games after Jordan and Malone’s teams faced off. In 1985 Moses introduced him to Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier. Rozier suggested that Floy should become a sports promoter, given his connections. He went on to have a successful career with the support of Rozier and Malone.
In high school, Floy befriended a boy a few years older named Leonard Mitchell from Booker T. Washington High School. “Big Mitch” played basketball and football at the University of Houston before spending six seasons in the NFL. He also hooped at Fonde Rec Center with Moses during the summer. When Floy was in tenth grade, he hung out with Mitchell at the U of H dorm called The Towers. Moses began spending a lot of time there as well.
He was in the dorm lobby during the fall semester of 1978 with his friend Stretch Campbell when a beautiful Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister named Alfreda Gill caught his eye. Moses struck up a conversation with her and got her number. Stretch and Moses usually spoke daily, though several days passed without Stretch hearing from his friend. When Moses finally called, he said he’d been shacked up with Alfreda.1 It was Moses’s sense of humor that initially attracted her to him.2 Before long, she was driving around campus in Moses’s black Porsche 928.3
Alfreda was one of seven siblings from a middle-class family in Dickinson, Texas. Her father, Louis Gill, served on the city council for many years and eventually became mayor pro tem.4 Mr. Gill grew up on a ranch and kept cows, chickens, and horses on his property when Alfreda was a child. Moses liked to tell the story about the first time he went to Alfreda’s house. He was sitting on the green couch in the den when he looked out the window and saw one of Mr. Gill’s prized bulls staring at him.
Alfreda’s cousin Kirk Williams visited the Gill home while on break from college during December 1978. He was surprised to see Alfreda ironing and folding an extremely long pair of pants. They belonged to Moses, who attended the family gathering. The Gills treated him like one of their own, and as the only child of a single mother, he enjoyed being part of a big family.5 Alfreda gave birth to their first child, Moses Malone Jr., on December 12, 1979.
Houston had become home. Moses moved into a townhouse in the southwest part of the city and filled it with plants and artwork. There was a painting of him in his high school uniform that had been presented to him on Moses Malone Day. The centerpiece of the living room captured the essence of Moses, simple on the surface but with hidden complexity. It was a large painting of a woman’s naked backside, though when examined closely it revealed the profile of Abraham Lincoln.6
After four years of professional experience, Malone was primed for greatness. He’d refined his game, eliminating the excessive dribbling and wasted movements. He also added an eight-to-ten-foot jumper and a hook shot to his repertoire.
Basketball players in the 1970s didn’t do much weight training. It was believed that too much mass would negatively impact flexibility and accuracy. Moses found a trainer at a small gym in the basement of an office building whom he worked out with four days a week. He didn’t tell anybody about it.7 He bulked up to 235 pounds by the start of the 1978–79 season, ready to withstand the pounding that comes with playing center in the NBA.8 Kevin Kunnert had signed with the Celtics, so Malone would be receiving more time in the pivot.
Offensive rebounding continued to be the skill that separated him from his peers. Before the three-point shot took over the game, half-court basketball was contained in a tight space around the basket. Players shot close to the rim, leading to short rebounds. Offensive players were boxed out by the defense and had to battle through a scrum of hulking bodies to gain position to secure the ball.
