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1937

Dave Gambee is born in Portland, Oregon. His father was a star track and field athlete under legendary coach Bill Hayward at the University of Oregon.

1944

NBA All-Star John Block is born in Los Angeles, California.

1947

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is born (as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr.) in Harlem, New York. By the age of 13, he was 6’8″ and could already dunk a basketball.

The first ever NBA Finals (then called the BAA Finals) game is played, with the Philadelphia Warriors defeating the Chicago Stags 84-71 at the Philadelphia Arena. Joe Fulks has a dominant performance for the Warriors with 37 points. The Warriors ultimately won the best-of-seven series in five games.

1970

Walt Williams is born in Washington, D.C. After retiring from the NBA, he settled back in the area and became a head coach at Sherwood High School in nearby Sandy Spring, Maryland.

1982

Boris Diaw is born in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, France. His mother Elisabeth Riffiod is a French basketball legend, and was inducted into the nation’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

1983

In a 132-120 win over the Mavericks, the Spurs set the single game NBA record for team field goal percentage, shooting 53-of-75 from the field, good for 70.7%.

1985

Luol Deng is born in Wau, Sudan. To escape the Sudanese Civil War, his family relocated to Egypt, where Luol and his older brother Ajou were mentored in basketball by fellow Sudanese Manute Bol.

The NBA Board of Governors approves the Kings re-locating from Kansas City to Sacramento.

1990

Reggie Jackson is born in Pordenone, Italy. His father was stationed at the time at nearby Aviano Air Base and the family re-located back to America when Reggie was five.

1992

In maybe the most exciting EuroLeague championship game in history, Sasa Dordevic hits a buzzer beater to lead Partizan to a 71-70 victory over Joventut Badalona.

1996

With an 86-80 victory over the Bucks, the ’95-’96 Chicago Bulls become the first team in NBA history to reach 70 wins in a season. They would eventually win twice more to finish the season with a 72-10 record.

1999

Wendell Carter, Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia. Both his father and mother played college basketball, at Delta State and University of Mississippi, respectively.

2007

The Rockets honor longtime assistant coach and general manager Carroll Dawson by retiring a jersey emblazoned with his initials “CD.”

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