Pistol Pete Maravich:

[bajaden]

I'm sure that there are quite a few of you that have never seen Pistol Pete play. I feel blessed that I got to see him play in person along with many other great players. Maravich was Magic before Magic. He was J. Will before J. Will. In my lifetime of watching basketball, I've never seen anyone with the creativity, and the passing ability of Maravich. He almost seemed like a magician at times. When you add in that he was a terrific shooter and scorer, he ranks with the best players of all time. Unfortunately, there isn't much video tape in HD, or even good quality of Pistol Pete. But here is a video, hard to watch at times, that shows off his many skills. I might add, that early in his career many of his teammates didn't like playing with him because they kept getting hit in the head with the ball.


[video=youtube_share;ATOHSfduRMU]http://youtu.be/ATOHSfduRMU[/video]

 

[VF21]

Thanks for sharing! Hard to believe he's been gone for 25 years. Such an incredible talent.

 

[PurpleHaze]

His basketball career was indeed iconic special and Maravich was so amazing to watch for this fan of the game - the 6'5" ultimate magician PG. I only saw him play a few times on TV with Hawks and Jazz. He did lead NBA in scoring one season at 31.1 PPG in 1977, scoring 68 pts at Madison Square Garden during one memorable contest against the Knicks.

But his collegiate career numbers - simply off the charts! At LSU Pistol Pete averaged 44.2 PPG over this three years, leading nation in scoring each season by very wide margins - 43.8, 44.3, 44.5. Freshmen were ineligible for the varsity team back then but he put up 43.6 PPG during that first season. All the more spectacular stats when considering there was no 3-pt FG line during that era. In fact, every 2-pt FG he knocked down in NCAA was later charted for distance and if college 3-pt line had been around back then Pistol Pete would have averaged staggering 57 PPG over his record obliterating collegiate career.

 

[bajaden]

Such a shame that he died so young... He apparently had degenerative heart disease from childhood and didn't know it.

 

[VF21]

Pistol Pete vs. George Gervin in a game of HORSE

 

[VF21]

Red Auerbach on Pistol Pete drills.

 

[rexb_kings]

I actually have the movie, The Pistol. I had my 5 yr.old son watch the movie, so he could get a great idea about practice, determination and passion about basketball. Like the scenes where he dribbles on a railroad and practices driblling inside and out of the house. I love it when I hear him practice and say 'finger tip control, backspin, follow-through!". Great movie to inspire little ones.

 

[Warhawk]

I actually have the movie, The Pistol. I had my 5 yr.old son watch the movie, so he could get a great idea about practice, determination and passion about basketball. Like the scenes where he dribbles on a railroad and practices driblling inside and out of the house. I love it when I hear him practice and say 'finger tip control, backspin, follow-through!". Great movie to inspire little ones.

Is that this movie, or something else?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102674/