The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Broken foot brought early end to ‘Miracle’
Chones: ‘I think we would have won it’
The Miracle of Richfield was an incomplete miracle, like the Grand Canyon if it were just a big quarry.
The Miracle of Richfield was, in reality, an incomplete miracle, just as the Grand Canyon wouldn’t be so grand if it were just a big quarry.
The Cavaliers, an expansion team in 1970, won the NBA Central Division in 1975-76 to make the playoffs for the first time.
Dick Snyder hit a floating lay-up with four seconds to play in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to give the Cavs an 87-85 lead over the Washington Bullets. A desperation shot by Bullets guard Phil Chenier from the right corner at the buzzer bounced off the rim and fans flowed onto the Coliseum floor to celebrate.
Three of the Cavaliers victories over Washington were by a combined four points – 80-79 in Game 2 at Washington, 92-91 in Game 5 at the Coliseum and then the two-point clincher in Game 7.
And that is where the miracle ended. Two days before the Eastern Conference finals with the Boston Celtics began, Cavs power forward/center Jim Chones, 6-foot-11, 220 pounds, broke his right foot in practice. He said he jumped to block a shot by Campy Russell and landed on a teammate’s foot.
“I heard it snap,” Chones said in a March 27 phone interview with The News-Herald. “I couldn’t put any weight on it. (Coach Bill) Fitch told me to walk downstairs naturally. It was hard, but I did it.
“As soon as I got outside the door, I had to hop on one leg, it was so painful. It started to puff up. The X-rays confirmed I broke the fifth metatarsal.”
The Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers in six games and went on to beat the Phoenix Suns in six games to win the NBA title.
That begs the question: “What if Jim Chones hadn’t broken his foot?”
“I think we would have won it (the championship),” Chones said. “We could have won one in Cleveland because we could focus. That’s what makes championship team – focus. When they have to be good they could be really good. We were playing at a higher level.
“None of us was a superstar. Nate Thurmond was past his prime. There was no ego involved. We had one goal, one direction, and that was to win the games. We had a little bit of everything.”
Chones played all 82 games in the 1975-76 regular season while averaging a career best 15.8 points. He averaged 35 minutes, 15 points and 7.4 points against the Bullets in the conference semifinals.
Thurmond, the unquestioned leader of the Cavaliers after being acquired in a trade with the Bulls on Nov. 27, 1975, for Steve Patterson and Eric Fernsten, averaged a careerlow 17.4 minutes with the Cavs in the regular season coming off the bench. Yet that wasn’t the story. The Cavaliers were 6-11 before acquiring Thurmond. They went 43-22 after the trade.
Thurmond averaged 21 minutes, 3.4 points and 7.6 rebounds against the Bullets in the semifinals. He was heroic against the Celtics starting in place of Chones. At 6-foot-11, 225 pounds and 35 years old, Thurmond averaged 39 minutes, 10.5 points and 10.7 rebounds against Boston.
The problem with losing Chones didn’t really hurt the Cavaliers starting lineup against Boston. But instead of calling Thurmond off the bench, Fitch had to turn to Luke Witte or John Lambert to spell Thurmond. It was like playing 4-on-5 for the Cavs.
Thurmond played 15 NBA seasons, 11 of them with the San Francisco Warriors, and never won an NBA championship. His last real chance died with the Celtics ending the Cavaliers’ dream season, 94-87, in Game 6 at the Coliseum.
“I remember going into the locker room (cast on his right foot) after we lost and talking to Nate,” Chones said. “He had his head down, those big football shoulders, those 20-inch biceps, big veins running through his head…
“I patted him on the shoulder and I said, ‘Sorry, Nate.’ He said, ‘We almost had ‘em, big guy. We almost had ‘em. I almost had one (an NBA championship).’ And he slapped his palms together. Nate knew we had the right kind of team-play to win it.”
Thurmond, an Akron native, played 65 games in 1975-76 with the Cavaliers, 49 the following season and then retired.
As far as tenure goes, it was not a long time wearing Wine and Gold, yet Thurmond’s “42” is retired and hangs from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse rafters. Thurmond passed away on July 16, 2016, at age 74.
“Nate was special for us,” Chones said. “Nate was what we called the ignition. He’s the one that made us realize we could do more. It’s that will and realization that ‘I can do this.’ That’s what Nate Thurmond did for us. All we had to do was follow suit.”
Home court advantage played out as it was meant to in the first four games of the conference finals. The Celtics won, 111-99 and 94-89 in Boston. The Cavs took Game 3, 83-78, and Game 4, 106-87, at the Coliseum.
Boston won the next two – 99-94 in Boston and then the Game 6 dagger in Richfield. Without Chones, the Cavaliers could not extend the series.
The end was disappointing, no doubt about that, but Chones says that one season and the pulsating triumph over the Bullets is responsible for two generations of Cavaliers fans.
“You have to remember, this is Cleveland Browns country,” Chones said. “We started playing well, then everybody started watching. In fact, the cadence to the cheering in The Coliseum was more like a football crowd than a basketball crowd. In basketball, the crowd shuts up at some point. But they kept hollering because that’s the only way they knew to appreciate a team.
“They chanted. They did it all, man. I still think this is football country, but basketball has a place in this city.”
In 2016, with LeBron James leading the way and Chones doing radio commentary alongside play-by-play announcer John Michael, the Cavaliers won their first NBA championship by beating the Golden State Warriors in seven games.
If not for a broken foot, the parade celebrating the Cavaliers’ triumph might have occurred 40 years earlier.