In the NBA, players are often encouraged to have short-term memory. Had a lousy shooting night? Flush that game down and move on to the next one. However, some losses stick with players for a long time. For former NBA All-Star guard Sam Cassell , Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers is one of those losses.
Cassell played a key role for the Milwaukee Bucks , who made it to the conference finals that year. They had battled through tough playoff series against the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets and were one game away from reaching their first NBA Finals since 1974.
But Game 7 against the Sixers didn't go as planned for Cassell and his teammates. They decisively lost, 108-91. More than two decades have passed since that stinging defeat, but to this day, it still haunts the player-turned-coach.
Missed a key player
Cassell recently appeared on the “Knuckleheads Podcast” and revealed how the Bucks missed Scott Williams’ presence in that winner-take-all game. Williams, a bruising 6-foot-10 forward with a soft touch from the outside, got suspended for Game 7 after the flagrant foul 1 he committed on Sixers’ superstar Allen Iverson was upgraded to a flagrant 2.
“The reason they beat us is Scott Williams was our pick-and-pop guy. 15-foot jump shot, elbow, that was his thing. Mutumbo was in the drop all the time, so we couldn't get to the rim because he protected the rim,” Sam explained , referring to Williams, a three-time champion with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
“Our starting power forward was Darvin Ham at that time. It was Darvin and Ervin Johnson, so we didn't have an offensive threat that we could get downhill and throw back to. Scott Williams made a living out of making 15-foot jump shots. He got suspended for game seven, and right then and there, man, we just like…” Cassell continued.
While Williams’ numbers weren’t substantial, his presence merited defensive attention. Scott could rain down midrange jumpers on the Sixers all game long when left open at the perimeter. He also provided a physical and aggressive presence on defense, often guarding the opposing team’s best frontcourt player.
“I let that one get away from me. That one to this day still hurts, you know what I'm saying?” Sam painfully recalled.
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Could have given the Lakers a run for their money
Aside from being known as a big shot-taker and -maker, Cassell was also known to talk a big game. The former Florida State star claimed that had they hurdled the Sixers, they would have given the Lakers fits.
“Now, the Lakers may have beat us, but it wouldn't have been easy because we could score the basketball. We could score the ball, and they didn't have a matchup for me,” the one-time All-Star boldly stated.
He explained that while Kobe Bryant and Rock Fox could have handled Bucks’ aces Ray Allen and Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, they didn’t have anyone to keep him from scoring. The Lakers’ point guards during that playoff run were veteran Ron Harper, who was on the last legs of his decorated career, and young guards Ty Lue and Derek Fisher.
“They didn't have the matchup for me. So, that was the thing. We knew that we could score points,” Cassell shared.
At the same time, the current Boston Celtics assistant coach was realistic enough to admit that the Bucks didn’t have anyone on its roster to slow down man-mountain Shaquille O’Neal. The “Diesel” averaged 33.0 points and 15.8 rebounds in the 2011 NBA Finals, despite the presence of the Sixers’ defensive sentinel, Dikembe Mutombo.
Related: “Motherf****r look at me and say, ‘Where you going on vacation at?’” – Sam Cassell on what Michael Jordan told him before tip-off of Game 3 of their first-round series
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