During the twilight of his career, George Gervin was traded from San Antonio to Chicago. The Iceman shared the locker room with the league’s fastest-rising star then, a guy by the name of Michael Jordan . While Gervin was already one foot out the door, he managed to come up with vintage performances occasionally.
In one of these flashback displays, Iceman scored 35 points in a half against the Dallas Mavericks on January 27, 1986. This impressed MJ and served as a reminder of how great the four-time scoring champ was.
“In that game, he turned that clock back. He was making everything-- finger rolls, turnaround fadeaways, jump shot, one dribble stop pull-up. He was making everything,” His Airness recalled .
The only problem was Iceman’s diminished cardiovascular capacity. Gervin scored “only” 10 more points in the second half as he ran on fumes in an anticlimactic finish. The Bulls ultimately lost to the Mavs, 116-124.
What the Game Meant to Gervin
The Michigan native made nine straight NBA All-Star games until injuries and alcohol and drug addiction got the better of him . The Bulls accommodated the high-flying scorer as Jordan’s backup before the 1985-86 season, but the stars did not always see eye to eye. In fact, MJ straight up said he’s " unhappy " with the Gervin trade.
For Gervin, he needed to prove he still had something left in the tank.
“Mike, he said, ‘What happened, old man?’ And I said, 'Hey, I was just showing you how it used to be,'" Gervin said, laughing. “It was good for me to let him see what I could do. You know, Mike was on another level, man. I mean, Mike knew it.”
Iceman played a more important role than he initially signed up for after Jordan hurt his foot and played only 18 games in the regular season. The Bulls needed someone to pick up the scoring vacuum a bit, and George was there for the most part. However, the legend hardly moved the needle for Chicago in the win-loss column.
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“I knew my time was up”
In the 1985-86 preseason, Spurs owner Angelo Drossos encouraged Gervin to retire. Iceman was too stubborn to cross the finish line and wanted to go out on his own terms. However, witnessing Michael Jordan’s 63-point game against the Celtics in that year's playoffs made him realize the obvious.
“You can only be on top for so long, and seeing Jordan in that game reinforced in me that I knew my time was up,” Gervin wrote in his book Ice .
Iceman played five minutes in his last NBA game on the same night MJ scored the most points by anyone in a postseason game. He did not score a single basket but recorded an assist to Gene Banks.
Gervin averaged 25.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in his career, making seven All-NBA teams and 12 All-Star appearances. Iceman placed second in MVP voting behind Bill Walton in 1978 and Moses Malone in 1979.
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