New Kids on the Block: Late 80's NBA Expansion

Historically Speaking Sports

In the late 1980s, NBA Commissioner David Stern looked to take full advantage of the growing popularity of his league. So on April 5, !987, the NBA announced the addition of four new teams to the NBA.

Beginning in the fall of 1988, the Charlotte Hornets and the Miami Heat took the floor for the first time as NBA franchises. One season later, in 1989 two more teams, the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves joined the league.

In this episode, host Dana Auguster brings us back to the late 1980s when these four franchises were formed and takes a look at their inaugural seasons where struggles were expected - some more than others.

Later in the show, in keeping with the hoops theme, we will take a look at the best rivalry in the 1990s in the NBA, Pacers and Knicks.

The Knicks and the Pacers are embroiled in a exciting seven game series currently in this years postseason. Yet the matchups between these teams in the 1990s were simply epic and incredible.

Also we will examine pro sports' new loveable losers, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It is hard to believe that a team that has as much history as the Maple Leafs haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967. This episode takes a look at English-Speaking Canada's favorite team and how it compares to other teams in the mist of championship droughts in other leagues.

To conclude the show, we will send a shout out to the first round of the 1999 Western Conference playoffs between the Utah Jazz and the Sacramento Kings.

Back then the first round of the NBA playoffs was best three-out-of-five series and it was between an established NBA power and a team that came out of nowhere and became in subsequent years, one of the most popular and exciting teams in the league.

The series itself was an absolute classic, one of the best over the last 30 years. And it was in the first round.

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