"HE’S ON THE SECRETLY DIRTY ALL-STARS" - BILL SIMMONS ON KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR INJURING ALEX ENGLISH IN THE 1985 PLAYOFFS
When thinking of the dirtiest stars in the history of the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is probably the last name to come to your mind. But Bill Simmons may disagree with that notion, as he recently called the Los Angeles Lakers legend an underrated dirty player.
On a recent episode of his podcast, he and guest Chuck Mindenhall were discussing the Denver Nuggets' first foray into the NBA Finals. The franchise had an opportunity in the 1985 playoffs but saw its chances in the Western Conference Finals disappear when star Alex English sustained an injury courtesy of an elbow from Kareem.
Simmons called it a "cheap shot" and introduced an interesting accolade for Abdul-Jabbar.
"He's on the Secretly Dirty All-Stars," The Ringer founder said of KAJ.
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The 1984-85 campaign saw the Nuggets run off with the top-ranked offense in the regular season and the Western Conference's No. 2 seed. After eliminating the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz, they earned the right to battle the Lakers for a spot in the Finals.
Even though Los Angeles was a monster on its home court, English and Denver weren't the least bit intimidated. The Nuggets took Game 2 at The Forum to tie the series 1-1, with the legendary scorer showing that the Purple and Gold needed some sort of divine intervention to limit him on offense.
After giving up Game 3 to the visitors, Denver had the chance to knot it again. Unfortunately, the team lost its leading scorer to a broken thumb in the third period because of Abdul-Jabbar's seemingly dirty play.
The Nuggets lost Game 4 by four points and English for the remainder of the season. With their other stars, including Fat Lever, Calvin Natt, and Dan Issel, also nursing ailments, the squad couldn't mount a comeback, suffering a Game 5 beating.
If it weren't for KAJ taking out the eight-time All-Star, Denver probably would have had better odds of upsetting the eventual 1985 champions.
Was Kareem a dirty player?
Still, a single play shouldn't be enough to warrant anyone calling the six-time MVP a dirty player. Perhaps longtime Boston Celtics supporter Simmons just has a personal vendetta against the Lakers icon, whom he once called the "Satan of basketball."
However, while Abdul-Jabbar wasn't as hard-nosed or dirty as some of his contemporaries, the six-time champ also threw out some cheap shots on some occasions and figured in scraps.