George Gervin
(Born 1952)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1996
Card Shown:
2014-15 Panini Flawless
Hall of Fame
Position: SG/SF
Height: 6’7″
bb
bb
George Gervin, “The Iceman,” was a 6’7″ shooting guard who could handle the ball, drive the lane with his trademark finger-roll finish, or hit the jumper from the outside. He was one of the first “big guards” to play in the NBA, where his height gave him the advantage against smaller guards and his quickness helped him to blow by forwards that were his size. George scored in double figures in an incredible 407 consecutive games.
Gervin twice finished second in the NBA Most Valuable Player voting. In 1977-78 he finished behind Bill Walton and in 1978-79 he was second to Moses Malone. George helped the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA playoffs eight times. However, the closest they got to the NBA Finals was in 1978-79 when they lost to the Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals after taking a 3-1 lead in the series.
Awards and Honors
- Gervin made the ABA All-Rookie First Team in 1972-73 while playing for the Virginia Squires. During his career, he was also named All-ABA Second Team twice, All-NBA First Team five times, and All-NBA Second Team twice.
- George was an All-Star for twelve consecutive years from 1974 through 1985. The first three times he was an ABA All-Star and the last nine times he was an NBA All-Star. In 1980 he was named the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player.
- Gervin led the NBA in scoring four times in a five-year span of time. He led the league with 27.2 ppg in 1977-78, 29.6 ppg in 1978-79, 33.1 ppg in 1979-80, and 32.3 ppg in 1981-82.
- In nine years with the San Antonio Spurs, George helped them to win five division titles.
- In 1996, Gervin was named one of The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.
Points of Interest
- In his fourteen-year professional career, George played for the Virginia Squires (ABA) for nearly two years, the San Antonia Spurs (ABA and NBA) for almost twelve years, and the Chicago Bulls (with Michael Jordan) for one year.
- In 1978, during the last game of the season, Gervin scored 63 points to edge out David Thompson by 0.06 points per game and win the NBA scoring title.
- On April 9, 1978, George scored 33 points in the second quarter to set a record for most points in a quarter. The record stood until Carmelo Anthony tied it in 2008 and then it was broken by Klay Thompson (with 37 points) in 2015. Click to view the top five scoring quarters in NBA history. Gervin was the only one of the three players to have such a high-scoring quarter without the aid of the three-point shot, which was added to the NBA in 1979-80.
- George finished his professional basketball career (ABA and NBA) with averages of 25.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game.
- With his four NBA scoring titles, Gervin stands in elite company. Only Michael Jordan (with ten) and Wilt Chamberlain (with seven) had more scoring titles than George Gervin. Allen Iverson also had four scoring titles during his career.
Statistics
George Gervin Statistics
provided by Basketball-Reference.com