Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102100043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Scores, performances and even players are often forgotten - six years ago Ralph Sampson was this game's leading scorer and most valuable player. It does not seem, however, that this afternoon at the Charlotte Coliseum will end up in the File 13 of Bernard King's mind.
"To try to explain what it's like to be in the All-Star Game again is impossible," King said Saturday, the eve of the 41st all-star contest. "Any words I say probably wouldn't be sufficient to describe the emotions and feelings I have about this."
King will be in the East starting lineup for today's 1:55 p.m. tipoff, replacing injured Boston great Larry Bird. That the Washington Bullets' forward is here - that he is again playing basketball, period - is testimony to his own will.
In March 1985 - so long ago that he was carried from the Kings' court in Kansas City's Kemper Arena - King tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing for the New York Knicks.
"There were doctors who told me I'd never play again," King said. "That night, though, I didn't need a doctor to tell me my career might be over. I knew that."
The 6-foot-7 King was leading the NBA in scoring, averaging 32.9 points in 55 games, when he was injured. He didn't play again until April 1987, the final six games of the '86-87 season. He missed 185 consecutive games over three seasons.
"People were talking in terms of me not being able to walk properly one day," King said. "Just like that, in a flash, it all went. Sure, it's disheartening. But you get to a point where you forget about the self-pity."
King decided he was coming back. He questioned six different doctors about his injury, and his prognosis for playing again depended on what they prescribed.
Dr. Norman Scott, the Knicks' team physician, used a relatively new constructive surgery on King's knee, using ligaments from King's hip area to build a new anterior cruciate.
"Then it was up to me," King said. "How long did it take? Whatever seven days a week, times five hours a day, times two years is. I don't have a calculator."
King went from swimming, bike-riding and rowing-machine repetitions back to the Knicks, but the club had changed. Patrick Ewing was evolving as the "go-to" guy. Washington owner Abe Pollin knew King's future was dicey, but on Oct. 16, 1987, Pollin signed the former University of Tennessee star.
Last Sunday night, King was sitting at home when the phone rang. It was Pollin. He was calling to tell King - whose offensive performance this season has been one of the NBA's highlights - that he had been selected as an All-Star reserve.
King, 34, is the second-oldest player in today's game. Boston center Robert Parish is 37.
"Six years ago, [Pollin] was the guy who believed in me." King said. "That's why it meant a lot for him to give me the news. That moment will remain locked in my memory and my heart.
"If I re-create it here, I'll be crying all over everything. It was very moving. I thought about all of the hard work I'd been through, and the people who have helped me."
King's two personal goals upon his return were to score 50 points in a game again and play in the All-Star Game. He reached one, with 52 points, in January against Denver. The other achievement comes today.
King has scored at least 40 points in a game nine times this season, including 49 against his former club in Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago. Considering King's Brooklyn roots, that night was doubly special, he said.
King not only is back, he ranks third in the NBA in scoring with a 29.9-point average, behind Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. He also had to alter his game upon his move to Washington, because the system was different - as was the league, in his opinion.
"When I got hurt, we didn't have all of these guys who are my size playing in the backcourt," King said. "It wasn't an adjustment because of me, but because of others. Within all of that, I had to simply find out physically what I was capable of doing.
"I'm a much more versatile player now. In New York, I was primarily a post-up player who got some baskets in transition out on the wing. Now, I don't post up much anymore, because everyone seems bigger."
King doesn't wear a brace on his knee, and his sullen, surly game face doesn't reflect his gregarious, talkative persona, either.
"It was a question of working to do it, and I've always worked hard," King said. "I'm a strong person. My parents made sure of that. Getting to where I am is a question of belief in myself and faith in God.
"I look at it this way. This injury could have happened to me in junior high, and then no one would have ever heard of Bernard King.
"I'm here, and I'm going to have a good time. I don't care how many points I score or whether I get an assist. I'm just going to relish it, and I'm going to remember it."
by CNB