George Gervin

George Gervin (born April 27, 1952 in Detroit,
Michigan) is a former professional basketball
player, a shooting guard for the American
Basketball Association|ABA's Virginia Squires and
the National Basketball Association|NBA's San
Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls.  Gervin never
failed to average at least fourteen points in any
of his fourteen ABA and NBA seasons, and finished
an NBA career average of 26.2 points per game.
Gervin holds the interesting distinction of being
a former teammate of both Julius Erving (with the
Squires) and Michael Jordan (with the Bulls),
although in Gervin's only season in Chicago,
Jordan played only eighteen games due to injury.

Nicknamed Iceman for his cool demeanor on the
court, Gervin was primarily known for his scoring
talents, leading the NBA in scoring average three
years in a row from 1978 to 1980. He gained his
fourth and last scoring title in 1982.

His first scoring crown, which took place in 1978,
was one of NBA's most famed moments. He defeated
fellow scorer David Thompson by seven hundredths
of a point (27.22 to 27.15). Although Thompson
came up with a memorable performance for the last
game of the regular season, scoring 73 points,
Gervin maintained his slight lead by dropping 63
points on his last game of the season.

His trademark was the finger roll, a technique
consisting in shooting his layups by rolling the
basketball along his fingertips.

Gervin was inducted to the Basketball Hall of
Fame, had his #44 jersey retired by the Spurs and
was named to the NBA fifty greatest players
list|NBA's fifty greatest players list.