What was it like facing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Michael Cage 'still in awe of' NBA scoring champion
SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Cage thinks back to when he was 7 years old, sitting on his dad’s lap in their West Memphis, Arkansas, home.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on the TV screen.
“I want you to watch this,” James Cage told his son. “This is called a hook shot.”
Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, was in his rookie season with the Milwaukee Bucks, which drafted the former UCLA star center with the No. 1 pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.
“The next couple years I started playing basketball more seriously,” Cage told The Oklahoman on Monday, “and I used to always remember what my dad was telling me about this hook shot. Little did I know that hook shot would lead (Abdul-Jabbar) to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.”
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It’s a title Abdul-Jabbar won’t hold for much longer. Lakers star LeBron James needs 36 points against the Thunder on Tuesday night in Los Angeles to pass Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Cage, the Thunder’s TV analyst, would normally be on the call alongside play-by-play man Chris Fisher, but TNT picked up the broadcast, meaning the game won’t air on Bally Sports Oklahoma.
Cage won’t have a headset on, but you better believe he’ll be in the arena.
Yes, he’s a former player and current broadcaster, but he’s also an NBA historian — rattling off years and numbers and records like it’s nothing.
And if he sees history Tuesday night, with the scoring crown passed from one giant of the game to another?
“You can go on and bury me now,” Cage said with a laugh. “I’m good. I’ve seen it all.”
Facing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was surreal
Imagine if you could tell that 7-year-old boy, sitting on his dad’s lap, that he would one day share a court with Abdul-Jabbar.
“When I finally got a chance to play against him,” Cage said, “all of this was going through my mind.”
Cage, a four-year standout at San Diego State, only had to take a quick trip up I-5 when the Clippers — having just relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles — selected him with the 14th pick in the 1984 NBA Draft.
Cage was in his senior year at San Diego State when Abdul-Jabbar passed Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time scoring list. A few months later, a 23-year-old Cage was suiting up against the 37-year-old Abdul-Jabbar.
Abdul-Jabbar would use his off hand to create space when shooting the sky hook, something Cage learned the hard way.
“I’ll never forget he elbowed me in the face and I was bleeding,” Cage said of his first game against Abdul-Jabbar.
It was the first of many lessons Cage learned from Kareem, but Cage never quite nailed the hook shot.
“I tried it,” Cage said. “I tried it in college. I tried it in high school. I tried it in middle school. I said man, this is hard. I’m throwing it over the backboard a couple times and then I’m shooting an airball.
“And then I might make one, get excited, and miss the next 10.”
There’s a reason Abdul-Jabbar’s sky hook is so iconic. It’s a one-of-one.
“When he threw that hook,” Cage said, “it was almost like looking straight up at the Empire State Building.”
Both inspire awe.
“It’s like an artist,” Cage said. “Every time he threw that hook, it was like a stroke of the brush on that canvas.”
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The first five seasons of Cage’s career (1984-89) corresponded with the last five seasons of Abdul-Jabbar’s career. Cage played 28 regular-season games — 23 with the Clippers and five with the SuperSonics — against Abdul-Jabbar.
The Lakers played in four NBA Finals and won three of them during that span. Cage’s Clippers/Sonics went 5-23 against Kareem and the Lakers in the regular season from 1984-89.
Cage had his individual moments, though.
He had 26 points and 14 rebounds against Abdul-Jabbar on Nov. 30, 1986.
“It was one of my biggest games against a big-time team,” Cage said.
A season later, Cage had a 23-point, 17-rebound game against Abdul-Jabbar and the Lakers. Cage was the NBA rebounding champion that season, averaging 13 per game.
Cage ranks 61st on the all-time rebounding list. He finished his 15-year career with more than 8,000 points and 8,000 rebounds.
The numbers to remember Tuesday are 38,387 (Abdul-Jabbar’s point total) and 38,352 (James’ total).
For the 38-year-old LeBron, 36 is the magic number.
“It’s going to be special, whether he does it or doesn’t,” Thunder guard Josh Giddey said after practice Sunday. “Just to be on the same floor with guys like that is always kind of a surreal moment, because as a kid, they’re guys you look up to, watch and aspire to be.”
That’s exactly how Cage talks about Abdul-Jabbar.
“I’m still in awe of him,” said Cage, now 61.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 'treated me with kindness'
In the old LA Forum, the Lakers and the visiting team ran onto the court through the same tunnel.
As Cage, then a Clippers rookie, waited in that tunnel before a game, Abdul-Jabbar approached him.
“Hey, Michael,” Cage remembers Abdul-Jabbar saying. “I just wanted to say welcome to the NBA. You’re gonna have a great career.”
“He treated me with kindness and respect before I even scored a point or rebound against him, and that speaks for what Kareem stood for,” Cage said. “I know the record is gonna fall, but he’s probably one of the biggest class acts in NBA history.”
Cage cherished those words from Abdul-Jabbar.
“If I would’ve had a cell phone in my pocket,” Cage said, “I would’ve picked it up and called my father.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NBA scoring champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left foes 'still in awe'
