Jim Larranaga recalls memories of playing against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, watching LeBron James

On Dec. 27, 1968, Providence took on No. 1 UCLA in a neutral-site game at Madison Square Garden. The Bruins were led at the time by a star center named Lew Alcindor, who went on to set the NBA’s all-time scoring record and become one of the greatest players in history.

Of course, he later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after winning his first title — and Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga knows first hand just how dominant he was.

“‘He didn’t play against anybody good.’ You’ve got to be kidding me,” Larrañaga said his players told him. “First of all, he did, because I played against him. I played against him in college in Madison Square Garden.”

Yes, Larrañaga was on the court for that 1968 matchup as a sophomore at Providence. He held his own, scoring 17 points, but it was nothing compared to Abdul-Jabbar, who led UCLA to the 98-81 victory. Larrañaga couldn’t recall the exact number of points he scored — it was upward of 30 — but he remembered one key detail about facing one of the all-time greats.

He was impossible to defend.

“There was no guarding him,” Larrañaga said. “He could’ve easily had 50 on us because no one can guard a shot that’s unstoppable. And he would use the Sky Hook — it didn’t matter how you defended him. He’d just shoot it with you right on him.

“What players don’t understand is that’s how you become great. You develop one or two moves that can’t be stopped. We call it your bread and butter and a complement to it. You develop and unstoppable move, you’re going to be hard to guard.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record is close to falling

Now, LeBron James is closing in on toppling Abdul-Jabbar’s record, entering Thursday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers 89 points away from the top spot. Larrañaga has watched James’ career from the beginning as he went from “just a kid from Akron” to the greatest player on the planet. His career trajectory has been interesting, especially considering he went to the NBA straight from high school, but there are similarities to Abdul-Jabbar’s trajectory.

In fact, Larrañaga thinks James’ longevity is on the same level as Abdul-Jabbar.

“LeBron is a little bit different because of the way he developed as a player,” Larrañaga said. “He was not a three-point shooter coming out of high school. He didn’t go to college. So, he got to the NBA and he was just a great athlete with great ball skills. He thought of himself like Magic Johnson. ‘I’m going to be a point guard and distribute.’

“The staff in Cleveland said, ‘No you’re not. You’re going to be the best scorer of all-time.’ … A guy like LeBron has started his career, like, four years earlier than Kareem. He’s achieving this goal probably four years earlier than Kareem. He still has more years. So, he was 18 or 19 when he started. Now, he’s 38 … and Kareem stopped at 42. They really, from a scoring standpoint, had the same trajectory where they scored so much every year and it just accumulated.”