April 5
From Hoopedia
- 1898 - (Right) Hall of Famer Dutch Dehnert, credited with inventing the pivot play with the Original Celtics, is born in New York City.
- 1901 - Hall of Fame Coach Doggie Julian, who led Holy Cross to the 1947 NCAA title, is born in Reading, Pennsylvania.
- 1915 - Hall of Famer John McLendon, the first African American to coach in the American Basketball League and in the American Basketball Association, is born in Hiawatha, Kansas.
- 1967 - Wilt Chamberlain, playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, grabs an NBA Playoff record 41 rebounds in a 115-104 win over Boston.
- 1993 - Chris Webber unthinkingly calls a time-out with 11 seconds left in the NCAA Championship game when his Michigan Wolverines, down 73-71, have none. The resulting technical foul clinched the game and the title for the North Carolina Tar Heels. When recruiting violations involving Webber are discovered subsequently, Michigan's victories in the tournament are vacated, and stricken from NCAA official records.
- 1981 - The Philadelphia 76ers reject an NBA Playoff record 20 shots in a 125-122 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at the Spectrum in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
- 1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sets the all-time NBA career scoring record with 31,420 points, breaking Wilt Chamberlain's total of 31,419.
- 1985 - Three Tulane Green Wave players, including star John "Hot Rod" Williams, and five others are indicted in a point-shaving case. The university's president announced plans to drop Tulane's men's intercollegiate basketball program and said the head coach and two assistants had submitted their resignations. Eventually, Williams was found not guilty of all charges.
- 2001 - Wang Zhizhi of the Dallas Mavericks plays in his first NBA game, a 108-94 win over Atlanta, becoming the first Chinese player to compete in the NBA. Wang has six points and three rebounds in eight minutes of play.
- 2008 - With a 101-78 victory over Charlotte, the Boston Celtics not only clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, but set the NBA record for biggest single-season turnaround. The Celts do it by winning 37 more games in 2007-08 than they did the previous season.
