Julius 'Dr. J' Erving hospitalized after incident at 76ers game
The legendary Dr. J, Julius Erving, fell ill at a Sixers game Friday night and was rushed to a Philadelphia hospital for overnight observation.
The 67-year-old Erving was in attendance at the Wells Fargo Center to commemorate the 35th anniversary of one of his most legendary dunks in a career full of such aerial entertainment:
That dunk would’ve been a 50 at the dunk contest, and Dr. J pulled it off in an actual game.
Before he fell ill, Erving rang the ceremonial opening bell during the pregame activities.
Dr. J rings the bell in Philly!#HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/F3pUBmd1sc
— NBA (@NBA) January 6, 2018
He was taken out of the building in a wheelchair, and his management team released a statement to the media:
“Mr. Erving fell ill at tonight’s game and was taken to a local hospital, where he is currently being evaluated. He is expected to be released after the evaluation.”
Statement on behalf of Dr. J’s management team:
“Mr. Erving fell ill at tonight’s game and was taken to a local hospital, where he is currently being evaluated. He is expected to be released after the evaluation.”
— Julius Dr J Erving (@JuliusErving) January 6, 2018
Big sigh of relief on that one; 67 is far too young to have something dire happen.
Pray for Dr.J!
— Jawn Dough (@RichardPennJr) January 6, 2018
Erving was the greatest player ever to come out of the old American Basketball Association, the biggest star the league had, and in 1976 when the ABA put on the first-ever dunk contest, Dr. J showed the world just what a spectacle the contest could be.
Without Erving’s legendary performance, it’s possible that the NBA might not have picked up on the idea to revitalize its own All-Star weekend festivities in 1984. After all, Michael Jordan didn’t invent the foul line takeoff dunk:
On the bright side, the night featured a spectacular win for the 76ers, who put on a show worthy of the Doctor in beating the Pistons 114-78.
With the win, the Sixers moved into a tie with the reeling Indiana Pacers for eighth in the East, looking more like the team that fans were promised as a result of the infamous “Process” that at its nadir gave the team the second-worst 82-game record in league history when they went 10-72 in the 2015-16 season.
It’s a far cry from Dr. J’s glory days.
After all, the dunk that the Doc dropped on Michael Cooper wasn’t the only time he schooled the Lakers; Magic Johnson told the story of the greatest Dr. J move that he ever saw:
Said Johnson, “We [Johnson and Cooper] were like, should we ask him to do it again?”
And while old age brings even the highest-flying basketball Icarus back down to earth, it’s too soon for worse than that.
Get well soon, Doc.
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