1976 Cleveland Cavaliers: The Miracle at Richfield

Over the years the Cleveland sports scene has had to endure some painful and heartbreaking losses, more then its fair share. From "The Fumble", to "The Drive", to coming oh so close with their baseball team in several instances in the fall classic. Yet the Cleveland Cavaliers finally answered the prayers of all northeast Ohio in 2016, erasing a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals to give the city along Lake Erie its much needed and delayed championship, the city's first in several generations. Yet during the down years of Cleveland sports in the mid 1970s, it was their basketball team that filled the void, climbing from an obscure NBA expansion team to not only capturing the hearts of Cleveland fans but captured the attention of the entire basketball world. In this episode co hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs are heading back to the 1976 NBA playoffs to revisit one of basketball's most remarkable Cinderella stories—the "Miracle at Richfield." Just five years after joining the league as an expansion franchise, the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the basketball world by defeating the heavily favored Washington Bullets and capturing the imagination of an entire city.We'll examine how a team of overlooked players, a passionate fan base, and a little bit of playoff magic combined to create one of the greatest upsets in NBA history.To contact the show please drop us a line at [email protected].