Rambis' Revenge

Any moment now, the Timberwolves are expected to name Laker assistant Kurt Rambis as their new head coach. Rambis replaces Kevin McHale, the long-time T-Wolf executive and sometime coach who was let go shortly before the 2009 draft.

This isn't the first time the names "Rambis" and "McHale" have been connected. In the '80s, McHale was a superstar low-post scorer for the Boston Celtics, and Rambis was the bespectacled rebounder for the "Showtime" Lakers. The two forwards were matched up against each other in dozens of crucial games.

And in one such game, McHale hit Rambis with one of the most legendary cheap-shots in the history of the league.

Game four of the 1984 Finals. Los Angeles leads the series 2-1. Rambis is in front of a Laker fast break... receives a pass from James Worthy... goes up for a layup...

and is flattened by a McHale clothesline that wouldn't have looked out of place at Wrestlemania.

(Want an indication of how much the NBA has changed in 25 years? McHale wasn't ejected. Today he'd be ejected, suspended, and quite possibly indicted for a play like that.)

McHale's play changed the tone of the series, which the Celtics went on to win in seven. And don't think Rambis forgot about it... twenty-four years later, in an interview with ESPN's Henry Abbott, Rambis cited McHale's clothesline as an example of "the things you are not supposed to do."