Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: We're heading toward the close of the NBA regular season, which means we're nearing many anniversaries of events across the league's long and storied history. Our US correspondent, former ACT import BOB CRAVEN has some new ones to share and keep you captivated with his weekend read.

THE NBA regular season ends around the middle of this month, then the playoffs start, then after the title game, the next regularly scheduled ‘thing’ is the NBA draft toward the end of July.

Then we start over again in the latter part of the Northern fall. But in the meantime, let's revisit some significant NBA anniversaries.

1950—Chuck Cooper (pictured below right) becomes the first African-American player ever selected in the NBA draft.  Two other African-American players are also drafted that year:  Earl Lloyd and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton. 

Clifton was the first to sign a contract, but because of the various teams’ schedules, Lloyd was the first actually to play in a game.

1963—The Boston Celtics defeat the LA Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA Championship, winning the title four games to two and giving the Celtics their fifth consecutive NBA title. 

Hall of Famer, Bob Cousy scores 18 points in his last game as a Celtic and announces his retirement after the game.  He coached at Boston College the next six years, then became coach of the NBA Cincinnati Royals, whose star was Oscar Robertson. 

Eventually, the Royals moved to Kansas City, and after four+ years with Cincy/KC, Cousy resigned.  During his first year in Cincinnati, near the end of the season in 1970 (and after not playing for seven years), he activated himself at age 41 and made a late-season comeback as a player in an attempt to boost ticket sales. 

He played briefly in several games, scoring only five total points, but ticket sales did go up 77 per cent during that time.

1966—Legendary Celtics coach, Red Auerbach retires and, eventually, Bill Russell is named Boston's new head coach.  Russell becomes the first African-American head coach in the NBA, and one of the few player/coaches in league history.

1968—The first ever ABA Championship goes to the Pittsburgh Pipers, who defeated the New Orleans Buccaneers four games to three. 

Red, white and blue basketballs and the 3-point shot were the most prominent differences between the ABA and the NBA, which eventually would merge into a unified pro league as the NBA.

1969—The Celtics defeat the Lakers in the NBA Finals 4-3, winning their 10th title in 11 years, and their 11th in 13 years.  After the game, both player/coach Bill Russell (below) and future Hall of Fame shooting guard, Sam Jones, announce their retirements.

1986—Michael Jordan scores an NBA Playoff record 63 points.

1987—Julius “Dr J” Erving becomes the third player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.

1988—The NBA approves the addition of a third referee for games beginning with the upcoming 1988-89 season.

1988—Michael Jordan scores 50 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and follows that up by scoring 55 in Game 2.  He becomes the first to score 50+ points in consecutive games in the Finals.

1989—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (below) plays his final NBA game.

1990—Near the very end of a game between the Detroit Pistons and the Philadelphia 76ers, a huge brawl breaks out.  Multiple people are eventually involved, but the main combatants, to the surprise of no one, were Bill Laimbeer of the Pistons and Charles Barkley of the 76ers. 

The NBA eventually assessed a record total of $162,500 in fines.

1994—David “The Admiral” Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs scores 71 points, tied for the sixth-highest total in a game in NBA history.

1996—The Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, win their final regular season game, giving them a record 72 wins for the season, against only 10 losses.

2003—Michael Jordan (below) of the Washington Wizards plays his final game in the NBA.