Queens: Cradle Of Pioneer Guards

By Dan DeRosalia | Staff Writer

'THE BEST New York City point guard ever?,'' said Mo, a streetballer playing one day at the famous West Fourth courts in lower Manhattan. ``Got to be Stephon Marbury.''

``You're trippin','' countered Twiggy, Mo's teammate on this day. ``Kenny Anderson was the best baller ever to play on these courts.''

The debate could go on forever, and could include a plethora of players. But while New York point guards are becoming as common as blacktop trash talking -- Marbury, Anderson, Ed Cota, Derrick Phelps and Khalid Reeves are just a few who have made a splash in the 1990s -- none of the aforementioned could be classified as pioneers.

Bob Cousy and Nancy Lieberman-Cline, neither mentioned by Mo or Twiggy or anyone else at the West Fourth courts this day, were true basketball pioneers.

Cousy was ``Showtime'' before Magic Johnson. Though he utilized it only when he had to, Cousy mastered the behind-the-back dribble and fancy pass before any other ballplayer. And the 5-10 Lieberman-Cline became the first recognizable women's basketball player, largely responsible for its popularity today.

In basketball, New York City's first were New York City's best. Second to none in accomplishments, anyway. Cousy led the Boston Celtics to six NBA championships after leading Holy Cross to an NCAA Division I title. Cousy was the league MVP in 1954 and '57, and played in 13 all-star games. He remains fourth on the NBA's career assist list with 6,955.

Lieberman-Cline, at 18, became the youngest basketball player to win a medal at the Olympics when the U.S. team took home the silver at the 1976 Montreal Summer Games. She later became the only athlete to win the Wade Trophy twice, as the nation's best collegiate women's basketball player.

Quite a resume for each. Even better, quite a resume for one borough. Cousy attended Andrew Jackson High (now Campus Magnet) and Lieberman-Cline played for Far Rockaway, both in Queens.

``Playing in the streets of New York was one of the greatest experiences in my life,'' said Lieberman-Cline, who became known as ``Lady Magic'' for her tricky passing. ``I learned my fancy passes on the streets.

``They teach you creativity, toughness and pride, all important components of a winning basketball player,'' Lieberman-Cline said.

Just as importantly, she added, the streets don't discriminate. ``If you can win, they want you,'' Lieberman-Cline said. She learned the value of that at 9 years old, when she was told she couldn't play PAL baseball because the Police Athletic League wouldn't insure her. Why? Her sex.

So she turned to basketball. As a teenager, Lieberman-Cline played everywhere in New York City from West Fourth Street to Rucker Park to the courts in Harlem. She honed her game playing from one-on-one to three-on-three, where she could handle the ball on a regular basis.

``In New York, they play with reckless abandon, with tremendous speed,'' Lieberman-Cline said. ``You must learn how to handle the ball on the streets, or they'll kill you.''

She took her blacktop savvy, along with experience from CYO leagues, into her days on the Far Rockaway High School team, where she played for three years before medaling in Montreal. The Lieberman-led Seahorses lost the PSAL city championship game her senior season to Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton.

She took her game to Old Dominion University the following year. The rest is in the record books.

Ah, record books. The perfect place for a Bob Cousy mention. Like Lieberman-Cline, the ``Houdini of the Hardwood'' had to learn ball-handling to survive on the New York courts. But he didn't begin to play until age 12, when his family moved from a ghetto in Eastern Manhattan to St. Albans in Queens.

``Before 12, I never saw a basketball,'' Cousy said. ``I played stoopball, stickball, boxball, stole hubcaps, like every city kid.''

Good thing he moved to an area where all the kids played basketball. That's how he began playing, taking an interest in the other kids' hobbies.

``I moved into a complete hotbed of basketball,'' Cousy said. ``Ninety percent of our activity was basketball. We're all products of our environment, and mine involved basketball.''

From there, a turn for the worse led to a lifetime of better. Soon after he began playing, Cousy broke his right arm after a fall from a tree.

But since basketball was his social life, this 5-10, shy, skinny kid taught himself how to dribble and shoot lefthanded. His left hand developed into a better weapon than some lefties packed.

This break only appeared bad. A few years later, Cousy was able to use incredible ballhandling skills to build a niche for himself on the blacktop courts.

``If you could handle the ball, you played in New York,'' Cousy said. ``And I guess I could handle it.''

Cousy only played 11/2 years of varsity basketball at Andrew Jackson -- ``That's how competitive city basketball was,'' Cousy said -- but he made all-city in his final year. The streets went a long way in developing his attitude toward playing the game.

``There's a general competitiveness in the ghetto,'' Cousy said. ``The win-at-any-cost, capitalist experience. Blue-collar ghettos hone that mentality.

``You would do anything you could to win,'' Cousy added. ``Because if you didn't, you wouldn't see the court again for hours. There were two hours worth of people waiting on line to play.''

At Holy Cross, Cousy got to play the up-tempo, passing-style of play that best suited his ability. The tallest Crusaders starter stood at just 6-4, so the team had to play a motion game. ``Like the old schoolyard,'' Cousy said. The style led to the first of his seven championships.

Seven championships in one career. The stuff that Jordans are made of. The stuff Cousys are made of.

``People think of me as the first fancy ballplayer,'' said Cousy, who broadcasts Celtics games for WSBK in Boston. ``My style was nothing like today's NBA ballplayer. I only went behind-the-back when my man was overplaying me. Today, people expend that extra energy for no reason. It's a waste.''

Added Lieberman-Cline, who last month was named coach of the WNBA's Detroit Shock: ``Today's point guard has no clue what is going on. There's an art to the position. Guys like [John] Stockton, Magic Johnson, Cousy, they played it right.''

And city basketball deserves credit for developing attitude and skills acquired by the pioneers. Whether the Marbury's or Anderson's of today realize it or credit it, pioneers Cousy and Lieberman-Cline had as much of an effect on them as any teammate or coach.

Despite what Mo or Twiggy say.