19 in ’19 — #11: Rolando Blackman – The King of Confidence, Baby (2024)

19 in ’19 highlights the 19 most impactful Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Stars throughout the history of each franchise. Our staff voted on the top 19 from all four combined lists to create these overall rankings. You can find all of our team lists and profileshere.

Rolando Blackman was the first basketball player I remember knowing about. I was born in 1985, so the start of my NBA consciousness coincides with the end of his time in Dallas. The Mavericks were terrible by that point, and as a kid, I really didn’t understand that the players on bad pro sports teams are still some of the most talented people alive. That realization set in over time, but to commemorate his standing as one of the 19 most impactful athletes in DFW history, I wanted to talk to Ro about 1986 and 1987 NBA All-Star Games. Dallas hosted the ’86 game, six years after getting an NBA franchise. In ’87, Blackman experienced one of the most iconic moments of his career.

To put this picture in its proper frame, I spoke to three people with very vivid memories of these events: My radio colleague Mike Rhyner, Mavericks color analyst Jeff “Skin” Wade and Ro. Mike had been on the sports beat for KZEW from the outset of Blackman’s career. Skin was a 15-year-old basketball junkie obsessed with the league. Ro made his first All-Star Game in 1985, his fourth in the league.

“All-Star Games used to be way more competitive” sounds like a “Get Off My Lawn” take. But if you watch the highlights of the 29 points Ro put up in 1987, it is undeniable that the game of then and the game of now hardly qualify as the same sport.

Comparing the All-Star Games of ’86 and ’87 to the current game:

BLACKMAN: It’s always wonderful to watch all the great athletes, the best players in the world, handle the rock and shoot the ball, make plays. But when you go back to the time when I was playing in the All-Star Game with that bunch of All-Stars around, the whole fervor around it was different. We wanted to stick it to each other, and it was our team against their team. East against West. And when you say against, it was definitely a Saturday afternoon in the schoolyard in Brooklyn, where I grew up, type of attitude. Where you get out there, and you show your wares. It was just different, that’s all. People wanted to show and play hard. You’re gonna play against some defense here.

RHYNER: Back then, the NBA was not anywhere near the place that it is now. It was starting to emerge from its dark period, which was the 70s when they couldn’t even get the Finals on live TV. But it hadn’t quite gotten there yet. But I think there was more of an idea of an East-West rivalry back then. There was more of that in play in the All-Star game.

BLACKMAN: I extremely enjoyed that, to show and prove that you actually belong there, and to have the opportunity to help your team try to win, which was a big deal. It was definitely East against West, and the word against is in caps.

WADE: When you try to go back to that time period, and evaluate these things from that time period, it’s just such a different context. The amount of coverage of the league is just so different. You’re getting maybe one game a week, and so the All-Star game was just a huge deal.

On getting the game in Dallas, and Blackman’s reception by the home crowd:

BLACKMAN: Deep, deep caring emotions. We were part of the city of Dallas, trying to come up. With Norm Sonju and Dick Motta, and all the things we were trying to get accomplished to show the city that basketball could come to Texas. And we got the All-Star game at that time when the team was playing so very well. It was a tremendous feeling …I was happy as heck. For my family, for my coaching staff. Teammates – Derek Harper, all the rest of the guys that helped put me there. So it was a great time, and I enjoyed being a part of, especially with the Dallas crowd, and their wonderful ovation.

RHYNER: He was an absolute dream to cover. He never ran away from anything, and you always knew you were going to get a straight-up answer, without any kind of BS or defensiveness. I really just can’t say enough good about the guy.

BLACKMAN: I was so happy for the franchise, for myself, for my family … but I was also saddened during that time because I wanted my man Mark Aguirre to be on the team, too. He was our best player, a guy who was averaging 24, doing all these types of things but was going through some controversy at the time. But it was bittersweet during the game because as I was playing on the court, he was sitting in the stands. And I could feel it.

What did hosting the game mean for Mavericks fans?

BLACKMAN: It was validation not only as players, but for the franchise, and for the city. And we felt like everybody was involved. The city, the team, everybody in the office … We were all together trying to make a proving ground that we were really ready to go. I really felt it. And I still feel it today. Walking the streets, I feel it today.

WADE: It still felt like the Mavericks might have a chance to win a championship. Things hadn’t started going downhill yet. So as a Mavericks fan, it was a huge point of pride.

How was the city perceived by All-Stars from other teams?

BLACKMAN: Every time you looked at Texas, from people around the country, they always thought that we rode up on horses, and saddled our horses outside, like a Gunsmoke-vibe. Like we’re walking into a bar, getting a drink and sliding it down the bar, that kind of stuff. That’s how Texas was portrayed at that time. Big longhorns, hats, everybody wearing cowboy boots. It was a funny time, so we had to prove that players reside here. We’ve got guys that can play. We’ve got guys that know what’s up, and we can play. We wanted to prove ourselves, which came in no better way than when we beat Seattle, a veteran basketball team, in a playoff series. That validated everything, and it led to us making All-Star games.

RHYNER: I jokingly call Oklahoma City games “Vacation Bible School.” We were Vacation Bible School Senior. The vibe at Reunion (Arena) early on was that expected “Joy, Joy, Joy, Down In My Heart” to break out.

Along those lines, let’s not forget, the original idea for the Mavericks was to be a Christian NBA team. Now, that didn’t get very far. But for a while — Don Carter, Norm Sonju — that was their idea. To put together a Christian basketball team. I was just getting into the business at that point, and that was the weirdest thing I had ever heard.

The 1987 All-Star Game:

RHYNER: I remember that game like it was yesterday. What I remember most about it is: I was already all-in on Ro by that point. And most fans around here were, too. We knew what we had. We knew he’d be a star no matter how good the team was, and for a long time.

BLACKMAN: I played 29 minutes. It’s a lot, but I had the confidence of all of the coaches in the league at that time … People knew that I could play, especially when you talk about shooting the basketball or going one-on-one. Either way, I’m gonna get my buckets. And with a high percentage. Not taking 35 shots and hitting six of them. With efficiency. So I came in the game in the second quarter. And then I came in the game to finish. Which was my role in Dallas, and it was the role that Pat Riley put me in. So I felt great, I felt confident when those last six or seven minutes rolled around. And Pat came down, and he said, “Ro. It’s time.” That’s what he would always say to me. “Ro. It’s time.” Oh, yeah. Get in there. And that was it.

On the final play of regulation

BLACKMAN: We went through it with Riley, as far as all the options we’d have on the play. ‘With Magic popping here, Rolando, you’d come at the end, right to the corner over here.’ And lo and behold, I got the basketball. Came hard to get the ball – not fake ‘I don’t want the ball’ – came to get it and got it. Then I turned quickly, and Bird was there, so that’s a mismatch. It’s like – boom boom – right around him. And when you have time like that, and you beat someone, the biggest thing is to put everything to your advantage. Which there meant – get to the cup. Get to the cup. And I got to the cup, and they slammed me, and the buzzer went off at the same time. And I look up, and here come all of the childhood dreams. Everything just rushes to the front. If you look back at the video, you can see I looked up, and did my normal ritual. Got my sweat from my forehead, creased across my fingertips. Getting ready to do what every little boy dreams of. No time on the clock, two shots down. And what happens in that type of thing is, the body rebels. You can feel it. But I had trained to shut all that down. And I had the ultimate confidence that I was the closer on my team anyways.

But it was a little hard, because Isaiah (Thomas) was trying to break that. He was trying to break the cycle because he understood my past. And he understood exactly what he needed to do. And that’s where you see the interference because he and Magic over there, having fun, laughing and calling me out. He’s yelling “You can’t do this.” Talking trash like, “You’re scared, you’re a punk, blah blah blah.” But I just kept my cool. But the funnier part is when I look to my left, there’s Bird, Jordan and Dr. J. And Dr. J was talking trash! I backed up from the line like, damn, even Dr. J is talking trash! He was giving me these looks. But that further helped galvanize and close my mind down. Because at the end of the day, I had a responsibility to take care of.

RHYNER: I remember sitting there during “Confidence, baby, confidence,” and it never occurred to me that he would miss one of those free throws. I knew he was going to make them because I knew he was a big-time player. And I think it dawned on the rest of Basketball America in that moment that that’s what it was. So I was really happy, but I didn’t jump off the couch or anything because I fully expected to go the way that it did.

BLACKMAN: Do you realize I would’ve been taking mental cuts on my body all these years from all of the “Damn man, if you could’ve hit those, we could’ve gone to overtime?” It would’ve killed me with my type of personality. I would’ve been mentally battered, and I don’t know what type of All-Star type player I would’ve been going forward.

WADE: There was nothing exhibition about that moment. Generally, the way those games go is as the game gets closer, and the time winds down, it’s little more competitive. I do think those guys took those games a little more seriously than they do. But that moment … it was intense. Everyone was dialed in on that. So even though it’s an “exhibition game,” I put that up there as one of Ro’s greatest moments.

BLACKMAN: Made everybody proud. Brooklyn, New York. My coaches. My teammates in Dallas, my franchise – the Dallas Mavericks. My family. And made me over-the-top proud to have come through in such a situation in front of all of the other All-Stars. And you can see it when I’m walking back, that was a big moment. I’m getting high-fives from some of the baddest boys in the world. A high-five from Kareem. It was tremendous. But that was my third All-Star game in a row, and I knew that I belonged.

“Confidence, baby, confidence?”

BLACKMAN: That’s what it’s about. Because as you go through the avenues to prepare for pressure shooting, you have to tamp down what the body does naturally, which is to shake and do different things. The mind wants to go in disarray. And you have to make a decision. You gonna be nervous and scared? Or are you walking up there with confidence, baby. Confidence. Confidence, baby. And then that allows you to stay on track to be able to do what you’ve already done. You’ve done this hundreds of times before, so just do what you normally do. Nothing special, put the ball in the hole … Because you have to hit these two for the game to continue. Your peers are watching. The world is watching. It was a big deal. So I was just really happy to come through.

RHYNER: He was always just really confident without being in your face about it. He was good, he knew he was good, but he was never co*cky. The last thing he would ever do would to make a shot over a guy and then let them know it. He was never edgy. Just confident.

Had you ever yelled that phrase on the floor before?

BLACKMAN: No, that was just pent up because it wasn’t so easy to tamp down. It’s two shots. I’m thinking, ‘It’s two shots with my career – my life – on the line.’ And Isaiah is over there going off all over the place. Trying to get me to miss one. Fooling around and calling me names, trying to disrupt my mental, which I was never going to let him get into. Never. He might not survive inside my head, anyways (laughing). But you have to close the box and make forward progress and put that ball in the hole.

I had that in me because I was used to doing it for the Dallas Mavericks. But it was just an important time, and it lives in me. It lives in people all over the world. People remember that moment in the ’87 All-Star Game. It was a big time, and I just appreciate it very much.

(Photo: Getty Images)

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