The 1999 NBA finals have been a memorable match - the top-ranked San Antonio Spurs against the New York Knicks, whose poor season ranking didn't put them onto anybody's favored-to-win list. The Knicks showed that they are a team full of surprises, not to be written off so quickly. But the Spurs' "Twin Towers" proved too much for the Knicks. The Spurs took the finals in a 4-1 series. On the way to the championship, they set a new league record for their 12-win streak in the playoffs, after sweeping both the LA Lakers and the Portland Trailblazers on their way to the finals.

Learn about the Problem

David, "The Admiral," Robinson holds a degree in mathematics from the Naval Academy. While he doesn't have time down on the court to think about the mathematics behind his shots, you may be interested in exploring the motion of the ball as a function. Study the path and graph of a basketball in the Algebra Animator activity Throwing a Basketball Straight Upward. Then study further the relationship between the path and the graph in the activity The Trajectory of a Ball. Finally, try your hand at manipulating the paths of both billiard balls and a basketball in the activity Playing Ball.

Think about the Problem

In Learn about the Problem you dealt with a basketball and billiard balls. Try to describe the trajectories of the following cases as a function and sketch typical graphs:

• a basketball as it bounces
• a baseball traveling from the pitcher's hand to the catcher's glove
• a golf putt
• a football field goal
• a superball that gains energy on every bounce

For the Teacher: Extending the Problem

The Finals MVP, Tim Duncan, was actually on his way to becoming an Olympic swimmer in his native St. Croix before Hurricane Hugo decimated the island in 1989, including the swimming pool in which Duncan trained. Read about how this hurricane changed the course of Duncan's life.

• The 1998-99 NBA season was the first time in NBA history that a labor dispute shortened the season. Franchise owners wanted a cap on players' salaries and started a lock-out on contract negotiations. Learn about a salary conflict and how different parties can interpret the same set of data in different ways using the Stats! activity Labor vs. Management.
  
  
• Professional basketball has become very big business in the past decade or two. No player has generated more interest in the sport or a larger endorsements portfolio than Michael Jordan. In June 1998, before Jordan announced his decision to retire for good, Fortune magazine ran a cover story on the Jordan Effect. He is what economists call a "positive externality." Learn more about the financial side of the sport and its superstar.