IVIV (8): Division Semifinals

[Dave Monroe]

"Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and
Milwaukee, mainly for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whom Doc had admired since
he was Lew Alcindor ..." (IV, Ch. 8, p. 113)


"division semifinals"

Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative
in real time, and again it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division
Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27,
Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That
makes this day Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the
"few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a
few weeks.

Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the
first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult that he would
drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the
story is in some kind of Dark Shadows-like parallel time for the first
half of the book.

http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_113

However ...

The year: unclear until page 113, when we find Doc watching a
Milwaukee Bucks game on TV, and Bucks star Lew Alcindor has changed
his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so it must be 1971.

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-7964-thomas-pynchonrss-lsinherent-vicers-a-must-read.html

Except ...

... 'cept that it's 1970—see the final playoff game [ . . the Lakers
would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks: Friday, May 8, 1970.. ]
Somebody—Pynchon?—either has their dates scrambled, or this is all
happening in a parallel universe, one not all that different from the
one I've been in for the last 54 years. Those that can remember the
early seventies . . .

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0909&msg=142101

Hm ...

April 3, 1970
Eastern Division Semifinals
Milwaukee Bucks 115, Philadelphia 76ers 106

It is a shame that Milwaukee didn't get to fully celebrate the
franchise's first playoff series victory. It culminated with this
milestone victory in Madison, where the team played its first-round
home playoff games in 1970 and '71.

Rookie sensation Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) poured in a
game-high 46 points to carry the Bucks past the 76ers ...

http://www.nba.com/bucks/features/MB_090519.html

1969/70: Lew Alcindor would make an immediate impact winning the
Rookie of the Year 28.8 ppg and 14.5 rebounds per game. The Bucks
would go on to finish in 2nd place with a solid 56-26 record, a 28
game improvement over their inaugural season. In the playoffs the
Bucks would dispatch the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games to set up a
match up with New York Knicks in the Eastern Division Finals. However,
in the East Finals the Bucks would fall in 5 games.

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/milwaukee/bucks.html

On May 1, 1971, the day after the Bucks won the NBA championship, he
adopted the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, its Arabic translation
roughly "generous (Kareem), servant of (Abdul) the mighty/stern one
(Jabbar) [i.e., of Allah]."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar#Milwaukee_Bucks

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0909&msg=142111

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