On February 5, 1978, 48 years ago today, the NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta offered a small moment of etiquette that has outlived most of the box score.
John Havlicek, nearing the end of a Hall of Fame career in Boston, was headed toward what would become his final All-Star appearance. Doug Collins, then a rising guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, had been slated to start for the East. Instead, Collins relinquished his spot so Hondo could take the opening place in the lineup.
The game itself was played at The Omni (Omni Coliseum) in Atlanta, and the Eastern Conference won 133–125. Havlicek scored 10 points in the victory.
The night belonged statistically to Randy Smith of the Buffalo Braves, who was named All-Star Game MVP as the East finished with the eight-point win. But the memory that keeps resurfacing every February isn’t only about who scored the most. It’s that Collins’ decision – uncomplicated, voluntary, and public – turned a routine exhibition into a quiet acknowledgment of lineage: one generation making room for another’s last spotlight.
