The banner above Michael Malone was impossible to ignore. So the coach from Queens fixated on it as a physical representation of his ambition in a new city.
“I remember early on, first year, you look up at the rafters and you see all the great names,” he said. “And you see ‘432’ staring at you. And there was a little part of me always, a competitive side of me, that said: ‘I’m gonna break that record. I’m gonna break that record.'”
For 10 years, Doug Moe’s 432 wins literally loomed over Malone, an increasingly difficult milestone to chase in the modern NBA.