Forty years, and a lifetime later, Kiki VanDeWeghe is still pissed.
“Oh, yeah. Very much so,” VanDeWeghe said, calmly but firmly. “It still bugs me today. People say, ‘Well you scored a lot of points.’ OK … but, so?
“We lost the game.”
VanDeWeghe was a classic small forward in the 1980s, a quick midrange shooter able to score with either hand. He did so in abundance the night of Dec. 13, 1983 — as did nearly everyone who played that night. It was a night when his Denver Nuggets and the visiting Detroit Pistons shredded the NBA’s record book, combining for 370 points during a 186-184 Pistons victory in triple overtime — and it’s still the highest-scoring game in the league’s 78 seasons.