Brian Oliver is no Danny Glover.
Then again, the actor who saw his career take off in the “Lethal Weapon” film series was never a star in what was then the nation’s best college basketball conference.
Oliver will always be associated with the movie title as he, Dennis Scott and Kenny Anderson became known as “Lethal Weapon 3’’ during what was perhaps Georgia Tech’s greatest basketball season.
In 1989-90 when the Yellow Jackets made it to the Final Four for the first time in school history, the three combined for 69.6 points a game. Oliver averaged 21.2 while Anderson, a freshman, scored 20.7 and Scott topped out at 27.7, setting an ACC single-season scoring mark.
“When Kenny came to Tech over the summer before his freshman year, we started playing together a lot with NBA players that came down to Tech for pickup games,’’ said Oliver. “We knew right away we had something special and Kenny and I bonded instantly. And then, of course, we both did with Dennis. The whole ‘Lethal Weapon’ caught on fire.’’
Where did the nickname come from?
“I know the movies were hot at that time and I think some announcer on television was doing our game and talked about how lethal we were,’’ said Oliver.
Actually, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article from 2015, the first time the nickname was used came during a loss to Clemson that season when a television graphic dubbed the Tech trio “Lethal Weapon 3.’’
It stuck. The three scored 2,346 of the team’s 3,015 points (78 percent) that season, marking the first time in ACC history — the conference was then 36 years old — that three players on one team averaged more than 20 points a game. Interestingly, in the Southeast Regional final win over Minnesota which pushed Tech to the Final Four, Scott went for 40 points, Anderson had 30 and Oliver had 19. Add it up and the three scored 89 of Tech’s 93 points, taking 52 of its 56 shots.
The three were immortalized in a poster that still hangs in the basketball office at Georgia Tech and in the homes of many Yellow Jackets fans.
“That was a special year,’’ said Oliver. “The chemistry was so good. Our other two starters (Johnny McNeil and Malcolm Mackey) were solid and Karl Brown came off the bench and played some great defense. Also, Matt Geiger was redshirted that year but really helped us in practice as Bobby made a point to play all of us against each other to get better.’’
