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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2273453, member: 289"] [I]The Big Dipper [/I] The real rivalry turned out not to be between the Celtics and another team but between Bill Russell and another individual. Wilt Chamberlain was even bigger than Bill Russell: 7-1 and 275 points compared to 6-9 ½ 220 and was as great an athlete, likely the greatest 7 foot athlete of all time. He started to make a name for himself at Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School in the early 50’s. He starred on the track team. W: “He high jumped 6 feet, 6 inches, ran the 440 yards in 49.0 seconds and the 880 yards in 1:58.3, put the shot 53 feet, 4 inches, and broad jumped 22 feet.” (Later, when he started to have such trouble with his free throw shooting, he would take a running start, leap from the foul line and dunk. The short-sighted powers that be decided to outlaw the move.) He thought basketball was a ‘sissy’” game but "basketball was king in Philadelphia" so he played that sport as well. “He had a natural advantage against his peers; he soon was renowned for his scoring talent, his physical strength and his shot blocking abilities. According to ESPN journalist Hal Bock, Chamberlain was "scary, flat-out frightening... before he came along, most basketball players were mortal-sized men. Chamberlain changed that." He went to play for Phog Allen at Kansas but the Warriors’ Eddie Gottlieb had already made him a territorial pick- when he was in high school! Allen was forced to retire after Chamberlain’s freshman season and never got to coach him as freshmen were ineligible. Instead his assistant Dick Harp became Wilt’s college coach. Harp was greeted by a 52 point 31 rebound game against Northwestern. How could anybody beat the Jayhawks with “The Big Dipper”, (a name he much preferred to “Wilt the Stilt”, in the middle? Well, three teams did, including North Carolina in triple overtime by a single point in the national championship game. [MEDIA=youtube]vz_Y-E2etac[/MEDIA] (Go to 3:40) The next year the Jayhawks fell back to 18-5 and Chamberlain decided to skip his senior year and accepted $10,000 from LOOK magazine to write an article explaining why. He didn’t get along with Harp and was sick of stalling and triple-teaming tactics by the opposition. It’s also been suggested that Lawrence Kansas was not his kind of town. He’d averaged 30 points and 18 rebounds for his career but he left Kansas without a national championship. It was not the first time Chamberlain’s statistical achievements exceeded Russell’s but his team achievements fell short. At that time NBA teams didn’t sign college players before their class graduated. Wilt’s response was to sign to play year with the Harlem Globetrotters, who were having quite a decade. There were still a limited number of black players in the NBA and the era of touring teams had mostly come to an end so the Trotters had quite a talent base to choose from. They played college teams and NBA teams and All-Star teams all over the country with their unique combination of quality basketball and quality entertainment. Other times they played teams assembled just to be their “opponents”, such as the Washington Generals. They used multiple units to keep up with all the dates. Then Abe Saperstein got the audacious idea of invading Europe, despite the fact that the people there had barely heard of basketball, much less the Harlem Globetrotters. The very first tour went to England, Western Europe and North Africa in 1950. They brought with them an announcer who would explain the game as they played it. Per “The Harlem Globetrotters: An Illustrated History”, at the time of “the Trotter’s arrival in London for their initial ten day stand, (there was) zero coverage in the sports pages…After the first night, the British had seen for themselves just what dizzying heights the sport of basketball had attained at the hands of the Globetrotters and not only was the team’s name plastered all over the next morning’s sports pages but the second night the fans booed the announcer because they didn’t want his explanations slowing down the excitement of the game….Everywhere they went in Europe and North Africa, the reaction was the same: overwhelming. When the Globies finally returned home in August they had 73 smash appearances under their belts. They had introduced the sport of basketball to Europe in a spectacular way and made a lot of friends in the process.” The next year a Hollywood movie was made about the Trotters, called simply “The Harlem Globetrotters” and three years after that came “Go, Man Go!” starring a young Sidney Poitier. Then, in 1951 came their most famous road trip. It was to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, where 75,000 Germans showed up to see them – and to see Jesse Owens, who made his first return there since the 1936 Olympics. Jesse ”took a token leap into the broad jump pit – and pulled his hamstring muscle. The Globetrotters had to run out and help Jesse off the track in his great moment of glory!” True magazine reported: “The largest crowd ever to see a basketball game anywhere in the world gathered in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, scene of many a Hitler rant against ‘inferior’ people of the world and went wild over a black basketball team that was owned by a Jew – one of the crowning ironies of history.” The team even had an audience with Pope Pius XII. On their next trip they showed the Pope their warm=-up routine to the tune of “Sweet Georgia Brown” and he could be seen tapping his feet. In Greece they had to postpone an event because the hot sun melted the asphalt on their court. They played a game in a driving rainstorm, barefoot in an inch of water. In Spain, Ermer Robinson hit a 100 foot shot. “Ten thousand Spaniards…nearly broke down the bleachers with enthusiasm. Later they played a Taiwanese team on the condition that the local team’s “pride must not be offended by the Globetrotters antics”. They played straight basketball and quickly built a 30 point lead and had to be escorted from the place by armed militia. They played a game in the Philippine jungle on a specially built mahogany floor in front of the 12,000 employees of a wealthy plantation owner in newly erected bleachers. They also did a South American tour. The Harlem Globetrotters were more responsible for than either the NBA or even the Olympics for making basketball the international sport it is today and in doing so they fully lived up to their name. [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJiF1Ghi3UI"]Harlem Globetrotters - The Team That Changed The World[/URL] Wilt played with the Trotters during the 1958-59 season and later described it as the happiest year of his life. “Harlem Globetrotters: An Illustrated History” is full of pictures of the Trotters posing with Pope John XXIII, Nikita Khrushchev and Sir Edmond Hillary, among others. In one picture one of the Trotters, in India, is being taught to charm a snake with a flute. The book describes the Pope as trying to dribble a basketball and even make a hand-off around his “ample paunch”, which proved unsuccessful. In Algeria they played in a French Foreign Legion fort with audible gunfire outside the fort. When they put up a jump shot they never knew if it would come down with a bullet hole in it. There’s a picture of Wilt with his hands around a bar in a Moscow subway, the passengers around him gawking at him. The book details their first ever trip to Russia, including their middle-of-the-night flight from Berlin to Moscow, “like something out of Mission: Impossible….They landed in the morning and went straight to their hotel to rest up for that night’s game. But then came a call requesting that the team report to the arena ‘for inspection by the Soviet officials’. Needless to say, the men were tired and didn’t feel like doing this but they figured a five or ten minute exhibition would satisfy the authorities. To their amazement they walked into the huge indoor Palace of Sports and found the place packed with government officials who didn’t wish to buy tickets with the common folk. The Globetrotters had little choice but to play a whole, extra unscheduled game.” One night Meadowlark lemon felt ill and said he’d like to see a doctor. A teammate left to inform Abe Saperstein so he could get a doctor. By the time Abe got to Lemon’s room, there was already a Russian doctor there. Somebody had already ‘heard’ the request the moment Meadowlark made it. ”But while governments will be governments, the everyday citizen on the street is something else….Their first scheduled game ended with the crowd sitting in dead silence and the Trotters figuring they had really laid an egg. On the contrary, said their interpreter, the fans loved them and the next day’s newspaper would verify this. But Russian custom holds that the audience remains quiet at an event while the performers applaud. Well, the Globetrotters said, that was nice but rather than wait until the next day to read how they did in the newspaper they would sure prefer hearing some good old, let-your-hair-down responses from the crowd. After all, American athletes thrive on applause. An announcement was made and the delighted fans almost tore the joint down clapping and cheering. Every night after that the Moscovites were tremendous clapping and stomping appreciatively. At the conclusion of each game, the Trotters would go around the floor three times to shake hands and in return, they were kissed, showered with roses and decorated with numerous medallions. The exchange of warmth was something none there would ever forget.” Wilt so enjoyed his tour with the Trotters that for several years after his NBA career was over, he would joining the Trotters on that year’s tour. They kept a #13 jersey with them wherever they went in case Wilt showed up. Rome was his favorite point to show up because he loved that city. I have an acquaintance who is a huge Bill Russell fan and uses every opportunity to denigrate Wilt, feeling false that that was necessary to support his admiration for Bill. He constantly harps on Bill’s much greater intensity and competitiveness. I wonder if that is reflected in their entirely different attitudes toward playing with the Globetrotters. On the other hand, I can see young Wilt being dazzled by traveling the world and having all kinds of adventurous experiences. I can also see him enjoying being part of a team rather than the whole focus of the offense – and the defense. I can see him enjoying not having a coach yell at him. I can also see him enjoying playing under no pressure with crowds being entertained by the Globetrotters and not expecting him to score 50 points and get 30 rebounds every night. Chamberlain, of course, became the most statistically dominant player in the history of the sport, basketball’s answer to Babe Ruth, Jim Brown and Wayne Gretzky. He was the king of superstars in an era of superstars. Our Nationals had Dolph Schayes. The Hawks had Bob Pettit. The Lakers acquired Eligin Baylor who set several scoring records in the year Wilt was with the Trotters, only to see them disappear the next year. He would be joined by Jerry West after they moved to Los Angeles. The Royals had Jack Twyman, who would finish second in scoring in 1959-60 with 31.2ppg. Oscar Robertson would become Cincinnati’s great new star, soon to be joined by Jerry Lucas. This would have been remembered as the Era of the Superstars except that it was the Era of the Celtics. And Chamberlain, as the #1 superstar, might have had a dynasty of his own without the Celtics. In his rookie season he blew the doors off the record book by averaging 37.6 points per game, (he hit he 50 mark 7 times), and 27.0 rebounds per game. He was the first player to average 30 points a game, (and Twyman was the second the same year). His rebounding average broke Russell’s record of 23.0, set the previous year. Russell would have broken his own record with 24.0. That’s right- Twyman and Russell both broke the points and rebounds record- and Wilt topped them both, easily. But his team finished ten games behind the Celtics, despite the presence of Paul Arizin, Woody Saulsberry, Tom Gola and Guy Rodgers in the same line up. Russell scored only 18.2ppg but his team out-scored Wilt’s 124.5-118.6 and beat them in six games in the Eastern finals. Russell scored more, 20.7ppg in the series and upped his rebounding to 27 a game. He ‘held’ Wilt to 30.5/27.5. The Hawks had been upset in the Western finals by Baylor’s Lakers, who were then swept by the Celtics in four games for their second title. The Hawks were back in ’60 and the result was another great seven game series. There were splits in each city, followed by alternating home wins, the clincher coming in Boston, 122-103 as Russell 22 points and 35 rebounds and held Pettit to 22 and 14. The next year Wilt had essentially the same season, 38.4ppg with 27.2rpg. Baylor, 8 inches shorter, came within shouting distance with 34.8/19.8. Robertson averaged 30.5/10.1 with 9.7 assists. Despite the dazzling number, the Celtics again had the best regular season record, 57-22 and marched through the playoffs, beating the Nationals, (who had swept the Warriors in 3 games) and then the Hawks in five games each. Then came 1961-62 and Wilt Chamberlain went into orbit: On 12/1/61, he scored 60 on the Lakers. On 12/8/61 Wilt broke Elgin Baylor’s single game scoring record of 71 points with 78 against Baylor’s own team. Elgin tried to match him but could ‘only’ score 63 points. The game took 3 overtimes. On 12/9/61, he dropped 61 on a new team, the Chicago Packers, (who are now the Washington Wizards) and their star rookie, 6-11 Walt Bellamy. On 12/29/61 he again scored 60 on the Lakers. On 1/13/62, he scored 73 on the Packers, setting the record for a regulation 48 minute game. . On 1/14/62 Bill Russell held him to 62 points. On 1/17/62, he scored 62 on the Hawks. On 1/21/62 he scored 62 on the Nats. On 2/13/62, he scored 65 on the Royals. On 2/17/62, he scored 67 points on the Hawks. On 2/22/62, he scored 61 more on the Hawks. On 2/25/62, he scored 67 on the Knicks. On 2/26/62, he scored 61 on the Packers On 2/27/62, he scored 65 on the shell-shocked Hawks, his third game in three days with 60+ points. That’s fourteen 60+ point games against seven different teams. (He missed only the Pistons). But he wasn’t done…. The Warriors had a game against the Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania on March 2, 1962. The league “farmed out” games sometimes in those days both to cultivate interest and/or because their arena was not available because something that would draw more fans, such as the circus, was in town. What happened in Hershey that night went a long way toward changing things. The Knicks’ answer to Chamberlain? Darrell Imhoff, a 6-10 220 center who had led California to the NCAA title in 1959. From the illustrated History of Basketball by Larry Fox: “It was a mismatch from the beginning. Chamberlain had 23 points in the first quarter and 41 by the end of the half. Always a poor foul shooter- incredibly bad was more like it- Wilt was making his free throws this night as well as his fall-away jumper. By the end of the third his scoring total had soared to 69. As the fourth quarter began, Wilt scored three fast buckets and broke his regulation game record with 75 points. After four minutes of the quarter, he had 79, breaking all the records. “ “The Warriors now started feeding Chamberlain in earnest.” (What would be the difference?) “The Knicks started holding the ball for each of their 24 second allotments. But the Dipper couldn’t be stopped. When the Knicks tried deliberately fouling other members of the Philly team so Wilt would not have a chance to score. For more than two minutes Chamberlain did not score a point. Then he started again: 94…96…98…and, with 46 seconds left, he took a high pass near the basket and stuffed it through with both hands. He had scored 100 points.” [URL]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Wilt_Chamberlain_100-point.jpg[/URL] The two teams set an NBA combined scoring record with 316 points. The warriors won, 169-147. The Warriors actually had five players in double figures: Al Attles scored 17, Paul Arizin and Tom Meschery each scored 16 and Guy Rodgers had 11, with 20 assists, (Tom Gola didn’t play. The Knicks had a triumvirate of Richie Guerin with 39 points, Cleveland Buckner, Imhoff’s back-up, scored 33and Willie Naulls scored 31. It wasn’t enough. Imhoff himself played only 20 minutes before he fouled out and scored 7 points. Wilt was 36 for 63 from the field and 28 for 32 from the foul line, (which is what allowed this to be such an historical game). He pulled down 25 records but had only two assists and the same number of fouls. He had 94 “net points”. For the season he averaged 50.4ppg, 25.7rpg, 2.4apg and 1.5 fouls per game. He attempted 3,159 shots 39.5 per game and made 1,597, (20.0). He attempted 1,363 free throws (17.0) and made 935, (10.4). That’s 50.9 not points per game. There’s no point in figuring it out per 48 minutes because of Wilt’s most amazing stat: he averaged 48.5 minutes per game. How could he have done that? By playing every minute of every game plus all the overtimes. The “Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia”: His performance redefined individual scoring. Until this time, the basketball public had marveled at one game highs but what Chamberlain did not only put the record out of reach, it made the very idea of exceptional scoring commonplace. His incredible totals, combined with the fact that Boston was winning the titles, shifted attention to team values in judging an offense.” The Warriors gained revenge on the Nationals for the sweep the previous year – but just barely, winning in five games after dropping games 3 and 4. Then the Celtics beat them in a tremendous 7 game series. The cities were so close they simply alternated home games. The Celtics dominated the first game in Boston 117-89. Wilt had 33 points and 31 rebounds compared to 16/30 for Bill but Bill got a lot more help. The Celtics had six guys in double figures. In Philly, the Warriors evened the series 113-106 Wilt had 42/37 to Russell’s 9/20 and he got plenty of help from Paul Arizin (27 points) and Guy Rodgers (22). Boston won game 3 by 129-114 after building up a 21 point halftime lead. Chamberlain was 35/29 but Russell matched him with 31/31 and Tom Heinsohn added 31 points. The Warriors tied it up again back home, 110-106. Wilt had 41/34 but Russell again nearly matched him with 31/30. Bill was showing he could score if he had to. He may have been rising to the occasion because he was playing Chamberlain. Paul Arizin and Tom Meschery aided Wilt by scoring 26 and 23, respectively. The Celtics again dominated in Boston, this time taking a 23 point halftime lead and winning 119-104. They held Wilt to 30-14 while Russell clearly out-played him with 29/26 and five of his teammates were in double figures. The Warriors tied it up one more time with a 108-99 back in Philadelphia. They won it on the boards having five players in double figures in rebounds, (they won that battle overall 79-64). Wilt was 32/21 vs. 19/22 for Russell. The titanic confrontation returned to Boston but this time it was close. Boston again had a great first quarter, taking a 34-23 lead. But the Warriors roared back with a 33-18 second quarter to take a 56-52 lead. They still led 81-80 after three quarters. The Celtics took a 109-107 lead with a basket by Bill Sharman with 2 seconds left. A long pass to Chamberlain failed and the Warriors high water mark had passed. The Lakers had combined Elgin Baylor and Jerry West and won more games, 54, than any team other than Boston. It took another 7 exciting games for the Celtics to subdue the Lakers, who earned a split of the first two games in Boston. West then gave them a 2-1 lead in LA with a steal from Cousy and a lay-up at the buzzer, 117-115. The Celtic evened the series with a 115-103 win in game 4 but LA out-ran them 126-121 in Boston to again take the lead, thanks to an amazing 61 point, 22 rebound game by Baylor. The 61 points would last as the playoff scoring record for 25 years, when Michael Jordan scored 63 in the same building against the same team. But Boston tied the series again 119-05 back in LA, the fourth game of the series won by the visiting team. The NBA’s greatest season came down to a final game at Boston, which was tied at 100 with the Lakers having the last possession. Wikipedia: “The player who initially had the ball on that final play was Rod "Hot Rod" Hundley. And Hundley had in fact dreamt the night before that he would make the championship-winning shot. And further, after pump-faking his defender into the air, Hundley indeed briefly had an opening to take a shot. But rather than selfishly insisting upon attempting to play out his dream in real life, when Hundley noticed that Selvy, (Frank Selvy, who once scored 100 points in a college game), was open for an even better shot — a shot that Selvy usually could be counted upon to make — Hundley gave up his own chance for glory and passed the ball. Selvy's miss, however, meant that Hundley's sacrifice had been for naught and that Hundley would never know if indeed he would have won the championship himself, had he taken the shot he had available. Because of this, Hundley would occasionally call Selvy and, when Selvy answered the phone, Hundley would simply say, "Nice shot!" and then hang up.” The Celtics won the first overtime 10-7 and with it, a record fourth straight championship. This 3 part edition of “The Way it was” was about that series: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5O4tuc8Bjg"]1962 LA Boston, Finals (1 of 3)[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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