SWC75
Bored Historian
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This is a continuation of a series I was doing last spring and summer that covered the history of pro basketball from 1925-1963. Prior posts in the series:
https://syracusefan.com/search/37305428/?q=Historical+Pro+Basketball&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=11&c[user][0]=289
1963-67
SINK THE CELTICS
1963-64
One of the more popular war movies of the early 60’s was “Sink the Bismarck” about the combined efforts to sink the biggest German battleship:
The Celtics had won 5 NBA titles in a row from 1959=63, tying the all-time records of the New York Yankees (1949-53) and Montreal Canadiens (1956-60) for the longest run of championships in north American sports, (the Green Bay Packers had won the NFL title from 1929-31 and would win in 1965-67 as well). A sport needs a definition of excellence and the Celtics were providing it. Their team excellence and Wilt Chamberlain’s individual amazingness was pushing the sport to unprecedented popularity.
Maurice Podloff, the only commissioner the league had ever had, retired and was replaced by his former assistant, (now Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut) Walter Kennedy, who inherited a prosperous league.
It was also a changing league. The Syracuse Nationals had become the Philadelphia 76ers, although they were still coached by Dolph Schayes in his last year as a player and were full of former Nats, who played the aggressive, team-oriented style they became famous for in the Salt City. The expansion Chicago Packers never got quite coordinated with the Black Hawks for the use of Chicago Stadium and moved to Baltimore to became the new version of the Bullets, (who are now the Washington Wizards).
But the rest of league was not satisfied to play a bit part in the Celtic’s highlight films. They wanted to “Sink the Celtics”. Talent was pouring out of the college ranks every year and the big news for the 1963-64 season was that Jerry Lucas, who had led Ohio State to three straight NCAA championship games, was joining Oscar Robertson in Cincinnati to give the Royals a great 1-2 punch. Wilt Chamberlain, playing in San Francisco for the Warriors, was joined by another towering big man, Nate Thurmond. They also had a new coach, Alex Hannum, who began to talk with Wilt about scoring less and getting his teammates more involved while focusing on defense, has Russell had been doing. Wilt’s scoring only fell from 44.8pp to 36.9, (which still led the league by 5 ½ points), but Hannum had begun something which would bear fruit.
The Celtics were themselves facing uncertainty. Bob Cousy had retired and some people felt that he was the real key to the Celtic’s success. A fan came up to Bill Russell and told him “You’d better hustle now that you don’t have Cousy to carry the team.” Russell, the league MVP the previous three years in a row, steamed. The Celtics were trying to do the hardest thing in sports: rebuild while still winning. Cousy was gone. Bill Sharman was gone. Tom Heinsohn was in the 7th year of a 9 year career. Frank Ramsey was in the last year of a 10 year career. Replacing those players would be Tom “Satch” Sanders, a sort of 6-6 version of Russell but who never was the scorer or rebounder Heinsohn was, John Havlicek who started out as the league’s stop “6th man” as Ramsey had been but would become the team’s offensive star. Doctor’s discovered that Havlicek’s lung capacity was half again as much as an average players, (they needed to x-ray them twice to get them all in the picture), which allowed him to play full out for entire games and just run defenders off the court. Sam Jones took over as the team’s shooting guard. He was tall, (6-4 compared to Sharman, who was listed at 6-1) and who was the best I’ve ever seen at banking a shot off the glass. He didn’t do it accidentally- he knew, like a pool shark, where the ball would go if the kissed it off a certain spot on the blackboard. It made his shots unblockable because he didn’t have to shoot directly at the basket. K. C. Jones, (No relation), had been with Russell at USF when they won two NCAA titles and, although he never scored in double figures, he was the league’s best defensive guard and knew how to run the famous Celtics fast break.
Then there was Russell, who had a teeth-clenching determination to show people the Celtics – and he- could without Cousy. He went on to have what he considered his greatest season. He averaged 15 points, (he was never a big scorer) and 25 rebounds a game. If there was a record for blocks, he’d probably still hold it, (it didn’t become an official statistic until a decade later). They augmented their swarming half-court defense with a relentless press.
The team also picked up some depth with the well-travelled Clyde Lovelette and Willie Naulls. When Naulls was in for Havlicek, the Celtics became the first teams to have all five players on the court be African-American. From “The Picture History of the Boston Celtics by George Sullivan”: “It was no big deal”, (Red) Auerbach says now. “I didn’t even think about it at the time. I just did it. No there was no negative reaction by anyone around the league.” Typical of the Celtic attitude, the players joked about it. In one game, Auerbach substituted Frank Ramsey for Naulls and the former Kentucky star scored a couple of quick baskets. The opposing team called a time out and the five Celtics on the court strolled over to join Auerbach and their teammates in a huddle by the Boston bench. “Well, Red”, Ramsey drawled, “It looks like I’m the Great White Hope.” The Celtics huddle broke up in laughter and Boston garden fans wondered what was so funny in the middle of a game.
The Celtics roared to a 59-21 record, their second best ever but just four games ahead of the Royals who had their second best record at 55-25, (the 1950 Royals had gone 51-17 back in Rochester in 1950). They dispatched the 76ers 3-2 in the semi-finals but were no match for Boston, 1-4, in the eastern finals. The Celtics won all of their four games by double figures. The Warrior had beaten out the Hawks and the Lakers in the west and now Russell and Chamberlain would meet in not the Eastern finals but the NBA finals. No matter. The Celtics also beat them in 5 games to win a record 6th straight championship – and to do it without Cousy and with a sometimes all black line-up.
Here are the Celtics winning the closest game of the series, 98-95 in San Francisco, with commentary by Marty Glickman:
1964 NBA Finals Gm. 4 Celtics vs. Warriors (3/3)
1964-65
The Celtics continued to roll in 1965, achieving their best record of the entire Bill Russell run with 62 wins and only 18 losses. It still wasn’t the best record in NBA history: the Syracuse Nationals had gone 51-13 in a 17 team league bloated with former BAA and NBL teams, many of which weren’t very good. The Celtics did it in a 9 team league at a time when the sport was really starting to blossom.
Out in San Francisco, the Warriors fell apart. The “twin towers” thing with Chamberlain and Thurmond wasn’t working, (it rarely does) and west coast writers and fans were not warming to Chamberlain, 9as they didn’t Willie Mays, either). Owner Franklin Mieuli decided the time had come to unload Chamberlain’s salary and see what they could get for him. They wound up send g him back to Philadelphia for guard Paul Neumann, (two ‘n’s), center Commie Dierking and guard lee Shaffer, who was holding out and decided not to sign with the Warriors and simply retire from the league, (players did that in those days because they weren’t getting rich. The Warriors tumbled to a dismal 17-63 record.
I remember when Wilt was traded: the deal was consummated at the All-star game and I recall our local TV station in Syracuse announced it with what passed for a graphic in those primitive days: The cut a picture of Wilt out of the newspaper, pasted it to a blackboard and pointed their camera at it.
On This Day In Sports: January 13,1965: The Sixers Trade For Wilt
The 76er’s had an enviable team, talent-wise, still coached by the now retired Dolph Schayes and featuring several former Nats: Johnny Kerr, Chet Walker, Hal Greer, Larry Costello and Dave Gambee. They also had a brawny power forward in 6-9 240 Luke Jackson. Chamberlain didn’t immediately fit in and the best the Sixers could do was a 40-40 record, 22 games behind the Celtics and 8 games behind the Royals but the potential of the team was clear. The dispatched the Royals in 4 games and set up a classic series with the Celtics.
The two teams alternated wins in their home arena for the six games: The Celtics won by 10, 18 and 6 points in Boston while the Sixers won by 6, by 3 in OT, (an amazing 134-131 game in which Hal Greer hit a disputed 35 footer at the buzzer to send the game into OT), and 6 in Philly. In the famous game 7 in Boston, the Celts blew out to a 30-12 lead but the Sixers went on a 50-31 run to take a one point halftime lead and then scored the first two baskets of the second half. A “growling Auerbach called a time out and spent it lecturing his team. And they went on a 29-16 run to take an 8 point lead into the final period. The Celtics led by 7, 110-103 with a minute left and Red lighted up his “victory cigar”, a practice the other coaches in the league hated. Red’s response was to ask them to put out their cigarettes when they win games. But this time, Red almost had to put his cigar out.
From “The Picture History of the Boston Celtics”: “The Celtics grew cautious, trying to avoid three point plays, and allowed Chamberlain 6 straight points punctuated by an uncontested dunk to cut the Celtic’s lead to 1 point with 5 seconds remaining. The Sixers pressed desperately as Russell took the ball out of bounds, just to the right of the Celtic basket. Harassed, the 6-10 Russell backed up a half-step and jumped as he tried to inbound the ball with both arms upstretched over his head. The ball travelled only inches before striking a guy wire overhead and caroming out of bounds….Russell was still beneath the guy wire but now was kneeling on the one knee, pounding the floor with his fist and repeating “Oh, my God!...Oh my God”…I’ll always remember Russell walking over to the huddle”, (trainer) Buddy LeRoux recalls. “he just looked at all the others and said, “Somebody bail me out. I blew it.” Satch Sanders: Nobody knew what to do. Russell came over shaking his head and saying “I don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it”. Nobody wanted to believe that something as simple as that could put us in that kind of positon. It was like nightmare.”
“If the Boston bench was in shock, the Philadelphia bench was in chaos. Iit was crazy”, Schayes says now. “Everybody was trying to make up a play. Everybody was yakking and screaming and talking at once. I said “Hold it. We only have a few seconds left. Let me talk.” Philadelphia’s main options were clear: 1) get the ball to Chamberlain close to the basket for a stuff, even if he was fouled while shooting, he’d have three shots to make 1 for a tie and 2 for the victory; 2) Get the ball to Greer for a quick outside shot with Wilt underneath to guide the ball in if necessary and with the 7-2 Chamberlain, 6-9 Jackson and 6-9 Kerr crashing the boards for any rebound or 3) Get the ball outside to Walker, who could thread the ball to Chamberlain or Greer, whichever which ever was open or if both were covered he could drive himself. Schayes first thought was Chamberlain: “Go to Wilt and let him power to the basket. But I knew they would have grabbed him and he wasn’t the best foul shooter.” Sanders: “We would have mangled Wilt”, who was only 5 of 13 from the line that night. So Schayes decided to go to Option 2. Greer would inbound the ball deep to Walker outside. Kerr would set a pick on K.C. Jones at the baseline. Greer would slip in behind the screen, take a return pass from Walker and put up a quick one-hander form the corner.”
“As Chamberlain and Russell jousted for positon beneath the basket, Greer hesitated before finally lobbing the ball toward Walker about 25 feet away….”He was being harassed”, Schayes recalled, “The moment the ball left his hands, I knew it was gone. I knew it was going to be grabbed.” Greer: “I didn’t put enough on the ball. That’s all there is to it. I just didn’t put enough on it.” John Havlicek: “I knew he had 5 seconds to inbound so I started counting 1,001, 1,002, 1,003. Usually something happens by then. So by 1003 ½ I started to peek a little more. Havlicek turned his head in time to see the ball arching toward Walker. Hondo coiled, leaped into the air and….”
Johnny Most:
1965 Eastern Finals: "Havlicek Stole the Ball"
Here’s a mini-documentary on the end of that game:
Havlicek Stole the Ball – 50 Year Anniversary
The Celtics then faced a cripple Laker team in anti-climactic final, winning 5 games. But Jerry provided something to chewer for. His fellow Lakers superstar, Elgin Baylor, had had a devastating knee injury in the first round of the plays against Baltimore and was never really the same player again. Jerry put the tram on his back and scored 49, 52, 44, 48, 43 and 42 points to get his team past the Bullets. He then scored 26, 45, 43, 37 and 33 points against the Celtics. It wasn’t enough but that came to a 40.6 average for the playoffs with the defense fully concentrating on him. Fred Schaus, the Laker’s coach: “K. C. Jones used to tackle West rather than letting him get off a jump shot.” Even Wilt had never scored that month per game in the playoffs and he was getting almost all his points in the paint against smaller men. Jerry at 6-3 had no big size advantage and had to score from wherever he could get a shot off. It was the beginning of his transformation from a well-respected player to a legend and the model for the NBA’s logo.
1965-66
For 1965-66, the Sixers would have Wilt Chamberlain for the whole season and the co-ordination with his teammates began to fall into place. They signed Wilt to the first $100,000 contract in NBA history, whereupon the Red Auerbach singed Bill Russell to a contract for $100,001, (which Bill had demanded). Boston took the early lead in the standings and kept it until March, when the two teams met in a home and home series. The Sixers swept both games, 102-85 at home and 113-110 in Boston, and won 18 of their last 21, including 11 in a row to end the regular seasons. They dethroned the Celtics as the eastern regular season champions by a game, 55-25 to 54-26, ending a stretch of 9 straight seasons in which the Boston had been atop the eastern standings. This got Philadelphia a bye during which the sat and watched the Celtics won a tough 5 game series form the third place Royals after losing 2 of the first 3.
Everybody braced for another great series between the Sixers and Celtics but Philadelphia’s mojo had evaporated in that idle week while the Celtics were revved up by their comeback against the Royals (It’s why I’ve always hated byes: they often work to the disadvantage of the idle team). The Celtics won the first game in Philadelphia by 19, then routed them by 21 in Boston. The Sixers pulled together for a 12 point in Philly , then lost a tough 110-114 overtime game in Beantown. The Celtics polished off their rivals 120-112 in the Philadelphia to advance to the finals for the 10th straight year. There they faced a determined Laker team that was sick of losing to the Celtics. They beat the Celtics in overtime at the Boston Garden 133-129. West had 41 and a suddenly rejuvenated Baylor, (who had averaged only 16.6ppg during the year: Elgin said he was at best 75% of the player he had been before his injury), added 36.
It was at this time that Auerbach chose to make an announcement of something he’d already decided: he was going to retire as coach and that their new coach for the 1966-67 season would be Bill Russell, making him the first black coach of major league franchise in any North American sport. From the Illustrated History of Basketball by Larry Fox: “it was a master stroke. Russell, like Auerbach, was getting weary. The schedule never seemed to end. The road trips ran one into the other in an endless succession of airports and hotel rooms. Russell was thinking of quitting, too, so Auerbach decided to give his aging star new incentive. Many times Bill had handled the team in workouts when Auerbach’s duties as general manager had prevented him from being present. He had also served as coach in games when Auerbach was banished from the floor by the officials. Auerbach knew Russell as an astute basketball mind and, more important, as the acknowledged team leader.”
Boston roared back with 3 straight wins but the Lakers answered them with two wins of their own, the first featuring a throw-back game by Elgin Baylor, who scored 41 points, setting up a dramatic seventh game back in the Garden. “Auerbach took note of the emotions surrounding his last game as Celtic coach but, typically, his approach was ultra-professional. He reminded his players of the monetary difference between winning and losing. “I want you to win this one for you, not for me.”, he told them.”
“The Celtics roared onto the court to do just that. They scored the first ten points of the game against the stunned Lakers and led by as many as nineteen points in the opening minute of the second half. Going into the final quarter, the score was 76-60 but the Lakers hadn’t gotten as far as they had by quitting. With four minutes left the Boston lead was down to 13 points, then to 7. The Celtics led by 8 in the final minute, then Russell scored to make it 10. Only sixteen seconds remained when Jerry West hit a jump shot to cut the margin to 8 again but now Auerbach knew there was an insurmountable ally on his side – the clock.”
“For years, Auerbach, had enjoyed the habit of lighting up a ‘victory cigar’ on the bench whenever another Celtic triumph was assured. The gesture infuriated his opponents, which was the general idea. The league office didn’t like it, either., which was even better. And so, with 16 seconds to go, Auerbach stuck the long cigar in his mouth and John Volpe, the Governor of Massachusetts gave him a light. Although the Lakers managed to close to two points at the buzzer, Auerbach didn’t miss a puff.”
Actually, the Lakers closed to within 93-95 with 4 seconds left – just one fewer than the Sixer had had the year before - and the Boston fans rushed the court. Per “The NBA Finals, a 50 year Celebration” by Roland Lazenby, “The fans always rushed the floor to celebrate a Boston championship. The earlier the better, it seemed. The ’66 celebration was both pre-mature and out of hand. Russell, who had played with a broken foot and had still gotten32 rebounds, was knocked down. Orange Juice containers on the Boston bench were spilled across the floor and Satch Sanders lost his shirt to the crowd. Somehow, K. C. Jones got the inbounds pass to Havlicek, who dribbled out the clock for the championship….Schaus later said that he would have loved to have been able to shove that victory cigar down Auerbach’s throat. “W came awfully close to putting that thing out.”
“The Picture History of the Boston Celtics” has two shots from the wild final moments. Auerbach, clenching his cigar in his teeth, is surrounded by fans as a policeman gets shoved out of the way. One smiling fan has his hands about Red’s neck. The other is of the final inbounds play, with Jones having just inbounded the ball from a narrow crevice made in the hoard of fans for that purpose. He looks like a golfer who hit is drive into the crown and now has to hit a shot through a narrow corridor of people. The court is surrounded by several layers of fans just about to re-storm the court when the final buzzer sounds. The picture clearly shows that Sam Jones inbounded the ball to KC, who must have gotten the ball to Havlicek a moment alter.
That volume says that the crowd was a problem even before they stormed the court: ”I never came closer to disaster” Auerbach would note later. The sight of Auerbach lighting up ignited the crowd and it went wild now, surging onto the court the court.” Johnny Most: “Havlicek called time out because he couldn’t get the ball in play. The crowd has surged down the end line. They can’t finish the ball game. They can’t get the ball in play. The crowd in its delirium and joy has thrown things onto the court. Red Auerbach is being mobbed by fans…officials are asking the crowd to please pull back. The crowd wants to get these guys and hug ‘em. …Auerbach has implored the crowd to step back and let them get the ball in play. I have never seen anything like this. The fans are on the supports of the baskets.”
“Shooed back by John Havlicek, Sam Jones and other Celtic players, spectators still crowded around the Celtic Bench and, at times Auerbach had to jump up to see over their heads. What he saw, unbelievably, was Celtic turnovers – four of them as the Boston lead dwindled to 95-91 with six seconds to go as Laker Leroy Ellis, (LeRon’s Daddy) took a jump shot. “It’s good!” Most screamed. Four seconds left and the lead is down to two points. Ellis’ basket pulled the plug on crowd noise and an eerie hush fell over the Garden.” This book does not say the court storming came at this point. Johnny most: “ K.C. with the ball gets surrounded. One second. That’s it. It’s all over! Havlicek got the pass and he gets mobbed! It’s all over!” At this point, “Auerbach was hoisted onto shoulders amid a sea of bobbing heads and transported to the Celtic locker room for the traditional dunking in the showers. “I feel drunk and I haven’t even had a drink.” It was their eight straight championship, still the all-time record in major league professional sports and likely to remain so, and their 9th in 10 years.
The truth can be seen here:
Lakers vs Celtics 1966 NBA Finals Game 7 Highlights – April 28th, 1966
There doesn’t seem to have been any premature storming.
1966-67
The disappointing performance of the 76ers in the 1966 eastern cost Dolph Schayes his job. The new coach was Alex Hannum, who in San Francisco had gotten Wilt to start thinking in terms of defense, and making his teammates better, in other words playing more like Bill Russell. The Big Dipper responded with his worst scoring season to date (24.1 – still 5th in the league and far above Russell’s 13.3)) but led the league in rebound by a wide margin (24.3 to 21.3 for Nate Thurmond and 21.0 for Russell) and was 3rd in assists (7.8: Russell had 5.8). Blocked shots were not kept track of yet but Wilt started learning to tip those shots to his teammates rather than dramatically rocket them out of bounds. The team scored 125.2 points per game, second all-time to the 1961-62 Warriors who scored 125.4. That was the year Wilt scored 50.4 per game. The 1967 team scored virtually as much with Wilt scoring 24.1 per game. And they only gave up 115.8 ppg, compared to 122.7 in 1962. The Sixers 9.4 margin of victory was higher than any previous team.
His teammates included Hal “High Gear” Greer, who averaged 22ppg, Chet Walker, who averaged 19, rookie Billy Cunningham, who averaged 18, guard Wally Jones, who averaged 13 and big Luke Jackson, who averaged 12 and 9 rebounds a game. Everybody on the team was peaking at the right time.
The result has an historical season. The Sixers won 45 of their first 49 games on their way to the best record in NBA history to that point, 68-13. They beat the Celtics out by 8 games even though Boston, under Bill Russell’s guidance, improved to 60-21 and beat the Sixers 5 times in 9 games. Meanwhile, out west, the Warriors had rebuilt around Rick Barry, who broke Chamberlain’s personal streak of 7 consecutive league scoring titles with 35.6ppgg. Ex-Celtic Bill Sharman was their coach. They won the west with a modest 44-37 record. The NBA had added a tenth team, a third attempt to get something going in Chicago. This one was called the Bulls and their first coach was the old Syracuse Nat, Johnny Kerr. It meant that there would be no more byes in the playoffs. The top four teams in each division would make it, (that’s 80% of the league).
The Sixers lost their opening playoff game at home to Cincinnati 116-120, which must have caused some grumbling. But the Sixers hut the door on the Royals, winning by 21, 15 and 18 points. Then they crunched the Celtics in the opener of that series, 127-113. They overcame early Celtic leads to win the next two games 107-102 and 115-104, wearing down the old champs. The proud Celts rose up to win game four in Boston 121-117 but they were no match for the Sixers in the finale losing 140-116, in a game that really seemed to be the passing of the torch from one dynasty to another. Wilt had 29 points, 36 rebounds and 13 assists in the final game. Bill had 4-21-7. Bill entered the Sixers locker room after the game, walked up to Wilt, grasped his hand and said “Great”. Wilt responded “Right” and Bill left. That’s all they needed. Russell told reporters: The best way to be a good loser is to shut up.”
The mighty Sixers then took on the feisty Warriors for the title. The built up a big lead in the first game in Philly before a less than capacity crowd, (Hey! We beat the Celtics – aren’t we already the champs?). But they lost all of it and almost the game in regulation. Chamberlain blocked a shot by Thurmond at the end of regulation. Nate thought he was fouled but didn’t get the call and Philadelphia won 141-135 in overtime. The crushed the Warriors 126-95 in game two, also in Philadelphia. The Warriors won 130-124 in San Francisco thanks to a 55 point explosion by Barry. Per “The NBA Finals: A Fifty Year Celebration”: “Hannum through, wasn’t worried. The Warriors had worked to get 20 and 25 foot shots . he didn’t think they could win the series that wat.” They didn’t. Barry got 43 in the next game but Hal Freer scored 38 and Chet Walker 33 in a 122-106 win where Philly won every quarter. Back in Philadelphia, Barry scored 26 in the first half but the Sixers still led 96-84 going into a fourth quarter in which they shot 3 for 17 and somehow lost 109-117.
But they found the basket in San Francisco and closed out the series there with a 125-122 win. “the first quarter was a 43-41 shoot-out. The Warriors owned a 102-86 lead at the end of three. The score was 106-102 when the rookie (Matt, whose namesake father was on the 1947 Philadelphia Warrior team that won the first BAA title), Goukas came in, hit a 20 footer, then followed with a driving lay-up. There, he was knocked into a basket support and out of the game. But his two buckets had fired the turn-around. “Gook!...Gook!...The Rook showed us how!”, Chamberlain would crow afterward in the locker room.” The Sixers clamped down on defense and held the Warriors to 19 fourth quarter points. Cunningham scored 13 himself to lead his team to victory. Barry scored 44 but couldn’t overcome the Philadelphia’s balance as six Sixers scored in double figures and Goukas had 9 points before knocking himself out.
I remember I had rooted for them and Wilt to finally beat out Russell and the Celtics for what seemed to a child to be forever and it had finally happened.
1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers - World Champions
But the Bismarck was still afloat.
https://syracusefan.com/search/37305428/?q=Historical+Pro+Basketball&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=11&c[user][0]=289
1963-67
SINK THE CELTICS
1963-64
One of the more popular war movies of the early 60’s was “Sink the Bismarck” about the combined efforts to sink the biggest German battleship:
The Celtics had won 5 NBA titles in a row from 1959=63, tying the all-time records of the New York Yankees (1949-53) and Montreal Canadiens (1956-60) for the longest run of championships in north American sports, (the Green Bay Packers had won the NFL title from 1929-31 and would win in 1965-67 as well). A sport needs a definition of excellence and the Celtics were providing it. Their team excellence and Wilt Chamberlain’s individual amazingness was pushing the sport to unprecedented popularity.
Maurice Podloff, the only commissioner the league had ever had, retired and was replaced by his former assistant, (now Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut) Walter Kennedy, who inherited a prosperous league.
It was also a changing league. The Syracuse Nationals had become the Philadelphia 76ers, although they were still coached by Dolph Schayes in his last year as a player and were full of former Nats, who played the aggressive, team-oriented style they became famous for in the Salt City. The expansion Chicago Packers never got quite coordinated with the Black Hawks for the use of Chicago Stadium and moved to Baltimore to became the new version of the Bullets, (who are now the Washington Wizards).
But the rest of league was not satisfied to play a bit part in the Celtic’s highlight films. They wanted to “Sink the Celtics”. Talent was pouring out of the college ranks every year and the big news for the 1963-64 season was that Jerry Lucas, who had led Ohio State to three straight NCAA championship games, was joining Oscar Robertson in Cincinnati to give the Royals a great 1-2 punch. Wilt Chamberlain, playing in San Francisco for the Warriors, was joined by another towering big man, Nate Thurmond. They also had a new coach, Alex Hannum, who began to talk with Wilt about scoring less and getting his teammates more involved while focusing on defense, has Russell had been doing. Wilt’s scoring only fell from 44.8pp to 36.9, (which still led the league by 5 ½ points), but Hannum had begun something which would bear fruit.
The Celtics were themselves facing uncertainty. Bob Cousy had retired and some people felt that he was the real key to the Celtic’s success. A fan came up to Bill Russell and told him “You’d better hustle now that you don’t have Cousy to carry the team.” Russell, the league MVP the previous three years in a row, steamed. The Celtics were trying to do the hardest thing in sports: rebuild while still winning. Cousy was gone. Bill Sharman was gone. Tom Heinsohn was in the 7th year of a 9 year career. Frank Ramsey was in the last year of a 10 year career. Replacing those players would be Tom “Satch” Sanders, a sort of 6-6 version of Russell but who never was the scorer or rebounder Heinsohn was, John Havlicek who started out as the league’s stop “6th man” as Ramsey had been but would become the team’s offensive star. Doctor’s discovered that Havlicek’s lung capacity was half again as much as an average players, (they needed to x-ray them twice to get them all in the picture), which allowed him to play full out for entire games and just run defenders off the court. Sam Jones took over as the team’s shooting guard. He was tall, (6-4 compared to Sharman, who was listed at 6-1) and who was the best I’ve ever seen at banking a shot off the glass. He didn’t do it accidentally- he knew, like a pool shark, where the ball would go if the kissed it off a certain spot on the blackboard. It made his shots unblockable because he didn’t have to shoot directly at the basket. K. C. Jones, (No relation), had been with Russell at USF when they won two NCAA titles and, although he never scored in double figures, he was the league’s best defensive guard and knew how to run the famous Celtics fast break.
Then there was Russell, who had a teeth-clenching determination to show people the Celtics – and he- could without Cousy. He went on to have what he considered his greatest season. He averaged 15 points, (he was never a big scorer) and 25 rebounds a game. If there was a record for blocks, he’d probably still hold it, (it didn’t become an official statistic until a decade later). They augmented their swarming half-court defense with a relentless press.
The team also picked up some depth with the well-travelled Clyde Lovelette and Willie Naulls. When Naulls was in for Havlicek, the Celtics became the first teams to have all five players on the court be African-American. From “The Picture History of the Boston Celtics by George Sullivan”: “It was no big deal”, (Red) Auerbach says now. “I didn’t even think about it at the time. I just did it. No there was no negative reaction by anyone around the league.” Typical of the Celtic attitude, the players joked about it. In one game, Auerbach substituted Frank Ramsey for Naulls and the former Kentucky star scored a couple of quick baskets. The opposing team called a time out and the five Celtics on the court strolled over to join Auerbach and their teammates in a huddle by the Boston bench. “Well, Red”, Ramsey drawled, “It looks like I’m the Great White Hope.” The Celtics huddle broke up in laughter and Boston garden fans wondered what was so funny in the middle of a game.
The Celtics roared to a 59-21 record, their second best ever but just four games ahead of the Royals who had their second best record at 55-25, (the 1950 Royals had gone 51-17 back in Rochester in 1950). They dispatched the 76ers 3-2 in the semi-finals but were no match for Boston, 1-4, in the eastern finals. The Celtics won all of their four games by double figures. The Warrior had beaten out the Hawks and the Lakers in the west and now Russell and Chamberlain would meet in not the Eastern finals but the NBA finals. No matter. The Celtics also beat them in 5 games to win a record 6th straight championship – and to do it without Cousy and with a sometimes all black line-up.
Here are the Celtics winning the closest game of the series, 98-95 in San Francisco, with commentary by Marty Glickman:
1964 NBA Finals Gm. 4 Celtics vs. Warriors (3/3)
1964-65
The Celtics continued to roll in 1965, achieving their best record of the entire Bill Russell run with 62 wins and only 18 losses. It still wasn’t the best record in NBA history: the Syracuse Nationals had gone 51-13 in a 17 team league bloated with former BAA and NBL teams, many of which weren’t very good. The Celtics did it in a 9 team league at a time when the sport was really starting to blossom.
Out in San Francisco, the Warriors fell apart. The “twin towers” thing with Chamberlain and Thurmond wasn’t working, (it rarely does) and west coast writers and fans were not warming to Chamberlain, 9as they didn’t Willie Mays, either). Owner Franklin Mieuli decided the time had come to unload Chamberlain’s salary and see what they could get for him. They wound up send g him back to Philadelphia for guard Paul Neumann, (two ‘n’s), center Commie Dierking and guard lee Shaffer, who was holding out and decided not to sign with the Warriors and simply retire from the league, (players did that in those days because they weren’t getting rich. The Warriors tumbled to a dismal 17-63 record.
I remember when Wilt was traded: the deal was consummated at the All-star game and I recall our local TV station in Syracuse announced it with what passed for a graphic in those primitive days: The cut a picture of Wilt out of the newspaper, pasted it to a blackboard and pointed their camera at it.
On This Day In Sports: January 13,1965: The Sixers Trade For Wilt
The 76er’s had an enviable team, talent-wise, still coached by the now retired Dolph Schayes and featuring several former Nats: Johnny Kerr, Chet Walker, Hal Greer, Larry Costello and Dave Gambee. They also had a brawny power forward in 6-9 240 Luke Jackson. Chamberlain didn’t immediately fit in and the best the Sixers could do was a 40-40 record, 22 games behind the Celtics and 8 games behind the Royals but the potential of the team was clear. The dispatched the Royals in 4 games and set up a classic series with the Celtics.
The two teams alternated wins in their home arena for the six games: The Celtics won by 10, 18 and 6 points in Boston while the Sixers won by 6, by 3 in OT, (an amazing 134-131 game in which Hal Greer hit a disputed 35 footer at the buzzer to send the game into OT), and 6 in Philly. In the famous game 7 in Boston, the Celts blew out to a 30-12 lead but the Sixers went on a 50-31 run to take a one point halftime lead and then scored the first two baskets of the second half. A “growling Auerbach called a time out and spent it lecturing his team. And they went on a 29-16 run to take an 8 point lead into the final period. The Celtics led by 7, 110-103 with a minute left and Red lighted up his “victory cigar”, a practice the other coaches in the league hated. Red’s response was to ask them to put out their cigarettes when they win games. But this time, Red almost had to put his cigar out.
From “The Picture History of the Boston Celtics”: “The Celtics grew cautious, trying to avoid three point plays, and allowed Chamberlain 6 straight points punctuated by an uncontested dunk to cut the Celtic’s lead to 1 point with 5 seconds remaining. The Sixers pressed desperately as Russell took the ball out of bounds, just to the right of the Celtic basket. Harassed, the 6-10 Russell backed up a half-step and jumped as he tried to inbound the ball with both arms upstretched over his head. The ball travelled only inches before striking a guy wire overhead and caroming out of bounds….Russell was still beneath the guy wire but now was kneeling on the one knee, pounding the floor with his fist and repeating “Oh, my God!...Oh my God”…I’ll always remember Russell walking over to the huddle”, (trainer) Buddy LeRoux recalls. “he just looked at all the others and said, “Somebody bail me out. I blew it.” Satch Sanders: Nobody knew what to do. Russell came over shaking his head and saying “I don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it”. Nobody wanted to believe that something as simple as that could put us in that kind of positon. It was like nightmare.”
“If the Boston bench was in shock, the Philadelphia bench was in chaos. Iit was crazy”, Schayes says now. “Everybody was trying to make up a play. Everybody was yakking and screaming and talking at once. I said “Hold it. We only have a few seconds left. Let me talk.” Philadelphia’s main options were clear: 1) get the ball to Chamberlain close to the basket for a stuff, even if he was fouled while shooting, he’d have three shots to make 1 for a tie and 2 for the victory; 2) Get the ball to Greer for a quick outside shot with Wilt underneath to guide the ball in if necessary and with the 7-2 Chamberlain, 6-9 Jackson and 6-9 Kerr crashing the boards for any rebound or 3) Get the ball outside to Walker, who could thread the ball to Chamberlain or Greer, whichever which ever was open or if both were covered he could drive himself. Schayes first thought was Chamberlain: “Go to Wilt and let him power to the basket. But I knew they would have grabbed him and he wasn’t the best foul shooter.” Sanders: “We would have mangled Wilt”, who was only 5 of 13 from the line that night. So Schayes decided to go to Option 2. Greer would inbound the ball deep to Walker outside. Kerr would set a pick on K.C. Jones at the baseline. Greer would slip in behind the screen, take a return pass from Walker and put up a quick one-hander form the corner.”
“As Chamberlain and Russell jousted for positon beneath the basket, Greer hesitated before finally lobbing the ball toward Walker about 25 feet away….”He was being harassed”, Schayes recalled, “The moment the ball left his hands, I knew it was gone. I knew it was going to be grabbed.” Greer: “I didn’t put enough on the ball. That’s all there is to it. I just didn’t put enough on it.” John Havlicek: “I knew he had 5 seconds to inbound so I started counting 1,001, 1,002, 1,003. Usually something happens by then. So by 1003 ½ I started to peek a little more. Havlicek turned his head in time to see the ball arching toward Walker. Hondo coiled, leaped into the air and….”
Johnny Most:
1965 Eastern Finals: "Havlicek Stole the Ball"
Here’s a mini-documentary on the end of that game:
Havlicek Stole the Ball – 50 Year Anniversary
The Celtics then faced a cripple Laker team in anti-climactic final, winning 5 games. But Jerry provided something to chewer for. His fellow Lakers superstar, Elgin Baylor, had had a devastating knee injury in the first round of the plays against Baltimore and was never really the same player again. Jerry put the tram on his back and scored 49, 52, 44, 48, 43 and 42 points to get his team past the Bullets. He then scored 26, 45, 43, 37 and 33 points against the Celtics. It wasn’t enough but that came to a 40.6 average for the playoffs with the defense fully concentrating on him. Fred Schaus, the Laker’s coach: “K. C. Jones used to tackle West rather than letting him get off a jump shot.” Even Wilt had never scored that month per game in the playoffs and he was getting almost all his points in the paint against smaller men. Jerry at 6-3 had no big size advantage and had to score from wherever he could get a shot off. It was the beginning of his transformation from a well-respected player to a legend and the model for the NBA’s logo.
1965-66
For 1965-66, the Sixers would have Wilt Chamberlain for the whole season and the co-ordination with his teammates began to fall into place. They signed Wilt to the first $100,000 contract in NBA history, whereupon the Red Auerbach singed Bill Russell to a contract for $100,001, (which Bill had demanded). Boston took the early lead in the standings and kept it until March, when the two teams met in a home and home series. The Sixers swept both games, 102-85 at home and 113-110 in Boston, and won 18 of their last 21, including 11 in a row to end the regular seasons. They dethroned the Celtics as the eastern regular season champions by a game, 55-25 to 54-26, ending a stretch of 9 straight seasons in which the Boston had been atop the eastern standings. This got Philadelphia a bye during which the sat and watched the Celtics won a tough 5 game series form the third place Royals after losing 2 of the first 3.
Everybody braced for another great series between the Sixers and Celtics but Philadelphia’s mojo had evaporated in that idle week while the Celtics were revved up by their comeback against the Royals (It’s why I’ve always hated byes: they often work to the disadvantage of the idle team). The Celtics won the first game in Philadelphia by 19, then routed them by 21 in Boston. The Sixers pulled together for a 12 point in Philly , then lost a tough 110-114 overtime game in Beantown. The Celtics polished off their rivals 120-112 in the Philadelphia to advance to the finals for the 10th straight year. There they faced a determined Laker team that was sick of losing to the Celtics. They beat the Celtics in overtime at the Boston Garden 133-129. West had 41 and a suddenly rejuvenated Baylor, (who had averaged only 16.6ppg during the year: Elgin said he was at best 75% of the player he had been before his injury), added 36.
It was at this time that Auerbach chose to make an announcement of something he’d already decided: he was going to retire as coach and that their new coach for the 1966-67 season would be Bill Russell, making him the first black coach of major league franchise in any North American sport. From the Illustrated History of Basketball by Larry Fox: “it was a master stroke. Russell, like Auerbach, was getting weary. The schedule never seemed to end. The road trips ran one into the other in an endless succession of airports and hotel rooms. Russell was thinking of quitting, too, so Auerbach decided to give his aging star new incentive. Many times Bill had handled the team in workouts when Auerbach’s duties as general manager had prevented him from being present. He had also served as coach in games when Auerbach was banished from the floor by the officials. Auerbach knew Russell as an astute basketball mind and, more important, as the acknowledged team leader.”
Boston roared back with 3 straight wins but the Lakers answered them with two wins of their own, the first featuring a throw-back game by Elgin Baylor, who scored 41 points, setting up a dramatic seventh game back in the Garden. “Auerbach took note of the emotions surrounding his last game as Celtic coach but, typically, his approach was ultra-professional. He reminded his players of the monetary difference between winning and losing. “I want you to win this one for you, not for me.”, he told them.”
“The Celtics roared onto the court to do just that. They scored the first ten points of the game against the stunned Lakers and led by as many as nineteen points in the opening minute of the second half. Going into the final quarter, the score was 76-60 but the Lakers hadn’t gotten as far as they had by quitting. With four minutes left the Boston lead was down to 13 points, then to 7. The Celtics led by 8 in the final minute, then Russell scored to make it 10. Only sixteen seconds remained when Jerry West hit a jump shot to cut the margin to 8 again but now Auerbach knew there was an insurmountable ally on his side – the clock.”
“For years, Auerbach, had enjoyed the habit of lighting up a ‘victory cigar’ on the bench whenever another Celtic triumph was assured. The gesture infuriated his opponents, which was the general idea. The league office didn’t like it, either., which was even better. And so, with 16 seconds to go, Auerbach stuck the long cigar in his mouth and John Volpe, the Governor of Massachusetts gave him a light. Although the Lakers managed to close to two points at the buzzer, Auerbach didn’t miss a puff.”
Actually, the Lakers closed to within 93-95 with 4 seconds left – just one fewer than the Sixer had had the year before - and the Boston fans rushed the court. Per “The NBA Finals, a 50 year Celebration” by Roland Lazenby, “The fans always rushed the floor to celebrate a Boston championship. The earlier the better, it seemed. The ’66 celebration was both pre-mature and out of hand. Russell, who had played with a broken foot and had still gotten32 rebounds, was knocked down. Orange Juice containers on the Boston bench were spilled across the floor and Satch Sanders lost his shirt to the crowd. Somehow, K. C. Jones got the inbounds pass to Havlicek, who dribbled out the clock for the championship….Schaus later said that he would have loved to have been able to shove that victory cigar down Auerbach’s throat. “W came awfully close to putting that thing out.”
“The Picture History of the Boston Celtics” has two shots from the wild final moments. Auerbach, clenching his cigar in his teeth, is surrounded by fans as a policeman gets shoved out of the way. One smiling fan has his hands about Red’s neck. The other is of the final inbounds play, with Jones having just inbounded the ball from a narrow crevice made in the hoard of fans for that purpose. He looks like a golfer who hit is drive into the crown and now has to hit a shot through a narrow corridor of people. The court is surrounded by several layers of fans just about to re-storm the court when the final buzzer sounds. The picture clearly shows that Sam Jones inbounded the ball to KC, who must have gotten the ball to Havlicek a moment alter.
That volume says that the crowd was a problem even before they stormed the court: ”I never came closer to disaster” Auerbach would note later. The sight of Auerbach lighting up ignited the crowd and it went wild now, surging onto the court the court.” Johnny Most: “Havlicek called time out because he couldn’t get the ball in play. The crowd has surged down the end line. They can’t finish the ball game. They can’t get the ball in play. The crowd in its delirium and joy has thrown things onto the court. Red Auerbach is being mobbed by fans…officials are asking the crowd to please pull back. The crowd wants to get these guys and hug ‘em. …Auerbach has implored the crowd to step back and let them get the ball in play. I have never seen anything like this. The fans are on the supports of the baskets.”
“Shooed back by John Havlicek, Sam Jones and other Celtic players, spectators still crowded around the Celtic Bench and, at times Auerbach had to jump up to see over their heads. What he saw, unbelievably, was Celtic turnovers – four of them as the Boston lead dwindled to 95-91 with six seconds to go as Laker Leroy Ellis, (LeRon’s Daddy) took a jump shot. “It’s good!” Most screamed. Four seconds left and the lead is down to two points. Ellis’ basket pulled the plug on crowd noise and an eerie hush fell over the Garden.” This book does not say the court storming came at this point. Johnny most: “ K.C. with the ball gets surrounded. One second. That’s it. It’s all over! Havlicek got the pass and he gets mobbed! It’s all over!” At this point, “Auerbach was hoisted onto shoulders amid a sea of bobbing heads and transported to the Celtic locker room for the traditional dunking in the showers. “I feel drunk and I haven’t even had a drink.” It was their eight straight championship, still the all-time record in major league professional sports and likely to remain so, and their 9th in 10 years.
The truth can be seen here:
Lakers vs Celtics 1966 NBA Finals Game 7 Highlights – April 28th, 1966
There doesn’t seem to have been any premature storming.
1966-67
The disappointing performance of the 76ers in the 1966 eastern cost Dolph Schayes his job. The new coach was Alex Hannum, who in San Francisco had gotten Wilt to start thinking in terms of defense, and making his teammates better, in other words playing more like Bill Russell. The Big Dipper responded with his worst scoring season to date (24.1 – still 5th in the league and far above Russell’s 13.3)) but led the league in rebound by a wide margin (24.3 to 21.3 for Nate Thurmond and 21.0 for Russell) and was 3rd in assists (7.8: Russell had 5.8). Blocked shots were not kept track of yet but Wilt started learning to tip those shots to his teammates rather than dramatically rocket them out of bounds. The team scored 125.2 points per game, second all-time to the 1961-62 Warriors who scored 125.4. That was the year Wilt scored 50.4 per game. The 1967 team scored virtually as much with Wilt scoring 24.1 per game. And they only gave up 115.8 ppg, compared to 122.7 in 1962. The Sixers 9.4 margin of victory was higher than any previous team.
His teammates included Hal “High Gear” Greer, who averaged 22ppg, Chet Walker, who averaged 19, rookie Billy Cunningham, who averaged 18, guard Wally Jones, who averaged 13 and big Luke Jackson, who averaged 12 and 9 rebounds a game. Everybody on the team was peaking at the right time.
The result has an historical season. The Sixers won 45 of their first 49 games on their way to the best record in NBA history to that point, 68-13. They beat the Celtics out by 8 games even though Boston, under Bill Russell’s guidance, improved to 60-21 and beat the Sixers 5 times in 9 games. Meanwhile, out west, the Warriors had rebuilt around Rick Barry, who broke Chamberlain’s personal streak of 7 consecutive league scoring titles with 35.6ppgg. Ex-Celtic Bill Sharman was their coach. They won the west with a modest 44-37 record. The NBA had added a tenth team, a third attempt to get something going in Chicago. This one was called the Bulls and their first coach was the old Syracuse Nat, Johnny Kerr. It meant that there would be no more byes in the playoffs. The top four teams in each division would make it, (that’s 80% of the league).
The Sixers lost their opening playoff game at home to Cincinnati 116-120, which must have caused some grumbling. But the Sixers hut the door on the Royals, winning by 21, 15 and 18 points. Then they crunched the Celtics in the opener of that series, 127-113. They overcame early Celtic leads to win the next two games 107-102 and 115-104, wearing down the old champs. The proud Celts rose up to win game four in Boston 121-117 but they were no match for the Sixers in the finale losing 140-116, in a game that really seemed to be the passing of the torch from one dynasty to another. Wilt had 29 points, 36 rebounds and 13 assists in the final game. Bill had 4-21-7. Bill entered the Sixers locker room after the game, walked up to Wilt, grasped his hand and said “Great”. Wilt responded “Right” and Bill left. That’s all they needed. Russell told reporters: The best way to be a good loser is to shut up.”
The mighty Sixers then took on the feisty Warriors for the title. The built up a big lead in the first game in Philly before a less than capacity crowd, (Hey! We beat the Celtics – aren’t we already the champs?). But they lost all of it and almost the game in regulation. Chamberlain blocked a shot by Thurmond at the end of regulation. Nate thought he was fouled but didn’t get the call and Philadelphia won 141-135 in overtime. The crushed the Warriors 126-95 in game two, also in Philadelphia. The Warriors won 130-124 in San Francisco thanks to a 55 point explosion by Barry. Per “The NBA Finals: A Fifty Year Celebration”: “Hannum through, wasn’t worried. The Warriors had worked to get 20 and 25 foot shots . he didn’t think they could win the series that wat.” They didn’t. Barry got 43 in the next game but Hal Freer scored 38 and Chet Walker 33 in a 122-106 win where Philly won every quarter. Back in Philadelphia, Barry scored 26 in the first half but the Sixers still led 96-84 going into a fourth quarter in which they shot 3 for 17 and somehow lost 109-117.
But they found the basket in San Francisco and closed out the series there with a 125-122 win. “the first quarter was a 43-41 shoot-out. The Warriors owned a 102-86 lead at the end of three. The score was 106-102 when the rookie (Matt, whose namesake father was on the 1947 Philadelphia Warrior team that won the first BAA title), Goukas came in, hit a 20 footer, then followed with a driving lay-up. There, he was knocked into a basket support and out of the game. But his two buckets had fired the turn-around. “Gook!...Gook!...The Rook showed us how!”, Chamberlain would crow afterward in the locker room.” The Sixers clamped down on defense and held the Warriors to 19 fourth quarter points. Cunningham scored 13 himself to lead his team to victory. Barry scored 44 but couldn’t overcome the Philadelphia’s balance as six Sixers scored in double figures and Goukas had 9 points before knocking himself out.
I remember I had rooted for them and Wilt to finally beat out Russell and the Celtics for what seemed to a child to be forever and it had finally happened.
1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers - World Champions
But the Bismarck was still afloat.
