Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3058047, member: 289"]
This.

The game started out as a team exercise, with players going through routines like the "weave" to get the ball into the basket. Then as star players emerged, the idea was to get yourself a star. Teams that didn't have one couldn't keep up. If the the other team had one, could your star outscore him? Or you could get yourself a second star, in rare cases a third star. But the game was mostly a half court game. Along came Russell. Auerbach, who had had some success with high scoring teams but never won a championship, realized that his star was never going to be a great scorer but he could be an awesome defensive force and rebounder. He completely re-tooled his team to start everything with defense, rebound the ball, (if you didn't steal it) beat the opposition down court and hit the open man. The Celtics ran everyone off the court, becoming both the best defensive and highest scoring team in the league at the same time and won 11 championships in 13 years, the greatest stretch any professional sports team has ever had. If Russell hadn't turned his ankle prior to the 7th game of the 1958 championship series, the Celtics would have won 10 straight NBA championships!.

Every great NBA team since has played some version of what the Celtics did. And they played that way because of Russell. That's the biggest change in the history of the game.
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?