1962 EDF Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia Warriors coverage:

[CavaliersFTW]

Game 1:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196203240BOS.html
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-KsvT9VBineQ/VR4iK_ZbYWI/AAAAAAAAF8o/1yfOBpysNUY/s800/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G1%2 5201962.jpg

Game 2:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196203270PHW.html
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KCZ-deA857g/VR4pqaDm1GI/AAAAAAAAF9g/I54vVWH5cXA/s0/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G2%2 528v2%2529%25201962.jpg

Game 3:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196203280BOS.html
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jVuaN6jqem4/VR4HqG3z0gI/AAAAAAAAF68/wJdY4HmLJNs/s509/G3%25201962.png

Game 4:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196203310PHW.html
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mG221KdCrGs/VR4HlfCab2I/AAAAAAAAF6k/V_S_Pu2gX4k/s728/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G4%2 5201962.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Z7ux84Bf4II/VR4TidQ91oI/AAAAAAAAF78/o5AIuhWZ1ak/s1280/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G4%2 528detailing%2520wilt%2520rebound%2520record%2520a nd%2520clutch%2529%25201962.jpg

Game 5:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196204010BOS.html
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6fumA6nx3K8/VR4Thw0u41I/AAAAAAAAF7w/PSyNdLwUxF8/s646/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G5%2 528detailingfights%2529%25201962.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jhIVcTyxx7I/VR4eKyWXy-I/AAAAAAAAF8Q/t8S3d21957M/s800/G5%25201962.png

Game 6:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196204030PHW.html
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A6djH-HtqL0/VR4ThxYlWHI/AAAAAAAAF74/lLwd-KWe85c/s800/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G6%2 5201962.jpg


Game 7:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196204050BOS.html
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HNGlBHf1giI/VR4H0zebcoI/AAAAAAAAF7M/ZfhatEZNhnM/s493/G7%25201962.png
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9YcunEFegiY/VR4HpDsHlLI/AAAAAAAAF60/LXJujEgaxlk/s732/NBA%2520EDF%2520Warrios%2520vs%2520Boston%2520G7%2 5201962.jpg

Wilt's final two baskets with 50 seconds to go (part of his 5 point spree that tied the game after being down by 5 and would have forced the game into OT had Sam Jones not won the game with that equally clutch jump shot with half a second left) can both be seen here:
https://youtu.be/_B7jVTJ_CIE?t=20m26s
And here:
https://youtu.be/_B7jVTJ_CIE?t=55m44s
(the black and white clips)
Wilt's 7th game is described as "Outstanding" due to his team play and defensive efforts by the press, despite scoring only 22 points (A clutch 5 being in the last 50 seconds to tie the game).

Also, take note of game 2. Wilt's warriors were down by 11 points with 10 minutes to go and he scored 16 points in the fourth quarter. He ended the game with 42 points 37 rebounds.

The Celtics said it was the toughest series they'd ever been in, and it was decided by a Sam Jones shot with half a second left on the clock in game 7, a shot which Tom Mescherry has alluded to in interviews that someone who he states shall remain nameless, did not guard their man properly (..so whomever was supposed to be guarding Jones, must have let him slip free). This was not a series lost by poor play of Chamberlain as analysis of stat sheets alone might indicate. The details are much more fun to read, and paint a picture of a tough nitty gritty series, with fights, records being broken (Wilt set a rebound-half record, Celtics set a scoring half record), plenty of clutch shooting, spectacular defense (particularly by Russell for keeping Chamberlain's scoring numbers down throughout the series) and a whole lot of other great examples of highly competitive playoff basketball.

Hope you guys willing to read it will enjoy

[CavaliersFTW]

bump

[salwan]

Nice post. Repped. :applause:

How did you find those?

[CavaliersFTW]

Nice post. Repped. :applause:

How did you find those?
Google News Archives :cheers:

[CavaliersFTW]

Bump.

[LAZERUSS]

As was often the case, Russell would get credited with a "one-on-one" "win" over Wilt by simply containing him for halves, or even quarters. Chamberlain was never afforded that luxury.

For instance, the recap from game one, the writer claims that Wilt scored 33 points, but was "held" to 12 points the in first half.

The score at halftime was 50-35. Chamberlain must have pummeled Russell in the second half at BOTH ends.

Here were their game one stat-lines:

Russell: 16 points, on 7-22 FG/FGA, 2-4 FT/FTA, 30 rebounds, 4 assists.
Wilt: 33 points, on 13-25 FG/FGA, 7-12 FT/FTA, 31 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Oh, and here were their teammates collective FG%'s...

Russell's: 40-98 or .408.
Wilt's: 20-85 or .235.


The REALITY of that series...Chamberlain easily went 4-2-1 in their H2H's, and in a couple of those he just annihilated Russell. In one of them, he outscored Russell, 42-9; outrebounded Russell, 37-20; and outshot Russell from the field by a 16-31 to 4-14 margin...in a 113-106 win.

[CavaliersFTW]

As was often the case, Russell would get credited with a "one-on-one" "win" over Wilt by simply containing him for halves, or even quarters. Chamberlain was never afforded that luxury.

For instance, the recap from game one, the writer claims that Wilt scored 33 points, but was "held" to 12 points the in first half.

The score at halftime was 50-35. Chamberlain must have pummeled Russell in the second half at BOTH ends.

Here were their game one stat-lines:

Russell: 16 points, on 7-22 FG/FGA, 2-4 FT/FTA, 30 rebounds, 4 assists.
Wilt: 33 points, on 13-25 FG/FGA, 7-12 FT/FTA, 31 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Oh, and here were their teammates collective FG%'s...

Russell's: 40-98 or .408.
Wilt's: 20-85 or .235.


The REALITY of that series...Chamberlain easily went 4-2-1 in their H2H's, and in a couple of those he just annihilated Russell. In one of them, he outscored Russell, 42-9; outrebounded Russell, 37-20; and outshot Russell from the field by a 16-31 to 4-14 margin...in a 113-106 win.
Do you have their h2h stats for the entire series?

[Asukal]

Let me guess? Wilt wilted again? :rolleyes: :oldlol:

How can you let a guy 4 inches shorter than you out rebound you and hold you way down your averages? :facepalm :whatever:

Bill Russell the true 60's GOAT. :applause:

[julizaver]

Do you have their h2h stats for the entire series?


Wilt 33.6 ppg (0.468 FG/FGA and 0.641 FT/FTA), 26.9 rpg, 2.9 apg

Russell 22 ppg (0.399 FG/FGA and 0.706 FT/FTA), 25.9 rpg, 4.6 apg

[julizaver]

Let me guess? Wilt wilted again? :rolleyes: :oldlol:

How can you let a guy 4 inches shorter than you out rebound you and hold you way down your averages? :facepalm :whatever:

Bill Russell the true 60's GOAT. :applause:

Arguably the best series Russell had vs Wilt.

Russell was in his prime and the regular season MVP that season.

You should have know rebounding is not only about height (Wilt is probably 3 inches higher, but nevermind in my opinion the armspan is the more impportant measure in basketball than just the height (from toe to head). The rebounding is also about positioning, quick reflexes, lateral movement and so on.

Wilt is the true GOAT of the 60s, not Russell - Russell is one of the GOATs and greatest winners in sport history, but as it is long discussed here winning championships is a team achievments. There is no player in the history of the game who can alone singlehandily won a tittle for any team in NBA, because is not humanly possible.

[Asukal]

Arguably the best series Russell had vs Wilt.

Russell was in his prime and the regular season MVP that season.

You should have know rebounding is not only about height (Wilt is probably 3 inches higher, but nevermind in my opinion the armspan is the more impportant measure in basketball than just the height (from toe to head). The rebounding is also about positioning, quick reflexes, lateral movement and so on.

Wilt is the true GOAT of the 60s, not Russell - Russell is one of the GOATs and greatest winners in sport history, but as it is long discussed here winning championships is a team achievments. There is no player in the history of the game who can alone singlehandily won a tittle for any team in NBA, because is not humanly possible.

Wilt was dominating the regular season back in 62 was he not? (50 ppg season)

You mean to tell me Wilt, the strongest man to ever walk on an NBA court got out hustled, out boxed, out skilled by a shorter guy? That Wilt? :confusedshrug:

Reading those newspaper bits, it didn't seem to me that Wilt had nobody to rely on. A couple of games were won by the combined effort of his other teammates. :confusedshrug:

Didn't Hakeem win in 94 with nothing but role players? :rolleyes:

I love all the excuses Wilt gets and all the discredit towards Russell's efforts. :roll:

[LAZERUSS]

Wilt was dominating the regular season back in 62 was he not? (50 ppg season)

You mean to tell me Wilt, the strongest man to ever walk on an NBA court got out hustled, out boxed, out skilled by a shorter guy? That Wilt? :confusedshrug:

Reading those newspaper bits, it didn't seem to me that Wilt had nobody to rely on. A couple of games were won by the combined effort of his other teammates. :confusedshrug:

Didn't Hakeem win in 94 with nothing but role players? :rolleyes:

I love all the excuses Wilt gets and all the discredit towards Russell's efforts. :roll:

First of all, Wilt outrebounded Russell in that series...just like he did in EVERY post-season H2H series he had with Russell. And in some, he just CRUSHED Russell (margins of 5, 6, and even 9 rpg.)

Secondly, Shaq was badly outrebounded by the 6-8 Rodman in their '96 playoff H2H, and then was dominated on the glass by the 6-7 Ben Wallace in the '04 Finals.

Hakeem? Badly outrebounded by his own 6-5 teammates, Charles Barkley, in an entire playoff run.

Kareem? ROUTINELY outrebounded by his 6-8 teammate Magic Johnson in SEVERAL Finals.


As for Wilt's "help" in the '62 EDF's...they collectively shot .345 from the field in that series. And, I pointed out game one, in which Chamberlain shot .516 (Russell shot .318 BTW), while his teammates collectively shot...get this... .235 from the field.

As always, Wilt's teammates were soundly beaten, player-for-player, by better players. And yet, somehow Chamberlain single-handedly carried that rag-tag (and last place roster) to a game seven, two point loss, against a 60-20 HOF-laden Celtic team.

Next...

[LAZERUSS]

Didn't Hakeem win in 94 with nothing but role players?

:roll: :roll: :roll:

While Chamberlain's 49-31 team, the core of which was the same last place roster he inherited in his rookie season two years prior, lost a game seven by two points to a HOF-laden 60-20 Celtics team...

tell me who Hakeem's team beat in the '94 Finals...PLEASE.

His 58-24 Rockets barely beat a 56-26 Knicks team in a close seven game Finals, with Ewing and virtually nothing else. And, they were outscored in that series by the Knicks, as well. True, Hakeem outplayed Ewing, but Wilt was considerably more dominant against Russell in '62 (and even annihilated him in '65, and '67.)

[BigNBAfan]

What's worse, the falling of the Hindenburg or wilt's performance in the playoffs?

[LAZERUSS]

What's worse, the falling of the Hindenburg or wilt's performance in the playoffs?

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Some more...

What's worse...Hurricane Katrina, or Shaq being SWEPT SIX times in the playoffs?

or..

What's worse...The Battle of Big Horn...or General Bird folding his tent SEVEN times with HCA?

or...you'll love this one...

What's worse...The Hiroshima Bombing,...or Hakeem getting carpet-bombed EIGHT times in the FIRST ROUND?

Just hilarious stuff...

[Asukal]

Cavs I'm sorry for trolling your thread but old man loseruss bites everytime. This shit is too funny to pass up. :roll:

Loseruss go read the papers, Russell outplayed the supposedly otherwordly human being called Wilt in the 62 conference finals. Shutting him down from a 50 ppg season to a 33.5 ppg conference finals series. Thats a 33% loss of production from the so called MDE. And to top it all off, he scored his lowest total in the FINAL game of the series. Absolutely laughable. :roll: :lol :oldlol:

:whatever:

[julizaver]

Wilt was dominating the regular season back in 62 was he not? (50 ppg season)

He was. But his team doesn't. In fact Wilt's team was beaten 8 to 2 (and 6 in a row) in the 10 meetings during the reg. season, where Russell was available (he missed the other two due to injury) - so clearly Celtics were the better team than Warriors. And the only 2 Warriors victories were closed out games (2 and 1 points respectively). No need to post Wilt's stats as they were far superior to that of Russell.


You mean to tell me Wilt, the strongest man to ever walk on an NBA court got out hustled, out boxed, out skilled by a shorter guy? That Wilt? :confusedshrug:

If you speak in terms of rebounding - Wilt outrebounded Russell in every one of their 8 post series. So hardly outboxed. It is not a secret that Wilt was the superior player to Russell, and that's why Wilt's numbers were better than Russell's. Simple as that.


Reading those newspaper bits, it didn't seem to me that Wilt had nobody to rely on. A couple of games were won by the combined effort of his other teammates. :confusedshrug:

Of course Wilt was not playing alone and sometimes it happens a game to be won by combined effort of his other teamates. :lol


Didn't Hakeem win in 94 with nothing but role players? :rolleyes:

I remember those games - and to be honest they were ugly low scoring games, dominated by defenses. Yes, Hakeem doesn't have a star sidekick (as Drexler next year), but Rockets were very balanced team with good bench. The main difference was that instead of Thorpe and Maxwell in 1994 they had Drexler in 1995.
And especially in the deciding Game 7 of that 1994 Finals Hakeem got quite of help from his teammates (Cassell, Smith, Horry, Maxweell shooting quite well while Hakeem was 10 from 25).


I love all the excuses Wilt gets and all the discredit towards Russell's efforts. :roll:

I have never discredit Russell's efforts, as you can see in my post I wrote that probably Russell had his best series vs Wilt in 1962 EDF.

[LAZERUSS]

Cavs I'm sorry for trolling your thread but old man loseruss bites everytime. This shit is too funny to pass up. :roll:

Loseruss go read the papers, Russell outplayed the supposedly otherwordly human being called Wilt in the 62 conference finals. Shutting him down from a 50 ppg season to a 33.5 ppg conference finals series. Thats a 33% loss of production from the so called MDE. And to top it all off, he scored his lowest total in the FINAL game of the series. Absolutely laughable. :roll: :lol :oldlol:

:whatever:

Not quite my friend...

Chamberlain averaged 39.6 ppg on a .468 FG% against Russell in their 10 H2H games in the regular season. In a regular season NBA that averaged 118.8 ppg on a .426 FG%. In their seven post-season H2H's, Wilt averaged 33.6 ppg and again, on a .468 FG%..., but in a post-season NBA that averaged 112.6 ppg on a .411 FG%. Not really much of a decline at all.

As for game seven, go ahead and re-read the recaps. He dominated DEFENSIVELY. Not only that, but as ALWAYS, down the stretch he took over the game...at BOTH ends. He scored Philly's last five points, including a FT on a 3pt play, ...oh and BTW, he also went 8-9 from the LINE. He was also called for a controversial goal-tending with a minute left, and then Sam Jones hit the game-winner, over you guessed it...WILT...who seemingly had to GUARD EVERY Celtic in that series.

BTW, I won't bother looking it up now...but Jlip posted an article in which Wilt's COACH changed their offensive strategy going into that game seven. And it nearly worked. With Wilt being doubled, tripled, and swarmed, his wide-open teammates finally hit some shots. Too bad they couldn't shoot at all the rest of the series, though (collectively, they shot .345 in that series.)


And finally...

Truly laughable that you would disparage a player who averaged 33.6 ppg, and 26.9 rpg in a seven game series. A player who also shot way over the post-season FG% and TS%. And a player who, as always, dominated RUSSELL (and BTW, held Russell to a .399 FG% in that series...in a season in which Russell shot .457 against the league.)

But then, I'm sure you can give us all here a long list of GOATs who put up a 34-27 seven game series, right?

[LAZERUSS]

He was. But his team doesn't. In fact Wilt's team was beaten 8 to 2 (and 6 in a row) in the 10 meetings during the reg. season, where Russell was available (he missed the other two due to injury) - so clearly Celtics were the better team than Warriors. And the only 2 Warriors victories were closed out games (2 and 1 points respectively). No need to post Wilt's stats as they were far superior to that of Russell.



If you speak in terms of rebounding - Wilt outrebounded Russell in every one of their 8 post series. So hardly outboxed. It is not a secret that Wilt was the superior player to Russell, and that's why Wilt's numbers were better than Russell's. Simple as that.



Of course Wilt was not playing alone and sometimes it happens a game to be won by combined effort of his other teamates. :lol



I remember those games - and to be honest they were ugly low scoring games, dominated by defenses. Yes, Hakeem doesn't have a star sidekick (as Drexler next year), but Rockets were very balanced team with good bench. The main difference was that instead of Thorpe and Maxwell in 1994 they had Drexler in 1995.
And especially in the deciding Game 7 of that 1994 Finals Hakeem got quite of help from his teammates (Cassell, Smith, Horry, Maxweell shooting quite well while Hakeem was 10 from 25).



I have never discredit Russell's efforts, as you can see in my post I wrote that probably Russell had his best series vs Wilt in 1962 EDF.

:applause: :applause: :applause:

And the bottom line...

Swap rosters in that series, and it most certainly would have been Chamberlain winning that series, and then likely going on to average 45+ ppg in the Finals against the Lakers.

[CavaliersFTW]

Wilt 33.6 ppg (0.468 FG/FGA and 0.641 FT/FTA), 26.9 rpg, 2.9 apg

Russell 22 ppg (0.399 FG/FGA and 0.706 FT/FTA), 25.9 rpg, 4.6 apg
Awesome, thanks.

Are his game by game stats known, or just the series average? I'll include them in the OP if there's a source for his game by game stats, basketball reference only includes points - and only a few of those newspapers revealed some field goal attempt and rebound figures.

[LAZERUSS]

Awesome, thanks.

Are his game by game stats known, or just the series average? I'll include them in the OP if there's a source for his game by game stats, basketball reference only includes points - and only a few of those newspapers revealed some field goal attempt and rebound figures.

How about EVERY Russell-Wilt H2H?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I9jddU8eNWrI8MMOPs_0l58WnjFNADvF4iIcu0Sfz7A/edit?pli=1#gid=0

1. Russell: 16 pts, 30 rebs, 4 asts, 7-22 FG/FGA, 2-4 FT/FTA
1. Wilt: 33 pts, 31 rebs, 3 asts, 13-25 FG/FGA, 7-12 FT/FTA

2. Russell: 9 pts, 20 rebs, 6 asts, 4-14 FG/FGA, 1-2 FT/FTA
2. Wilt: 42 pts, 37 rebs, 5 asts, 16-31 FG/FGA, 10-17 FT/FTA

3. Russell: 31 pts, 31 rebs, 6 asts, 12-26 FG/FGA, 7-9 FT/FTA
3. Wilt: 35 pts, 29 rebs, 6 asts, 14-32 FG/FGA, 7-12 FT/FTA

4. Russell: 31 pts, 30 rebs, 4 asts, 11-26 FG/FGA, 9-12 FT/FGTA
4. Wilt: 41 pts, 34 rebs, 2 asts, 15-29 FG/FGA, 11-22 FT/FTA

5. Russell: 29 pts, 26 rebs, 7 asts, 10-25 FG/FGA, 9-13 FT/FTA
5. Wilt: 30 pts, 14 rebs, 0 asts, 11-27 FG/FGA, 8-10 FT/FTA

6. Russell: 19 pts, 22 rebs, 2 asts, 8-21 FG/FGA, 3-6 FT/FTA
6. Wilt: 32 pts, 21 rebs, 1 asts, 12-29 FG/FGA, 8-10 FT/FTA

7. Russell: 19 pts, 22 rebs, 3 asts, 7-14 FG/FGA, 5-5 FT/FTA
7. Wilt: 22 pts, 22 rebs, 3 asts, 7-15 FTG/FGA, 8-9 FT/FTA

BTW, nbastats.net now has many complete box-scores, from the beginning of the NBA, now, as well.

[DaRkJaWs]

I wonder if anyone who knows how to dig through the Wilt/russell stats can see how many extra rebounds Russell got as a result of playing at home? Harvey Pollack accused the the scorekeepers in Boston of inflating Russell's rebound totals, so I'd like to see if anyone would like to do a comparison between his home and away rebound totals to see just how inflated Russell's rebounds really were, on average.

[LAZERUSS]

I wonder if anyone who knows how to dig through the Wilt/russell stats can see how many extra rebounds Russell got as a result of playing at home? Harvey Pollack accused the the scorekeepers in Boston of inflating Russell's rebound totals, so I'd like to see if anyone would like to do a comparison between his home and away rebound totals to see just how inflated Russell's rebounds really were, on average.

It would have been interesting. One thing was certain...Pollack was right. He had a sportswriter (from SI I think) count their rebounds in a game with him...and the home team scorers had Russell with a considerable edge. Pollack and the writer came up with Chamberlain outrebounding Russell in that game. And for years the Boston score-keepers would not speak to Pollack.

I would assume, however, that because of Pollack, they became much more "accurate." It would also be good to know when Pollack caught them. If it was early on...then probably not a big deal. If it was in the middle of their career H2H's...well, we already KNOW that Chamberlain OWNED Russell on the glass (5 rpg differential in their 143 career H2H's)...it could only have been much worse.

[Psileas]

It would have been interesting. One thing was certain...Pollack was right. He had a sportswriter (from SI I think) count their rebounds in a game with him...and the home team scorers had Russell with a considerable edge. Pollack and the writer came up with Chamberlain outrebounding Russell in that game. And for years the Boston score-keepers would not speak to Pollack.

I would assume, however, that because of Pollack, they became much more "accurate." It would also be good to know when Pollack caught them. If it was early on...then probably not a big deal. If it was in the middle of their career H2H's...well, we already KNOW that Chamberlain OWNED Russell on the glass (5 rpg differential in their 143 career H2H's)...it could only have been much worse.

Interestingly, Pollack had provided a figure. I don't know how accurate this figure was, but, if it is and someone can find it, we might be able to check when this happened.

[LAZERUSS]

Interestingly, Pollack had provided a figure. I don't know how accurate this figure was, but, if it is and someone can find it, we might be able to check when this happened.

Maybe this will help...

http://www.nba.com/encyclopedia/pollack_wilt.html


But I decided to help Wilt in another way. So I went to a Boston-Warriors game in the Boston Garden and secretly kept track of the rebounds of both Wilt and Russell. When the game ended, I went to the press table and asked what the rebound totals were for Wilt and Russell. The response: "Russell 35, Wilt 22." My response, "Well my totals are Wilt 34, Russell 21." They sat open mouthed when I produced my evidence of the time and type of every rebound that each player had. A Sports Illustrated writer nearby heard the conversation and asked me what it was all about. I told him and the next week SI had a story about the incident. Wilt and I chuckled on reading it, but Red Auerbach didn't. For many years thereafter he didn't talk to me, but how we were reconciled is another story that doesn't concern Wilt. When Wilt was writing his book, he often called me for information. In fact, if you look at his books, you'll find me credited. He loved talking with me and most times he was the one that initiated the call. I'd love to have the money those phone calls cost him.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I9jddU8eNWrI8MMOPs_0l58WnjFNADvF4iIcu0Sfz7A/edit?pli=1#gid=0

Possibly on 3/20/1960.

[LAZERUSS]

I have never discredit Russell's efforts, as you can see in my post I wrote that probably Russell had his best series vs Wilt in 1962 EDF.

I agree. And that was the last time that Russell would be remotely close to Chamberlain again, until the '69 Finals. Even in the '68 EDF's, a crippled Wilt easily dominated Russell. And had his teammates not been wiped out by injuries in game five of that series, Wilt's margin over Russell would have been pretty damned impressive (not to mention a 4-1 series win....and likely a ring.)

24.2 ppg to 13.4 ppg.
23.0 rpg to 22.0 rpg.
.539 FG% to .415 FG%.
6.8 apg to 3.0 apg.

[julizaver]

How about EVERY Russell-Wilt H2H?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I9jddU8eNWrI8MMOPs_0l58WnjFNADvF4iIcu0Sfz7A/edit?pli=1#gid=0

BTW, nbastats.net now has many complete box-scores, from the beginning of the NBA, now, as well.

The google spreadsheet file contains more information with many shot blocking data, which is not based on estimations but on actual news archive articles.(fpiii, who create the spreadsheet provide me long time ago with administrator priviligies, so I update the file from time to time and it is keep to date with the info nbastas.net also).

[julizaver]

I wonder if anyone who knows how to dig through the Wilt/russell stats can see how many extra rebounds Russell got as a result of playing at home? Harvey Pollack accused the the scorekeepers in Boston of inflating Russell's rebound totals, so I'd like to see if anyone would like to do a comparison between his home and away rebound totals to see just how inflated Russell's rebounds really were, on average.

Yes, you can see in the above posts by Laz, that there is such story. I would add only that first Wilt was complaining about not bein credited with the rebounds he would have on the away games, and after that you can read the post of Laz.

But if we examine the data we will see that in the reg.season (1959-60) Wilt had higher rebounding numbers at Boston than in Philadelphia and the same with Russell - therefore the existing data would not help as it will show that Wilt had higher rebounding average on the away games. That said with the presumption that the game Pollack spoke is exactly the one played on 20/03/1960 (which I believe is ).

[julizaver]

I agree. And that was the last time that Russell would be remotely close to Chamberlain again, until the '69 Finals. Even in the '68 EDF's, a crippled Wilt easily dominated Russell. And had his teammates not been wiped out by injuries in game five of that series, Wilt's margin over Russell would have been pretty damned impressive (not to mention a 4-1 series win....and likely a ring.)

24.2 ppg to 13.4 ppg.
23.0 rpg to 22.0 rpg.
.539 FG% to .415 FG%.
6.8 apg to 3.0 apg.

As we could say that '62 EDF was Russell's best series vs Wilt, we could say that Wilt's '69 Finals were Wilt's worst series vs Russell.

And both times Wilt's post higher numbers and have the edge in statistics for one simple reason, individually Wilt was better than Russell. It is another story how you blend with teamates, how you play under different coaches, schemes and so on.

Russell did his job, played great defense and received the credits for his play (because his teams winning). Wilt was the better player, he outplayed Russell, but his play was downgraded because of size and he did not received the credits he deserve (becase his teams losing the games), asside from 1967. Because of his imposing figure there was a double standard for Wilt and the rest of the league, which is not fare for me because even if Wilt was big he worked and trained hard to become the athlete he was. No one is born with muscles or have athletic body by nature only.
I dont know why we shall scaled down someone performance for just bein bigger than others !? Isn't this some sort of discrimination against taller people. Do you thing it is easy to be very athletic at 7 feet ?

Could Russell average 30 ppg on 0.500 for series or out rebounded Wilt, or outplay him one on one if he made his mind about it and alter his ussual style of play, the answer is no. It was out of his basketball capabilities.
Could Wilt became defensive anchor and more of a team player, the answer is yes and he had proved it.

Again as great of a winner Russell was, he could not match Wilt one on one and he admited it himself.

[fourkicks44]

In all honesty, I forgot how good Wilt really was untill I saw this.

He would actually be better playing in today's era. That finger roll was incredible.

Against todays's defense in the NBA it would be more valuable than it was then. That was single man to man coverage. Imagine what a rare weapon it would be against the more complex defenses of the present league. That combination of skill, height and stength is also missing from the game now.

It's not just that, imagine the opportunities Wilt could create kicking the ball out to open shooters on the 3 pt line, a luxuary that was not available to him at the time or the tight man to man defense that made perimeter shooting more challenging than the current game.

There is no doubt this man could score 100 points in a game.

[julizaver]

In all honesty, I forgot how good Wilt really was untill I saw this.

He would actually be better playing in today's era. That finger roll was incredible.

Against todays's defense in the NBA it would be more valuable than it was then. That was single man to man coverage. Imagine what a rare weapon it would be against the more complex defenses of the present league. That combination of skill, height and stength is also missing from the game now.

It's not just that, imagine the opportunities Wilt could create kicking the ball out to open shooters on the 3 pt line, a luxuary that was not available to him at the time or the tight man to man defense that made perimeter shooting more challenging than the current game.

There is no doubt this man could score 100 points in a game.

Nice try.

In reality we would never know how good he will be, although I am 100% sure that player of Wilt's caliber could excel in any era. Athletically he is superior to the today bigs, which could be easily proved, so there is a big chance that he would be among the best players.