pudman13
10-23-2015, 02:13 PM
Since the whole game has recently been posted on youtube (previous posts left out at least a quarter's worth), here are some of my thoughts on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pxZixyB56s
--First and foremost, this is exhibit A in why I think the 3-pointer has ruined the game. Basically every single exciting play here would never happen today--people would try 3-pointers instead.
--Also, in comparison to today's game...it's not true at all to suggest that dunking wasn't common in this era or even the 60s. If you watch the 1975 finals, for example, there are dunks galore. But the Boston Celtics won this 1976 championship without dunking once in the entire final series. It's not that they couldn't: Dave Cowens and Charlie Scott were world class dunkers, and I've seen game footage of Havlicek, Don Nelson and Paul Silas dunking too. It's almost as if they purposely chose not to. In one game, Scott steals the ball and goes in by himself and instead of dunking, lays it softly over the front rim, Walt Frazier-style. Too cool to dunk! (FYI: Phoenix dunks twice in this game...Ricky Sobers and Gar Heard. Also, Paul Westphal, a guard, dunked more than anyone else in the NBA during this time period. He doesn't here, but more about him and his crazy jumping ability in a moment.)
--John Havlicek was 36 and playing with an injury and still manages to outrun everybody in this game. Nobody in the history of the game moved better without the ball than him. After not starting the previous games in this series, due to that injury, he comes in here and owns the first quarter, helping the Celtics take a 22 point lead. Also---his shot that should have won the game is one of the nuttiest I've ever seen...what's the degree of difficulty on that one? Wow!!
--If Havlicek isn't the most athletic player out there, it's Westphal. He plays like 60 minutes and twists his ankle, yet in overtime he still manages to make a basket off of a full 360, makes crazy layups and steals every ball in sight. He was out of his mind and almost won this game for Phoenix by himself.
--Jo Jo White...balls of steel. Look at him calmly make that free throw at the end of the second overtime. Talk about cool. And then he makes basket after basket in the overtimes, even while tired enough that at one point he sits down on the floor to catch his breath.
--I love Rick Barry as an announcer. He's really smart, but SOOOO critical! Remember that he's only a year away from being finals MVP, as the Warriors won in 1975, and he's clearly not happy about Phoenix beating his team in the semifinals here. Still...he loves watching. At one point he says that the two-overtime game in the 1974 finals between the Bucks and Celtics was the best game he ever saw. By the end of this game it had been overtaken. My favorite moment is when Brent Musberger says he'd pick nobody over Havlicek to take a big free throw in an important game and Barry bristles over the choice (I'd have taken Barry for sure!!) Havlicek then misses.
--What can be said about Gar Heard's shot? Listening to Barry and Musberger go crazy is just the best. It never would have happened in a game where a 3-pointer was an option.
--The purposeful technical--that's at a football level of bizarre strategy. I love it!!
--Cowens is the toughest guy ever. He's a 6'9" center but he outrebounded all of the bigger guys in the 70s: Kareem, Bob Lanier, Walton, Elvin Hayes, Sam Lacey, etc...
--Alvan Adams was also a 6' 9" center. He and Cowens are two of the most skilled centers I've ever seen. They both shoot lights out from outside and pass like guards. An absolute pleasure to watch.
--The entire Celtics team were all between 6'3" and 6'9"!!!
--They say that overtime makes heroes out of nobodies. Boston's Glenn McDonald scored 6 straight points in the third overtime.
--All five Boston starts had been all stars within the last couple of years. Weak bench, though.
--Watch Don Nelson take free throws. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Yet all of them in this game went in.
--Isn't it weird to see a white Celtic wearing #33 and then realize it's Steve Kuberski???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pxZixyB56s
--First and foremost, this is exhibit A in why I think the 3-pointer has ruined the game. Basically every single exciting play here would never happen today--people would try 3-pointers instead.
--Also, in comparison to today's game...it's not true at all to suggest that dunking wasn't common in this era or even the 60s. If you watch the 1975 finals, for example, there are dunks galore. But the Boston Celtics won this 1976 championship without dunking once in the entire final series. It's not that they couldn't: Dave Cowens and Charlie Scott were world class dunkers, and I've seen game footage of Havlicek, Don Nelson and Paul Silas dunking too. It's almost as if they purposely chose not to. In one game, Scott steals the ball and goes in by himself and instead of dunking, lays it softly over the front rim, Walt Frazier-style. Too cool to dunk! (FYI: Phoenix dunks twice in this game...Ricky Sobers and Gar Heard. Also, Paul Westphal, a guard, dunked more than anyone else in the NBA during this time period. He doesn't here, but more about him and his crazy jumping ability in a moment.)
--John Havlicek was 36 and playing with an injury and still manages to outrun everybody in this game. Nobody in the history of the game moved better without the ball than him. After not starting the previous games in this series, due to that injury, he comes in here and owns the first quarter, helping the Celtics take a 22 point lead. Also---his shot that should have won the game is one of the nuttiest I've ever seen...what's the degree of difficulty on that one? Wow!!
--If Havlicek isn't the most athletic player out there, it's Westphal. He plays like 60 minutes and twists his ankle, yet in overtime he still manages to make a basket off of a full 360, makes crazy layups and steals every ball in sight. He was out of his mind and almost won this game for Phoenix by himself.
--Jo Jo White...balls of steel. Look at him calmly make that free throw at the end of the second overtime. Talk about cool. And then he makes basket after basket in the overtimes, even while tired enough that at one point he sits down on the floor to catch his breath.
--I love Rick Barry as an announcer. He's really smart, but SOOOO critical! Remember that he's only a year away from being finals MVP, as the Warriors won in 1975, and he's clearly not happy about Phoenix beating his team in the semifinals here. Still...he loves watching. At one point he says that the two-overtime game in the 1974 finals between the Bucks and Celtics was the best game he ever saw. By the end of this game it had been overtaken. My favorite moment is when Brent Musberger says he'd pick nobody over Havlicek to take a big free throw in an important game and Barry bristles over the choice (I'd have taken Barry for sure!!) Havlicek then misses.
--What can be said about Gar Heard's shot? Listening to Barry and Musberger go crazy is just the best. It never would have happened in a game where a 3-pointer was an option.
--The purposeful technical--that's at a football level of bizarre strategy. I love it!!
--Cowens is the toughest guy ever. He's a 6'9" center but he outrebounded all of the bigger guys in the 70s: Kareem, Bob Lanier, Walton, Elvin Hayes, Sam Lacey, etc...
--Alvan Adams was also a 6' 9" center. He and Cowens are two of the most skilled centers I've ever seen. They both shoot lights out from outside and pass like guards. An absolute pleasure to watch.
--The entire Celtics team were all between 6'3" and 6'9"!!!
--They say that overtime makes heroes out of nobodies. Boston's Glenn McDonald scored 6 straight points in the third overtime.
--All five Boston starts had been all stars within the last couple of years. Weak bench, though.
--Watch Don Nelson take free throws. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Yet all of them in this game went in.
--Isn't it weird to see a white Celtic wearing #33 and then realize it's Steve Kuberski???