Kareem's toughest players he played against...

[Spaulding]

Kareem was in Ohio today doing a book signing. Friend of a friend was there and he asked Kareem who his toughest opponent was...

"Oscar Roberston and Larry Bird"

Just thought some of y'all would find it interesting.

[Solidape]

Kareem was in Ohio today doing a book signing. He asked Kareem who his toughest opponent was...

"Oscar Roberston and Larry Bird"

Just thought some of y'all would find it interesting.


Was hoping he'd mention another center that he played against, not like he played man on Oscar or bird?

[Spaulding]

Was hoping he'd mention another's center that he played against, not like he played man on Oscar or bird?

Exactly, I said the same exact thing. Specify what centers were the toughest he played against.

[AirFederer]

No Wilt?

Oh snap.

https://i.imgflip.com/qordx.gif

[Asukal]

No Wilt?

Oh snap.

https://i.imgflip.com/qordx.gif

How is it tough to play against a choker? Specially THE GOAT choker. :oldlol:

[LAZERUSS]

How is it tough to play against a choker? Specially THE GOAT choker. :oldlol:

In their four years in the league together Chamberlain took his team to three Finals, while KAJ went to one.

Interesting too that in their '70 season, a one-legged Wilt took his 46-36 team to the Finals, where they lost a game seven to the Knicks, while Kareem's 56-26 Bucks were annihilated by that same Knicks team in the ECF's, 4-1...which included a series clinching 132-96 loss.

In fact, the only time Kareem's Bucks went further than Wilt's Lakers was when Chamberlain was missing his two best teammates, West and Baylor. And in that series, an old Wilt, only a year removed from major knee surgery, matched a peak Kareem score-for-score, and basically outplayed Kareem in three of the five games. Oh, and BTW, in the last minute of the series clinching loss to the Bucks, Chamberlain received a standing ovation...and the game was played in Milwaukee.

The following season, the two teams again met in the WCF's, and this time it was Wilt's Lakers beating Kareem's Bucks in six games. And while a peak Kareem, in his greatest statistical season, outscored Chamberlain, by virtually every account, a 35 year old Wilt outplayed Kareem. In fact Time Magazine went so far as to claim that Chamberlain DECISIVELY outplayed Kareem. Why? Because a peak Kareem couldn't hit a shot to save his life in the last four games of that series, going .414...many of them blocked by Chamberlain.

Oh, and in those two series clinching games in '71 and '72, Wilt outshot Kareem from the floor by a .545 (18-33) to .383 (23-60) margin.

So the so-called "GOAT Choker" was "outchoked" by a player that ESPN ranked #2 on their all-time list.

Interesting too, that a prime KAJ, in his first ten seasons, won ONE ring...going to only TWO Finals (including being outplayed by Cowens in a game seven blowout loss on his home court.) In between, he led his 53-29 Bucks to a sweeping loss to Walton's 49-33 Blazers in the '77 WCF's; was routed two years in a row by Sonics' teams that had one borderline HOF player (and KAJ's teams had Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, and Adrian Dantley); was eliminated in the first round twice...including taking his 60-22 Bucks down the toilet against Nate Thurmond's 47-35 Warriors, in a series in which KAJ shot 4-2; (oh, and BTW, Chamberlain and his 60-22 Lakers dominated Nate and that Warriors team in the very next round, in a 4-1 series blowout); and then completely missed the playoffs twice right in the middle of the decade with two different teams.

How did KAJ end up winning six rings? The answer was simple...it was MAGIC.

[LAZERUSS]

Kareem was in Ohio today doing a book signing. Friend of a friend was there and he asked Kareem who his toughest opponent was...

"Oscar Roberston and Larry Bird"

Just thought some of y'all would find it interesting.

To answer your question...

Clearly it was Moses Malone, who just butchered Kareem in the vast majority of their 40 career H2H games...including the post-season, where he went 6-1 against him, and basically annihilated him in both series.

Then it was Nate Thurmond. In his 35 career H2H's against a full-time (and fading) Nate...Kareem shot,...get this... .447 from the floor against him. In fact, in KAJ's greatest season, 71-72, in the first round of the playoffs that year, he was outscored by Thurmond, 25-22 ppg; and outshot by Nate, .437 to...get this... .405.

Of course, he only faced a near-prime Wilt for one game. In that game, Chamberlain outscored, outrebounded, out-assisted, outblocked, and badly out shot Kareem from the floor. Unfortunately, Chamberlain would shred his knee shortly thereafter, and was never the same offensive force again. Still, in their 28 career H2H's, Chamberlain held a peak Kareem to an overall .464 mark from the floor...including .434 in their last ten straight games.

One more player who gave Kareem fits was Bob McAdoo, who routinely outscored Kareem, and in fact put up a 45 point game against him...including making 17 straight shots at one point.


BTW, a 38-39 year old Kareem averaged 32 ppg on a .630 FG% against a 23-24 Hakeem in their ten straight matchups in the '85 and '86 seasons. Which included three games of 40, 43, and 46 (and in only 37 minutes, and on 21-30 shooting.) It was so bad that the Rockets coach would move Ralph Sampson onto Kareem in the WCF's that year. And overall, a 38-41 KAJ outscored a 23-26 Hakeem, and outshot him by a .607 to .512 in their 23 career H2H's.

[LAZERUSS]

No Wilt?

Oh snap.

https://i.imgflip.com/qordx.gif

Too bad we never witnessed a prime Wilt vs a prime KAJ. The closest we had was in Kareem's rookie season, when a 33 year old Chamberlain outscored him, 25-23; outrebounded him, 25-20; outassisted him, 5-2; outblocked him 3-2 (including two "unblockable" sky hooks); and outshot him from the floor, 9-14 to 9-21. Chamberlain suffered a knee injury shortly thereafter and was never the same offensive force again.

What we do know, however, is that a prime Chamberlain was FAR more dominant against the SAME centers that a peak Kareem would face just a few years later. And we also know that Kareem played four years in the Wilt era, and never sniffed the many records that Chamberlain established...a Wilt who was still setting records even into his last season.

[Psileas]

No Wilt?

Oh snap.

No Jordan, either.

[feyki]

When was Kareem played against Oscar ?

If that word about 3-5 season games , Kareem is Oscartard :D .

[FillJackson]

No Jordan, either.
never really faced jordan in the playoffs though

[Jasper]

He was referring to toughest minded players.

As centers would go :
Tree Rawlings
Wes Unseld
Wilt
Dave Cowens
Robert Parrish

[Pushxx]

Jlauber all butthurt with his essays. Just relax.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Like how people are answering the very directed question of toughest opponents he played against.

[Out_In_Utah]

Jlauber all butthurt with his essays. Just relax.
Is Lazeruss Jlauber?

[LAZERUSS]

No Wilt?

Oh snap.

https://i.imgflip.com/qordx.gif

How about this...

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2011/05/kareem-abdul-jabbar-questions-scottie-pippens-argument-that-lebron-james-may-be-the-greatest-player-.html

[QUOTE]
So without further ado, here is Abdul-Jabbar's open letter to Pippen, which was recently obtained by The Times:


How Soon They Forget: An Open Letter to Scottie Pippen

Dear Scottie,

I have nothing but respect for you my friend as an athlete and knowledgeable basketball mind. But you are way off in your assessment of who is the greatest player of all time and the greatest scorer of all time. Your comments are off because of your limited perspective. You obviously never saw Wilt Chamberlain play who undoubtedly was the greatest scorer this game has ever known. When did MJ ever average 50.4 points per game plus 25.7 rebounds? (Wilt in the 1962 season when blocked shot statistics were not kept). We will never accurately know how many shots Wilt blocked. Oh, by the way in 1967 and 68, Wilt was a league leader in assists. Did MJ ever score 100 points in a game? How many times did MJ score more than 60 points in a game? MJ led the league in scoring in consecutive seasons for 10 years but he did this in an NBA that eventually expanded into 30 teams vs. when Wilt played and there were only 8 teams.



Every team had the opportunity to amass a solid nucleus. Only the cream of the basketball world got to play then. So MJ has to be appraised in perspective. His incredible athletic ability, charisma and leadership on the court helped to make basketball popular around the world -- no question about that. But in terms of greatness, MJ has to take a backseat to The Stilt.

In terms of winning, Michael excelled as both an emotional and scoring leader but Bill Russell

[Psileas]

never really faced jordan in the playoffs though

Neither did he face Oscar. As a matter of fact, they only were opponents for a single season.

[Deuce Bigalow]

3 replies to that one post..really got you huh mane :(

[Pushxx]

Is Lazeruss Jlauber?

Yeah. Doesn't get talked about much since people ignore many of his rants/posts in inappropriate threads (ala 3ball).

At least he's not intro forum gimmicks and drama anymore, so his posts are less argumentative and annoying.

[Gileraracer]

Imagine Wilt today, not playing against a league of smurfs.

15ppg 10rpg guy at best

[feyki]

Imagine Wilt today, not playing against a league of smurfs.

15ppg 10rpg guy at best

Don't you get bored with same trolling thousand times .

[SpanishACB]

He was referring to toughest minded players.

As centers would go :
Tree Rawlings
Wes Unseld
Wilt
Dave Cowens
Robert Parrish

this, can't believe people are that dumb

going by the two players he mention he's clearly referring to toughness in character/personality/drive/will to win, whatever have you

[LAZERUSS]

Imagine Wilt today, not playing against a league of smurfs.

15ppg 10rpg guy at best

If the 6-9 1/2 Demarcus Cousins can put up a 27.3 ppg, on .464 shooting, and in only 34.5 mpg; and if the 6-9 1/2 Andre Drummond can average 15.0 rpg, and in only 33.5 mpg; and if the 6-9 1/2 DeAndre Jordan can shoot as high as .710; and if the 6-10 1/2 former D-Leaguer Hassan Whiteside can block 3.9 bpg, and in only 28.7 mpg...in THIS era...

I don't need to imagine at all. A prime Chamberlain, playing a below normal 42 mpg... easily a 33-18-5-6 guy, on .600 shooting, and winning a DPOY in the process.

[mr4speed]

How about this...

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2011/05/kareem-abdul-jabbar-questions-scottie-pippens-argument-that-lebron-james-may-be-the-greatest-player-.html
Thank you for sharing that letter! Never saw it before. Sometimes it is what others say that can really show the talent about someone instead of somebody beating their own drum.

[LAZERUSS]

CavsFTW has a brilliant video on the KAJ-Wilt battles. Mind you, this was a peak Kareem going up against a 34-36 year old Wilt, way-past-his-prime, and on a surgically repaired knee...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2U4JSrpO78

A real life Rocky vs Drago match-up.

BTW, the once seemingly invincible Kareem was never the same after the '72 WCF's...

[LAZERUSS]

Thank you for sharing that letter! Never saw it before. Sometimes it is what others say that can really show the talent about someone instead of somebody beating their own drum.

I was actually surprised by it myself. The two were not on speaking terms for many years.

I will say that Kareem is one of the brightest minds in the history of basketball. I have always felt that a motivated Abdul-Jabbar was on the level of a Chamberlain. Problem was, he just couldn't stay motivated for many years...until Magic arrived.