Bill Russell: 13 titles in 15 seasons (1955 - 1969)

[LAZERUSS]

64-65:

This year added two more HOF centers into the mix, rookie Willis Reed, and Nate Thurmond, who would become the Warriors full-time center after Wilt was traded at mid-season...to go along with Bellamy, Russell, and Wilt.

I mentioned that Wilt was traded at mid-season. Bill Simmons would have you believe that he was traded for "pennies on the dollar." He was actually traded for three players, two of whom were decent (Paul Neumann and Connie Dierking), AND $150,000 cash. To give you a better perspective on that cash amount, the Sixer ownership bought the entire Syracuse Nats franchise for $500,000 in 1964. And, as a side-note, the San Francisco owners bought the Warrior franchise (with Wilt) just two years earlier, for $850,000.

And Wilt was not traded because he was some selfish malcontent, either. He was battling a mysterious illness for half of that season. He missed the first six games of the year, and another in December, (and SF went 1-6 in them BTW), and had lost weight (some sources quote a lot of weight, while other claim it was only about 15 lbs.)

The Warriors' owners were also losing money. Even with Wilt, they were not drawing well at home (which was the only revenue back then...they did not split the gates.) Furthermore, their team doctors came back with shocking news about Wilt. He had heart problems! (Which is interesting, since they diagnosed him with it about 30 years sooner than anyone else.) The owners panicked. They knew that they had a problem on their hands. If Wilt was indeed in poor health, they would be paying him a sizeable sum, and possibly losing him on the court...perhaps permanently. The team was struggling even with a sick Wilt (they would go 10-27 with Chamberlain, and ultimately, 7-36 without him.)

They began shopping Wilt around the league. The Lakers, whose center slot was getting slaughtered by the likes of Russell and Wilt, were among the interested parties. However, they supposedly conducted a team vote on whether to bring Wilt in, and they supposedly voted 9-2 not to acquire him. In retrospect, that may have cost the Lakers at least a couple of rings.

Wilt finally consulted his own physician, and it was determined that he had pancreatis, and not a heart problem. The Warriors didn't take any chances, and dealt with to the Sixers.

The deal was made easier because of the fact that they could now move Thurmond, who was playing part-time, and out of position, to the center slot. Thurmond had played brilliantly in Wilt's absence in the six games that Chamberlain had missed. In those six games, Nate averaged 23.7 ppg, and in the four known rebounding games, he pulled down an average of 26.8 rpg!

Which is interesting. I have long claimed that there have been many players who hit their peaks very early in their careers. There is a long list, but players like Bellamy, McAdoo, Lanier, and even MJ and KAJ hit their statistical peaks with 1-4 years.

How about Nate? In only his second season, he started 40 games, and in those he averaged 20.9 ppg, and in the known 17 games with rebounds, he averaged a staggering 24.9 rpg. When you factor in that his career high season in scoring was 21.9 (in 43 games in '70), and full-time season (relatively, with 71 games) in '68-69 was 21.5 ppg, you could certainly argue that he was at least close to his peak by his second season in the league. True, he only shot .419 overall from the field in that season, but it must be mentioned that, aside from Wilt, Bellamy, and Jerry Lucas, that really no other relatively high scorers were approaching 50%, and in fact, were around .450 at best. To put Nate's .419 in better perspective, the NBA shot an eFG% of .426 in that 64-65 season. In Nate's best FG% season, 72-73, when he shot .446, the league eFG% was up to .456. So, overall, Nate was already close to his peak by his second season.

And how about Nate's defense? I will give the specifics later, but he dramatically reduced Reed's, Bellamy's, and even Wilt's scoring (albeit, Chamberlain still crushed him.) And offensively, he averaged over 20.0 ppg against Bellamy, Reed, and even Russell in his 64-65 H2H starts. Only Wilt held him below the 20 ppg mark.

As for rookie Reed...he was certainly not at his peak, but he was already a top notch player in that first year. As a matter of fact, he averaged 19.5 ppg on the season, but exceeded that average against Bellamy, Wilt, and even Russell. Thurmond completely shut him down, though.

Back to Wilt. In his 63-64 season, he led the Warriors to a 48-32 record. And his second best player was Tom Meschery, who would average 13 ppg. Why is that important, you ask? Because after Wilt was traded to the Sixers, the Warriors completely bottomed out. They finished 17-63, which enabled them to draft future HOFer Rick Barry. And, as already mentioned, they moved Nate to the center position, where he would become an all-time great center.

BUT, even with Barry and Nate, they could only go 35-45 in 65-66. Then, they added players like Jeff Mullins, Clyde Lee, and Fred Hetzel of that roster. In the 66-67 season, Rick Barry would have the greatest season of his career, averaging 35.6 ppg, Thurmond would also have his greatest season, with an 19-21 campaign, and in which he came in second (behind Wilt) in the MVP balloting. Meschery was now the Warriors SEVENTH best player, averaging 11 ppg. With all of that talent, the Warriors could only go 44-37. And they would get shellacked in the Finals by Wilt's 68-13 Sixers (in a series in which Chamberlain just mopped the floor with a peak Nate.)

So, Wilt, basically by himself, carried a putrid SF roster to their best record in the decade of the 60's, which was even better than the Warriors could do with a peak Barry and Nate, and with a much better supporting cast than what Wilt had in '64.

So, now on to the second part of that "trade." The "Bashers" will point to Wilt playing for a losing team in the first half of that season, but they will NEVER bring up what happened AFTER that trade. Chamberlain was once again joining a losing team. The Sixers had gone 34-46 the year before and missed the playoffs. Still, they had some talent...more than Chamberlain had had at any point with the Warriors. While they were still not a good team, they had Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Luke Jackson.

With a better supporting cast, Chamberlain's shooting dropped, and his scoring went from 38.9 ppg with the Warriors, down to 30.1 with the Sixers. And when Wilt arrived, the team chemistry went on an expected roller-coaster ride. The Sixers wound up with a 40-40 record, but they qualified for the playoffs.

From that point on Chamberlain became as unstoppable as any time in his career. He led the Sixers past Oscar's stacked 48-32 Royal team in a romp, which included a monster clinching win performance of 38 points and 26 rebounds.

Then, he single-handedly carried the Sixers to a game seven, one point loss, against Russell's 62-18 Celtics...a team at the peak of it's dynasty. In arguably the most one-sided beatdown by one HOF center to another, Chamberlain just obliterated Russell in that seven game series. Russell slightly outplayed Wilt in game three, but Wilt just waxed Russell in the other six.

Furthermore, in game seven, Chamberlain "the choker" exploded for a 30 point, 12-15 FG/FGA, 32 rebound game. Not only that, with Boston leading 110-101 and three minutes remaining, Wilt took over. He scored six of Philly's last eight points, including 2-2 from the line with 36 seconds remaining, and then a thurnderous dunk over a helpless Russell with five seconds left to draw the Sixers to within one point. The "clutch" Russell then hit a guidewire with the inbounds pass, and the Sixers had the ball under their basket with a chance to pull off perhaps the biggest upset in NBA post-season history. Alas, "Havlicek stole the ball!", and Boston escaped with a narrow win. BTW, that was just one of many big games by a Russell teammate during his 11 title runs. Even Russell admitted that Sam Jones saved Boston's season six times in their first eight rings.

Chamberlain was now almost universally accepted as the best player in the game. Beginning with the very next season, Wilt would go on to win the first of three straight MVPs (the last two were runaways BTW.) And, for the entire decade of the 60's, Chamberlain held a massive 7-2 edge in First team All-NBA selections over Russell.

Russell Vs. Wilt in 11 reg H2H's: 12.6 ppg, 22.2 rpg, 4.6 apg, .281 FG% (10 known)

Wilt vs. Russell in 11 reg H2H's: 25.4 ppg, 26.5 rpg, 4.2 apg, .473 FG%

The Chamberlain-Russell duels were continuing to become more-and-more one-sided, as well. In their 11 regular season H2H's, Chamberlain enjoyed a 10-1 scoring edge (and Russell's lone "win" was 11-8 in a game in which Wilt left injured.) Included were margins of 24-6, 31-7, and 37-16. Wilt also outrebounded Russell by an 8-3 margin, which included margins of 32-24, 26-17, 34-17, and 43-26. And again, look at Russell's known FG%... an unfathomable .281 in the known 10 of their 11 season H2H's (and in one game Russell shot an unbelievable 0-14!)!

Russell vs, Wilt in 7 EDF games:
15.6 ppg, 25.1 rpg, 6.7 apg, .447 FG%.

Russell's high point game in the EDF"s against Wilt was 22 points. His high rebounding game was 32.

Wilt vs Russell in 7 EDF's games:

30.1 ppg, 31.4 rpg, 3.3 apg, and a .555 eFG%.

Wilt outscored Russell in all 7 games, including margins of 30-15, 34-18, 30-12, 30-12, and 33-11. Chamberlain also held a 5-2 margin in rebounding H2H's in that post-season, including margins of 37-26, and 39-16.

Continuing...

[LAZERUSS]

65-66:

65-66.

Arguably only Chamberlain's very next season would rank higher all-time.

How dominant was Wilt in 65-66? He led the league in scoring, rebounding, and FG%...AND, to the best record in the league. Overall, Chamberlain led the NBA in THIRTEEN of their 23 major statistical categories, including Win Shares (and by a MILE) and PER at 28.3 (BTW...that PER sure seems low considering all he did.) And, of course, those statistical categories did not include offensive and defensive rebounding, nor TRB%, nor blocked shots...all of which Wilt would probably have run away with. BTW, Chamberlain not only led the NBA in 13 categories, but he finished in the Top-5 in four more.

But his dominance went well beyond his overall league numbers. He also just ANNIHILATED his HOF opposing centers in the process. I didn't include Reed in these numbers, simply because early in the season, the Knicks acquired Walt Bellamy, and then moved Reed to PF. Reed's numbers naturally took a big hit. His scoring fell to 15.5 ppg, his rebounding declined to 11.6 rpg, and his FG% was only .434.

Thurmond's overall numbers, as a starter, also dropped somewhat from his 64-65 season. Remember, in Nate's 40 games as a starter in 64-65, he averaged 20.9 ppg, and in his known 17 rebounding games, he was at 24.9 rpg that season. In the 65-66 season, he came in at 16.3 ppg, 18.0 rpg, and shot .406. Still, his offensive production naturally declined somewhat because of the arrival of rookie Rick Barry, who would average 25.7 ppg in that season.

Chamberlain's Sixers had the best record in the league, at 55-25, but they had to win their last 11 straight games to pass the seven-time defending champion Celtics, who finished at 54-26. And, Wilt's Sixers also held a 6-3 margin over Russell's Celtics in their nine H2H games. But, the fact remained that Boston had the best roster in the league. Their won-loss record was very deceptive simply because the core of their roster missed a ton of games. Russell missed two games, Havlicek missed nine, and Sam Jones missed 13.

Again, Wilt's Sixers went 6-3 against Boston in their nine regular season H2H's, BUT, in the EDF's, the Celtics waltzed past Philly, 4-1. The "Wilt-bashers" would blame Wilt, of course, BUT, the reality was, Wilt's playoff numbers were nearly identical to his regular season H2H numbers against Boston in that series. The reason for the Sixer collapse? Chamberlain's teammates collectively shot...get this... .352 from the field in the EDF's.

Russell vs Wilt in 9 regular season H2H's:

Russell: 9.4 ppg, 21.2 rpg, 4.9 apg, .301 FG%
Wilt: 28.3 ppg, 30.7 rpg, 4.1 apg, and .473 FG%

Just a staggering domination.

Wilt outscored Russell 8-0-1, and had scoring margins of 31-11, 27-6, 29-3, 32-8, 30-5, and 37-13.

Wilt held a 5-4 rebounding edge, but he also crushed Russell by margins of 32-22, 30-20, 36-20, 30-10, 42-21, and 40-17.

Russell vs. Wilt in 5 EDF games:

Russell: 14.0 ppg, 26.3 rpg, 5.6 pg, .424 FG%

Wilt: 28.0 ppg, 30.2 rpg, 3.0 apg .509 FG%

Wilt held a 4-1 scoring margin, including margins of 31-11, and 46-18. He also had a 4-1 rebounding advantage, including a margin of 32-18.

Continued...

[LAZERUSS]

Continuing...

66-67:

Most knowledgeable observers rank Wilt's '67 season as not only the greatest single season of his career, but many rank it as the greatest season ever, by anyone.

Chamberlain finally had an equal supporting cast to Russell, and a truly great coach in Alex Hannum. Hannum took essentially the same roster that had gone 55-25 the year before, but had leaned heavily on Wilt, and came to the conclusion that they could function better by being more balanced. And, of course, the key to that was Wilt. Hannum asked Chamberlain to become more of a facilitator, and Wilt was more than happy to comply.

The results were astonishing. The Sixers destroyed the eight-time defending champion Celtics in an early season encounter, 138-96, and then just ran away with from the league. They bolted out to a 46-4 record and then cruised home to a then NBA record of 68-13. The loaded Celtics may have fielded their finest team of the Russell-era, but they came in at a distant second with a 60-21 mark.

And while Wilt's scoring declined somewhat, his overall efficiency was just staggering. He "only" averaged 24.1 ppg, but it came on an eye-popping .683 FG% (and in an NBA that shot an eFG% of .441.) His .162 margin over the runner-up Bellamy is still an all-time record (.683 to Bellamy's .521.) And during the season he put up the three highest "perfect games" in NBA history, with games of 15-15, 16-16, and 18-18 from the field. He also set an NBA record of 35 straight made FGAs. He also had games of 11-11, 13-13, 10-11, 10-11, and 16-17 from the field, as well.

His passing was phenomenal, too. His 7.8 apg is still the second best mark of all-time by a center, training only his 67-68 season of 8.6. Included were 21 "triple doubles", and some of those were amazing. In one, he put up a 38-32-10 16-21 FG/FGA game, and in one of the greatest game's ever, he hung a 42-30-10 18-18 FG/FGA game.

Unfortunately, the NBA did not "officially" record blocked shots, so we will never know how many "quad doubles" that he had, but he did have a memorable known quad game against HOFer Nate Thurmond early in the season. In fact, it was even more amazing considering that his coach decided to abandon Wilt's facilitating at halftime because it wasn't working well. Chamberlain wound up with a 30-26-13-12 game against Nate, but he just annihilated Thurmond in the second half with a 24 point barrage.

Regarding Wilt's "decline" in scoring, he actually put up the league high game that year, with a 58 point game on 26-34 shooting from the field. He also had three more 40+ point games (41 on 16-17 shooting, 43 on 20-28 shooting, and that 42 point game on 18-18 shooting.) Rick Barry won the scoring title, with a 35.6 ppg (which BTW, was the highest full-time non-Wilt average during Wilt's 14 seasons in the league.) However, even Barry acknowledged that he (Barry) won it simply because Wilt didn't want it. Everyone in the league knew that Wilt could have easily won it had he been so inclined.

As for Wilt's HOF peers, again Reed was playing PF alongside Bellamy on the Knicks. And Reed's numbers cut into Bellamy's somewhat. Bells declined to 19.0 ppg, 13.5 rpg, and that .521 FG%.

Nate Thurmond supplanted Russell as the second best center (and player) in the league. In fact, Nate would finish a distant second to Chamberlain in the MVP voting. Thurmond had the finest season of his career (albeit, as almost always, he was injury-plagued.) He averaged 18.7 ppg, 21.3 rpg, and shot .437 from the field. However, because of Barry's shot-jacking, Nate's scoring was affected. He had already established by his second season, that, as a starter, he was capable of 20+ ppg seasons.

Thurmond's one-on-one defense was just spectacular. He would hold Bellamy to a 12.4 ppg average in their six H2H's. In fact, Nate owned Bellamy in their career H2H's. However, as great a defender as Nate was and would be throughout his career, he was helpless against a prime Wilt. Their 66-67 season would be no different...both in the regular season, and when the two met in the Finals. No other HOF center, including a peak Kareem, ever crushed Thurmond like a prime Chamberlain.

Russell was now the league's third best center, and the reality was, when Nate was healthy, Thurmond was the second best center in the league until Russell retired after the 68-69 season. Still, Russell had one of his better all-around seasons, averaging 13.3 ppg, 21.0 rpg, 5.8 apg, and on a .454 FG%.

After the Sixers steamrolled the NBA during the regular season, they pummelled Oscar's Royals in the first round of the playoffs. In the first game of that series, Chamberlain hung a 41 point game, on 19-30 shooting, which would be the highest scoring game by a Sixer in the post-season. He followed that up with a 37 point game, on 16-24 shooting. In game three he resumed his facilitating, and had a monster 16-30-19 (with an estimated 20 blocked shots.) Those 19 assists were a post-season record (tied with Cousy) at the time. And, of course, it is still, by far, the most ever by a center in the post-season. For the series, Wilt averaged 28.0 ppg, 26.5 rpg, 11.0 apg (yes a triple-double series), and on a .617 FG% (in a post-season that would shoot .428.)

Chamberlain's Sixers then met the eight-time defending champion Celtics. The Wilt critics eagerly anticipated his team folding, though. However, it never came close to happening. The Sixers easily won the first three games of the series. In game one, Chamberlain hung an official "quad double" with a monster 24-32-13-12 game. In game three he set an all-time playoff record with a 41 rebound game. However, with Wilt hobbled by sore knees, the Celtics narrowly avoided a sweep in game four. Wilt had a good game, 22-22-10 but he was outrebounded by Russell for the only time in the series, 28-22, and Boston escaped with a 121-117 win.

The proud Celtics came out on fire in game five. Late in the first period they opened up a 17 point lead, and the Wilt skeptics now held some hope for a possible "choke job." However, Wilt pounded Russell in the first half with 22 points, and single-handedly kept his Sixers in the game, and by halftime Philly had closed to within 70-65. The 76ers started pulling away in the third quarter, and by mid-way in the 4th period they were routing the Celtics by a 131-104 margin... en route to a 140-116 win. From late in the first quarter, to mid-way thru the 4th, the Sixers had outscored Boston by 44 points!

And the Russell supporters have never been able to answer this question, either:

In the clinching game five of the '66 EDF's, Wilt's Sixers were down 3-1 against Russell's Celtics. Chamberlain exploded for a 46 point, 34 rebound game, but alas, with his teammates contributing absolutely nothing in that series, Philly lost the game, 120-112.

In the 66-67 EDF's, it was now Russell who was faced with that exact same scenario. His team was down 3-1, and desperately needed Russell to come up with a huge effort. Instead, Russell led the quietly, like a lamb being led to slaughter, in a blowout loss. Why? Where was Russell's 46 point game against Wilt? In that game five loss, Russell scored FOUR points, on 2-5 shooting, with 21 rebounds, and 7 assists. Meanwhile, Chamberlain "the choker" had 29 points (again, 22 of which came in the first half when the game was still close), on 10-16 shooting, with 36 rebounds, 13 assists, and seven blocked shots.

For the series, Chamberlain outscored Russell, per game, 21.6 ppg to 11.4 ppg; outebounded Russell by a staggering 32.0 rpg to 23.4 rpg margin; outassisted Russell by a 10.0 apg to 6.0 apg (yes, yet another triple double series); and outshot Russell from the floor by a .556 to .358 margin. And in their known games, Wilt outblocked Russell by a 29-8 margin.


Wilt then faced his former Warrior team, and Thurmond, in the Finals. While the overall numbers were somewhat close, they were very deceiving. Wilt badly outplayed Thurmond in the last five games of that six game series, in leading his Sixers to a 4-2 title romp. Wilt outscored Nate, 17.7 ppg to 14.3 ppg; outrebounded Nate, 28.5 rpg to 26.7 rpg; outassisted Nate, 6.8 apg to 3.3 apg; and outshot Thurmond by an unfathomable .560 to .343 margin. Overall, Wilt outscored Nate, 5-1; outrebounded Nate, 5-1; outassisted Nate, 5-1; and outshot Nate from the floor, 6-0, in those six games. And in the title-clinching game six, Wilt outscored Thurmond, 24-12; outrebounded Nate, 23-22; and outshot him by an 8-13 to 4-13 margin. Just a complete and one-sided beatdown.

Russell vs Wilt in 9 regular season H2H's:

Russell: 12.2 ppg, 21.1 rpg, 4.1 apg, .425 FG% (8 known)
Wilt: 20.3 ppg, 26.7 rpg, 6.3 apg, .549 FG%

Russell's high point game against Wilt was 22 points. His high rebounding game against Chamberlain was 29. Wilt had 4 games of 20+ points against Russell, with a high of 30 points. Chamberlain had two games of 31 and 32 reounds. Overall, Wilt outscored Russell, 8-1, and outrebounded Russell, 7-2.

Russell vs. Wilt in 5 EDF's H2H's:

Russell: 11.4 ppg, 23.4 rpg, 6.0 apg, .358 FG%
Wilt: 21.6 ppg, 32.0 rpg, 10.0 apg, and on a .556 FG%

Russell's high point game was 20 points, and his high rebounding game was 29. Wilt had 4 games of 20+ points, with a high of 29. And Wilt also had 3 games of 30+ rebounds (32, 36, and 41.) Overall, Wilt outscored Russell, 5-0; outrebounded Russell, 4-1; outassisted Russell, 3-0-2; and outshot Russell, 5-0.

Continued...

[InsanityKills]

Weak era, not impressed.

[LAZERUSS]

Continuing...

67-68:

After leading his Sixers to the most dominating season in NBA history, and running away with his second straight MVP, Chamberlain was on top of the world entering his 67-68 season. He was clearly the best player in the league (and history), and every time he stepped on the floor he was either setting new records, or extending them. He was also the highest paid player in the league, and had just signed a one year contract at $250,000, which was far more than anyone had ever made to that point (Oscar was reportedly making $60,000, and his owner didn't think he was worth it.)

Still, all was not well. Wilt would be turning 31, and his years of playing nearly every minute, of nearly every game, were beginning to catch up to him. He was battling an assortment of ailments, including shin splints, muscle cramps, and aching knees. Furthermore, while he was making a huge sum of money (at the time obviously), he was in a heated dispute with Philly management. Wilt claimed that the previous Sixer owner, Ike Richmond, had promised him a share of ownership of the team. However, there was never anything in writing, and the new ownership group, headed by Irv Kozloff, weren't about to concede any ownership to Chamberlain.

However, Wilt did have one huge "ace in the hole." The newly formed ABA was in it's infancy, but would quickly be snatching NBA players. In fact, Rick Barry jumped to the ABA right after the championship series (however, he had to sit out the 67-68 season.) Clearly, Wilt would have been the biggest prize, and in fact, his presence alone, would have given the league instant legitimacy. And he had only signed a one year deal before the start of the 67-68 season, and would eligible to immediately sign on with the ABA after the '68 season.

Wilt readily admitted that he was finding it difficult to get motivated, especially over the course of an 82 game season. However, he had finished a stunning third in apg in the '67 campaign, and openly admitted that he wanted to lead the league in assists in '68. Bill Simmons, years later, took a shot at Wilt's "stats-padding", but the reality was, with Wilt SHARING the ball even more, no teammate complained about it. NOR did it have ANY negative effect on Chamberlain's Sixers, who would once again, run roughshod over the entire NBA.

I mentioned it a few posts back, but Chamberlain had a "roller coaster" season in '68. In his first 17 games, he was only averaging 15.0 ppg, albeit along with 8.3 apg, and 23.8 rpg. In one game against Thurmond in that span, he didn't take a FGA. And his Sixers, who had gone 46-4 in their first 50 games in the '67 season, were sitting at 12-5, and trailing Boston by two games (14-3.)

Virtually no one in the league was concerned, however. Rick Barry, who had won the scoring title in '67 at 35.6 ppg (BTW, the highest full-time "non-Wilt" scoring average IN the "Wilt-era"), had remarked that he (Barry), had won the scoring title, simply because Wilt didn't want it.

But, Chamberlain hit a two straight game period, against Bellamy and Nate, in which he only put up a combined 22 points, on a horrific 6-23 shooting. Of course, any time someone even whispered that Wilt might be slipping...boom...he exploded for a 52 point game, on 22-29 shooting, with 37 rebounds. But that game was also an example of Wilt's growing "achilles heel"...as he shot a shocking 8-30 from the FT line.

Beginning with that 52 point explosion, Chamberlain went on a mini rampage, in which he averaged 33 ppg over the course of 12 straight games, which included three consecutive monster games of 68, 47, and 53 points. The 68 point game was easily the NBA high that season.

Wilt's numbers against his HOF peers declined considerably from his absolute domination of them in the first eight years of his career (8 against Russell, 6 against Bellamy, and 3 against Thurmond.) Dankok8 has mentioned that Thurmond outplayed Wilt in their limited H2H's (Nate was injured for almost half the season, and played four H2H's against Chamberlain.) However, we only have two games in which their FG%'s were recorded, and even then, and as always, Wilt outshot Nate (.379 to .342.) The two split their scoring and rebounding "wins", and overall, Nate had a slight edge.

Wilt still easily outplayed Bellamy in their eight regular season H2H's, and just pounded Russell in their eight H2H's. As a side-note, Wilt held Russell to a head-shaking .283 FG% in their six known regular season H2H's. And in their regular season meetings from '63 thru '68, Wilt held Russell to known FG%'s of .366, .367, .281, .301, .425, and .283. And while Russell shot somewhat better against Wilt in their post-season H2H's, he was just light years behind Chamberlain in overall FG% efficiency in both their regular, and their post-season H2H's (Wilt also RAISED his FG% against Russell in the post-season.)

Wilt's Sixers were seemingly going thru the motions in the first half of the '68 season. After 32 games, they were still two games behind the Celtics (25-7 to 23-9), but a four game Boston losing streak allowed the Sixers to slip past them, and they slowly pulled away after that. But in their first 52 games, Philly was sitting at 37-15, and just cruising. They did finish on a tear, though, going 25-5 in their last 30 games, to again, run away with the best record in the league (62-20 to the Hawks 56-26, and Boston's 54-28.)

Chamberlain was piling up assists at an amazing rate, (especially for a center), and in his last 12 games of the season, he had 11 "triple doubles", including an NBA record of nine in a row. Not only that, he was just terrorizing the league in every facet of the game. In 10 of those 11 triple-doubles, he scored 20+ points, including four of 30+, and perhaps the most phenomenal triple double in NBA history, when he jack-hammered the helpless Lakers with a 53 point (on 24-29 shooting), 32 rebound, and 14 assist game. And their are even unverified estimates of Wilt blocking 24 shots, and recording 11 steals in that same game. Oh, and with Oscar missing 17 games, Chamberlain did in fact lead the NBA in assists, with 702 (8.6 apg.)

Overall, Wilt averaged 24.3 ppg, 23.8 rpg (ran away with the rebounding title by nearly 5 per game), and shot .595 from the field (again, a runaway win), and those 8.6 apg. And he also led the league in Defensive Win Shares, at 10.73, which is the eighth highest all-time, and the highest "non-Russell" season in NBA history.

And for the third straight season, he ran away with the MVP award, and none of his HOF peers (Russell, Thurmond, Bellamy, or even PF Reed) even showed up in the voting. Chamberlain left no doubt that he was the greatest player in the world, and by a mile.

Russell vs. Wilt in 8 regular season H2H's:

Russell: 7.8 ppg, 17.5 rpg, 4.8 apg (5 known), .283 FG% (6 known)
Wilt: 17.1 ppg, 26.1 rpg, 8.5 apg, .471 FG% (5 known)

Simply no contest. Wilt dominated Russell (as he always did BTW.) Chamberlain had scoring highs of 31 and 23 points, while Russell was in single digits in six of the eight, and his high games were 16 and 12 points. Overall, Wilt held an 8-0 scoring margin. Chamberlain also held a 6-1-1 rebounding margin, which included margins of 27-16, 33-19, 27-12, 24-8, and 29-18.


Russell vs Wilt in EDF's 7 H2H's:

Russell: 13.7 ppg, 23.9 rpg, 4.1 apg, .440 FG%.
Wilt: 22.1 ppg, 25.1 rpg, 6.7 apg, .487 FG%.

Again, this was simply no contest until game's 6 and 7. In the first five games, Chamberlain outscored Russell, 24.2 ppg to 13.3 ppg; outrebounded Russell, 23.0 rpg to 22.0 rpg; outassisted Russell, 6.8 apg to 5.4 apg, and outshot Russell, .539 to .416. Overall, Wilt outscored Russell, 6-1; outrebounded Russell, 4-3; and outassisted Russell, 6-0-1. Chamberlain had scoring highs of 33, 28, 23, 22, while Russell had highs of 24, and 17 points. Wilt had high rebounding games of 34, 30, and 27. Russell's high rebounding games were 31, 26, and 24.

Continued...

[Nuff Said]

You need a blog man. This shit too much.

Edit: oh and I feel Russell is better.

[LAZERUSS]

Continuing...

Wilt vs. Russell

Regular Season (6 games)

Wilt: 16.3 ppg, 24.0 rpg, 4.8 apg on 50.7 %FG
Russell: 6.7 ppg, 15.8 rpg, 5.8 apg on 34.0 %FG

Wilt had a few games where he just obliterated Russell. In one of them he outscored Russell, 35-5, and in another he outrebounded Russell, 42-18.

Playoffs (7 games)

Wilt: 11.7 ppg, 25.0 rpg, 3.0 apg on 50.0 %FG
Russell: 9.1 ppg, 21.1 rpg, 5.1 apg on 39.7 %FG

It was pretty close.

Ok, let's add them up shall we...

59-60: Wilt's post-season scoring and rebounding declined from his regular season H2H's, and his FG% increased.

61-62: Wilt's post-season scoring and rebounding declined from his regular season H2H's, and his FG% was equal.

63-64: Wilt's scoring and rebounding increased from his regular season H2H's, and his FG% declined.

64-65: Chamberlain's scoring, rebounding, and FG%'s were MUCH higher than his regular season H2H's with Russell.

65-66: Basically a wash in scoring and rebounding, and an increase in FG%.

66-67: Scoring, rebounding, and FG% INCREASED across the board in his post-season H2H's with Russell, as compared to his regular season H2H's.

67-68: Wilt's scoring and FG% increased, and his rebounding declined.

68-69: Scoring and FG% declined, while rebounding increased.


So, in his EIGHT post-season H2H series with Russell, Wilt's scoring increased in FOUR, his rebounding increased in FOUR, and his FG% increased in FIVE.

Not bad...he ELEVATED his post-season game against Russell in HALF of their playoff series.

[feyki]

You need a blog man. This shit too much.

Edit: oh and I feel Russell is better.

You can't post same thing thousand times on a blog .

[aj1987]

You can't post same thing thousand times on a blog .