Bill Russell: 10-0 in game 7's (18.6 PPG, 29.3 RPG)

[DavisIsMyUniBro]

Most stacked help in the history of the sport

Well history of the sport means all games.

I saw my school team get blown out 18-97

Sooooo...

[LAZERUSS]

Chamberlain's '68 post-season scoring was actually very close to his regular season scoring...down from 24.3 ppg to 23.7 ppg. But, he was playing with an assortment of injuries, including a muscle tear in his calf, and was noticeably limping in the playoffs. He still battered Walt Bellamy in the first round, outscoring him 25.5 ppg to 20.0 ppg; outrebounding him, 24.2 to 16.0 rpg; and outshooting him from the field, .584 to .421 (Bellamy had shot .541 against the NBA during the regular season.)

In the EDF's an injured Chamberlain dragged an injury-decimated team that was missing HOFer Billy Cunningham, to a 3-1 series lead. In what could have been a close out game, in game five, Wilt lost two more starters (on a roster that was not very deep to begin with), in a loss. However, Chamberlain held up his end. He pounded Russell by outscoring him, 28-8; outrebounding him, 30-24; and outshooting him, 11-21 to 4-10.

Up to that point, Wilt had outscored Russell per game, 24.2 ppg to 13.3 ppg; outrebounded him, per game, 23.0 rpg to 22.0 rpg; outshot him, .539 to .416; and outassisted him 6.8 apg to 5.4 apg. However, having played every minute of every game in the playoffs, including three games in three nights against the Knicks earlier, and nursing those injuries, he was now playing on fumes. He was still a force on the glass in the last two games, but his efficiency dropped like a lead balloon. Furthermore, his teammates didn't even get him the ball at all in game seven, all while they were shooting a combined 33%, and the Sixers lost game seven by four points.

For the series, Chamberlain outscored Russell, 22.1 ppg to 13.7 ppg; outrebounded Russell, 25.1 rpg to 23.9 rpg; outassisted Russell, 6.7 apg to 4.1 apg; and outshot Russell (by the closest margin in the history of their playoff H2H's), .487 to .440.

BTW, even Russell commented that.. "a lessor man would not have played." Meaning that virtually NO ONE else would have been playing under the same circumstances.

Continued...

Continuing on with Wilt's post-season "decline"...

Chamberlain did have a poor (for him) '69 post-season, and easily the worst series of his entire career in the Finals.

And he had big drop-off in ppg from the regular season, of 20.5 ppg, to 11.7 ppg in the Finals. Even I won't completely excuse this post-season, but there was much blame to go around in the Lakers losing a game seven in the Finals, by two points.

First of all, Elgin Baylor. The reality was, Baylor was just awful in the Finals. He shot .397 (and had the worst post-season FG% on the entire team at .385.) Not only that, but in three losses, he shot 2-14 (and 1-6 from the line...in a one point loss); 4-18; and in game seven, 8-22. It is BAYLOR who deserves the brunt of the blame..at least in terms of player production.

However, and without question, THE biggest reason for that series loss was Butch "the Butcher" Van Breda Kolff. VBK's hatred for Wilt essentially cost the city of Los Angeles their first ever title, and it certainly cost him his coaching career.

He made coaching blunder-after-coaching blunder the entire series. The 4th quarter of game seven is available on YouTube. Early in the period, Russell picked up his 5th personal foul (BTW, he was nowhere to be found the rest of the entire quarter.) The Lakers immediately inbounded to Chamberlain, who went right around the matador Russell for an easy layin. It would be the last time Chamberlain would touch the ball in the low post.

VBK also clearly cost the Lakers game four in Boston...which ultimately cost the Lakers a 4-1 series romp. The Lakers were leading the series, 2-1, and were leading with only seconds remaining, 88-87...AND, they had the BALL. Obviously VBK put the ball in West's hands right? Hell no...he had Johnny POS Egan handling it...and the inevitable happened. He was stripped of the ball, and then Sam Jones (yes the CLUTCH Sam Jones), hit the game-winner at the buzzer, all while falling to the floor. Given that the Lakers easily won game five (in a game in which Chamberlain finally punished Russell)...LA would have won that series, 4-1.

His biggest coaching blunder? No doubt about it...leaving Wilt on the bench in the last few minutes in game seven...in a two point loss.

And before Bill Simmons pops in and claims that the Lakers cut the deficit with Wilt on the bench...how about this? With ten minutes left in the game, the Lakers were down by 17 points. They staged a furious rally (aided by Sam Jones fouling out), and with little over five minutes, they had cut ten points off the deficit, to seven. Wilt had been injured, but continued to play, and in fact, grabbed as many rebounds, with an injured leg, on two straight possessions, as Russell did the entire period. But, Wilt had to come out. Even VBK admitted afterwards, that Chamberlain was hurt.

In any case, a couple of minutes later, Wilt asked to go back in, and VBK refused. Wilt's "replacement" Mel Counts, who would shoot 4-13 from the floor in that game...missed a shot with a minute left, and had a turnover with less than a minute remaining...which ultimately killed the Laker rally. Oh, and this time it was Don Nelson's turn to hit a miraculous game-winner. Two miraculous game-winners in the same series. So, with Wilt, LA had cut 10 points off of a 17 point deficit in about five minutes, and without him, they cut five more points in the next five minutes...ultimately falling short by two points.

VBK immediately quit...knowing full well that he was going to get fired. And his coaching career went right down the toilet.

Still, this was Wilt's worst post-season series of his entire career. However, he still outplayed Russell, and he absolutely outplayed him in game seven. In game seven, Chamberlain outscored Russell, 18-6; outrebounded him, 27-21; and outshot him from the floor, 7-8 to 2-7. And how about this stat...take away Wilt's and Russell's FG%'s in that game seven...and Russell's teammates outshot Wilt's by a .477 to .360 margin...in a two point win!

Interesting too, that Jack Kent Cooke brought in a new coach the very next year, Joe Mullaney, with strict orders to make Wilt the focal point of the Laker offense. And a rejuvenated Wilt responded by leading the league in scoring, at 32.2 ppg (on a .579 FG%, as well as leading the league in rebounding, at 20.6 rpg)...when he went down with a devastating injury in game nine (in a game in which he had scored 33 points, on 13-14 shooting, and in only 28 minutes.)

Continued...

[ClipperRevival]

[LAZERUSS]

Wilt's 69-70 season.

Again, and with a new coach, whose first of business was to make WILT the focal point of the Laker offense...

Wilt reeled off a nine game streak of leading the league in scoring, at 32.2 ppg (West averaged 30.8 ppg in that same span BTW) on a .579 FG%. And his numbers weren't inflated by 1-2 or big games, either.

He had games of 33 points (in only 28 minutes, and likely was on his way to a 40, and perhaps even 50 point game), 35, 37 (against 7-0 Tom Boerwinkle), 38 (against reigning MVP Wes Unseld), 42 (against Bob Rule, ...just look him up, he was on his way to a bright career), and 43 (against Connie Dierking...which was nowhere near Wilt's most dominant game against Dierking, but which would surpass a peak KAJ's high game against Dierking of 41 points.)

Oh, and in his only H2H with Kareem, before his injury, he badly outplayed KAJ in every facet of the game, and hung a 25-20-5 game (with two blocks of the "unblockable" sky-hook) and on 9-14 shooting.

Unfortunately for Wilt, he shredded his knee in that ninth game, and would never be the same again.

Medical opinion at the time ranged from Wilt being out a year, to perhaps this being a career-ending injury (Wilt was 33, and around 300 lbs.)

Amazingly, Chamberlain returned late in the season (and at nowhere near 100%...but he did so for his TEAMMATES.) In his last three games, he averaged 12 ppg.

In his '70 playoffs, he averaged 22-22-5 .549...all basically on one leg, and with very little vertical (which would return the next year.) In first round, after a slow start, and with his Lakers down 3-1, he hung three straight huge games, to tally his team back from that deficit to win that series. Then a sweep of the Hawks. And in his Finals, he dragged that 46-36 team to a game seven, against the favored 60-22 Knicks, and hung the only 20-20 .600 Finals in NBA history (23.2 ppg, 24.1 rpg, and on a .625 FG%.) In game six, in a must win game, he erupted for a 45 point game, on 20-27 shooting, with 27 rebounds. And in the clinching game seven loss, he put up a 21-24 10-16 game.

The "heroic" Reed won the FMVP, but clearly it was a joke. First of all, a much healthier Reed, at his peak, was played to a draw by a one-legged Wilt in the first four games. And in game five, Chamberlain was pummeling him before he went down with his muscle tear (which was similar to what Wilt played with for every minute of the seven game '68 EDF's.) In fact, the series was tied 2-2, and Reed's team was DOWN by 10 points when he suffered the injury.

However, with what NY Times writer Leonard Koppett described as a officiating "robbery", the Knicks "harrassed" the rest of the Lakers in game five, and a stunning comeback win. BTW, Wilt took three second half shots, and West only two.

In game six, albeit without Reed, Chamberlain hung one of the greatest Finals games in NBA history (and a MUST WIN Finals game at that), with that 45-27 stat-line.

Alas, in game seven, the Knicks, behind Walt Frazier's demolition of Jerry West, routed LA. NY hit 15 of their 21 first shots, and rolled out to a 69-42 halftime lead. I have long maintained that a team of "MJ's" would not have beaten NY in that game.

Anyway...and back to the FMVP. I could see a case for Frazier, except that West had the better of him until that disastrous game seven. But REED? Again, the series was tied 2-2, and his team was losing in game five when he went down.

Oh, and in the last three pivotal games of that series... Wilt outscored Reed, 88-10; outrebounded him, 71-3; and outshot him by a 39-55 (.708) to 4-10 (.400) margin. Granted, Reed missed three-quarters of one game, and completely missed another, but none-the-less, Wilt was not only the best Laker in the last three games of that series (and ultimately the entire series), but clearly was the best player on the floor in the last three games (and ultimately, the series.)

The bottom line...there was no decline by a way-less-than 100% Wilt in the '70 post-season. In fact, he was spectacular.

[julizaver]

I believe Julizaver, who is as knowledgeable a source on the subject as there is, had Wilt with a .513 to .417 margin in their 49 post-season games.

And I believe you have already posted their individual post-season series numbers.

BTW, most "bashers" here point to Wilt's overall drop from his regular season numbers, down to his playoff numbers, but as Psileas has pointed out before, if you use Wilt's regular season numbers against the same centers and teams he would face in his playoff H2H's, he had just as many series in which he elevated his scoring, as he did in which they declined.

In their 49 post-season games Wilt shot 502 from 982 attempts, Russell shot 296 from 710 attempts. Wilt missed 480 shots, while Russell missed 414, which means that Russell missed 86 % of the shots Wilt missed.

[DavisIsMyUniBro]

In their 49 post-season games Wilt shot 502 from 982 attempts, Russell shot 296 from 710 attempts. Wilt missed 480 shots, while Russell missed 414, which means that Russell missed 86 % of the shots Wilt missed.

IIRC, didn't Russell shoot 44% for his career?

And I feel that it's numbers could potentially be misleading. Percentage wise,

By that I mean in 65 and 67, wilt shot above 55% against Russell right?

[DavisIsMyUniBro]

Just wondering, how good were Paul Neumman, lee shaffer, and Connie dierking? (While with the 76ers during that season).

[julizaver]

IIRC, didn't Russell shoot 44% for his career?

And I feel that it's numbers could potentially be misleading. Percentage wise,

By that I mean in 65 and 67, wilt shot above 55% against Russell right?

Yes, he shot 55.5 % in 65 and 55.6 % in 67.

[eeeeeebro]

if you get 30 rebounds in a game somebody needs to call 3 seconds...

[Manny98]

That's some GOAT shit right here

[Round Mound]

Game 7 stats

Jordan: 34/8/7 46%

Duncan: 25/12/3 48%

Hakeem: 27/14/5 50%

Shaq: 26/11/3 59%

LeBron: 34/9/4 47%

Kobe: 22/8/5 39%

Malone: 28/11/6 52%

Barkley: 25/18/3 53%

KG: 18/11/2 53%

Dirk: 27/14/2 50%

Isiah: 19/4/9 37%

Wade: 22/6/4 41%

What an animal Barkley was!