Post#56 » by Sedale Threatt » Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:49 pm
To piggyback on Dipper's post, there is a frustrating lack of details regarding the end of Game 7, and the strategies involved in the series regarding Wilt, in either "The Rivalry" or Cherry's "Wilt."
Cherry writes about the controversial goaltending call by Mendy Rudolph that put the Celtics up by five with 1:24 left. Wilt ties the game with his three-point play, then Sam "The Robert Horry of the 60s" Jones drilled the winner.
Said Warriors coach Frank McGuire: "I don't mind getting beaten, but I hate losing on a lousy decision like that."
There is no mention of that in "The Rivalry," but author John Taylor writes that McGuire was so pissed after the game he punched a hole in the door to the officials' dressing room. Asked who had beaten him, he said, "The referees. Did you ever see such homers?"
Taylor contends that his beef was a timing error that left them with just one second instead of three to attempt a last-ditch shot. Years later, according to the footnotes, Red Auberbach admitted that a "malfunction" in the Garden clock to skip forward in the final seconds of each quarter.
Only Cherry writes about the physical pounding Chamberlain endured.
"Wilt has to be the best-natured guy int he world to stand that punishment and not let loose and clout a couple of those guys," McGuire said. "It's an admirable trait. But I couldn't be that way."
(The thing is, this was a pretty common tactic against Wilt for most of his career. So I'm wondering why it would be especially different now than it was in other moments, with the exception that this was a playoff series.)
Taylor writes that McGuire had Chamberlain move to the top of the key, at least in part to counter the success Russell had against Wilt that year:
Once the series began, Chamberlain was able to score more frequently. In fact, the Warriors five starters -- Chamberlain, Arizin, Rogers, Meschery, Gola -- outscored the Celtics starters -- Russell, Cousy, Heinsohn, Jones, Sanders. But this was offset by the fact Boston's top three relievers -- Ramsey, Jones, Loscutoff -- outscored their counterparts -- Attles, Conlin, Larese -- by an even greater margin.
Writes Cherry about Game 7, and the series:
Wilt and Russell played one another to a standoff.
The Warriors team was not as good as Boston's team. At one point, the Celtics had the best defensive center (Russell), the best defensive forward (Satch Sanders), the best defensive guard (K.C. Jones), the best sixth man (Frank Ramsey, then Havlicek).
Bob Cousy believed this was the best of many great Boston clubs.
The Bulletin's Jim Heffernan pointed out that the Warriors had been underdogs in every game of the series and remained so for the final game. That the Warriors came as close as they did to defeating the Celtics is a testament to Wilt.
Wilt established 10 records during the season, five of which -- average points per game, most points in a season, most points in a game, most games with 50 or more points, most minutes played -- have never been approached.
Hall of Fame writer Leonard Koppett: "Nobody ever wins a team game. Only the team can win. Except for one year in Philadelphia and one in Los Angeles, Wilt was never on a team the rest of which was as good as the Boston Celtics. It's that simple."
Teammate Tom Meschery: "Boston was, man for man, a better team than the Warriors. To go as far as we did was Wilt's doing. We came within two points of the championship."
Reporter Herb Good: "Unfortunately, the novelty of seeing Wilt stuff the ball through the basket is wearing off."
Some of these statements don't seem to jibe with reality -- Koppett's statement that Wilt won the two times he was on better teams, when in fact L.A. was better in 69; Taylor saying Wilt scored "more frequently" after the tactical move -- so take them with a grain of salt.
As is always the case with Wilt, there's a conundrum. On one hand, his postseason production dipped pretty substantially, with some of his games appearing terrible on paper. On the other, his team, without any indication of some superhuman effort from another teammate, came within a hair of beating a significantly better team.
