ThaRegul8r wrote:“Russell has matured in his coaching,” said Pistons’ coach Donnie Butcher. “
It should be interesting to see him match strategies with Alex Hannum. I think, under the circumstances, the series should go the distance” (
Beaver Country Times, Apr. 1, 1968).
Eastern Division Finals – Boston Celtics (54-28) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (62-20) Philadelphia won Game 3 122-114. “Philadelphia blew a 10-point lead before Greer, who had been held to 10 points earlier, got a hot hand” (
St. Petersburg Times, Apr. 12, 1968), scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter. “Greer shot 8-for-14 from the field as he scored all but 12 of 33 points by the 76ers in the final 12 minutes. The 6-foot-2 guard would up with 31 points” (
St. Petersburg Times, Apr. 12, 1968). “The Celtics were moving along right well […] for a time, making up a 77-67 deficit to go ahead 93-91, but by then defensive ace Bill Russell, Bailey Howell and Satch Sanders each had five fouls with 10:18 left” (
Tri City Herald, Apr. 12, 1968). “That was the key to the game,” Greer said. “
With Russell out of there it opened everything up. I just drove the middle and those little jumpers were wide open.” Wilt Chamberlain, “who suffered an injury on the calf muscle of his right leg in the first period,” scored 23 points, 25 rebounds and six assists (
Tri City Herald, Apr. 12, 1968). Chamberlain pulled his calf muscle, and the injury “left him limping, but Trainer Al Domenico said it didn’t appear serious” (
Tri City Herald, Apr. 12, 1968). Johnny Green—“turn[ing] in another standout relief job for the 76ers” (
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Apr. 11, 1968)—had 17. John Havlicek led Boston with 29. Bill Russell had 13 points and 20 rebounds.
Boston won Game 5 122-104. “Sam Jones’ 37 points and a fine defensive job by burly Wayne Embry kept the Boston Celtics alive in the National Basketball Association playoffs […]” (
The Sun, Apr. 16, 1968). Jones scored 37 points of 15-for-27 shooting from the floor and 7 of 11 from the line. The Associated Press wrote, “He broke the back of the team he describes as the strongest physically he’s ever seen” (
Ellensburg Daily Record, Apr. 16, 1968). “When you’re down 3-1,” Jones said, “you just pull up your socks and get the job done” (
Ellensburg Daily Record, Apr. 16, 1968). John Havlicek had 29 points and 10 assists, Russell grabbed 24 rebounds and scored eight points.
Philadelphia coach Alex Hannum said, “They came in here with an uphill fight staring them in the face. They were dedicated. They played a great defense, and when they forced us to take bad shots they seemed to get every rebound and take off down the court on the attack” (
The Bryan Times, Apr. 16, 1968). “I just told them to go out there and play the kind of basketball I know they’re capable of,” Russell said. “The Celtics made 16 of 26 shots from the field in the final quarter to pull away while the 76ers went completely cold and made only seven of 29 attempts. Philadelphia sank only three of its first 22 shots in the last period” (
The Bryan Times, Apr. 16, 1968). Chamberlain had 28 points and 30 rebounds for Boston.
In Game 6, Russell had
17 points (5-7 FT) and a game-high 31 rebounds as Boston won 114-106 to tie the series at 3-3. John Havlicek scored a team-high 28 points, Bailey Howell had 22 (12 in the final 12 minutes), and Sam Jones had 20. “John Havlicek, a tower of strength for the Celtics during the play-offs, and Bill Russell, player-coach, kept Boston in command almost all the way, despite a 40 point performance by Hal Greer of the 76ers. Havlicek, besides directing the Boston attack, scored 28 points. Russell, battling Wilt Chamberlain for rebounds, came away with a personal victory. He pulled down 31, to 27 for Chamberlain. And Bailey Howell had a big hand in the victory, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the last quarter, when the Celtics turned back a strong challenge” (
The Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 18, 1968). Hal Greer scored a game-high 40 points on 15-for-24 shooting from the floor (62.5%) and 10 of 13 shooting from the line for Philadelphia in defeat. Chamberlain had 20 points on 6-for-21 shooting from the floor (28.6%) and 8-of-23 shooting from the line (34.8%) and 27 rebounds. “
The Celtics played without starting forward Tom Sanders, who is through for the series because of a back injury.” The oddsmakers said that it would be the Celtics’ last game of the season.
[
Comment: This explains why Russell had to shift to guard Chet Walker. When Satch Sanders went down with back muscle spasms—putting him out for Games 6 and 7, the Celtics lost the player who'd be guarding Walker. So Russell did what needed to be done for the Celtics to win.]
“The home court doesn’t mean much to these two teams,” said Boston coach Bill Russell. “The team that has a good night wins; it’s as simple as that.” Philadelphia coach Alex Hannum said, “If the Celtics can come in there and beat us they deserve all the credit in the world, because they’re going to be up against a tough basketball team. We worked all season for the home court advantage. We’ve still got it. We’re going to have that crowd yelling for us Friday night” (
The Free Lance-Star, Apr. 18, 1968).
Boston won Game 7 100-96 to complete an unprecedented comeback from a 3-1 deficit. Sam Jones led a balanced Boston attack with 23 points, Larry Siegfried had 18, and Bailey Howell had 17 (
St. Petersburg Times, Apr. 20, 1968).
“Celtics player-Coach Bill Russell scored 12 points, grabbed 26 rebounds, and blocked countless shots in what Chamberlain and other 76ers described as a magnificent performance” (
Tuscaloosa News, Apr. 17, 1968) [Robert Cherry said he had 10, though I haven't found any corroboration yet], and Chamberlain had 14 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the floor and 6-of-15 shooting from the line and 34 rebounds. “I’m going to tell you something,” Russell said afterwards. “I was never more worried about a game more than this one. It was the seventh and final and away from home. It was a tough situation. But we haven’t won anything yet.”
Robert Cherry wrote:Hannum admitted he called the plays from the sidelines, so he must share much of the blame for Wilt not getting the ball in the second half. But Hannum isn’t the only culpable party: there are Wilt’s teammates—they shot horribly and didn’t get the ball to him. Some measure of responsibility also must be assigned to Wilt who, after all, was the most dominant offensive player in the history of basketball. Granted he was playing hurt, but that didn’t stop him from gathering [p. 199] 34 rebounds. A leader leads; a scorer wants the ball—particularly in crucial moments. Why didn’t Wilt shout to his mates, “Gimme the damn ball!” He could have said it in a timeout or while foul shots were being taken. Anyone who has ever played basketball knows there are ways to alert your teammates that they’re not getting the ball to you and that you want it. But Wilt didn’t speak up, and he said in other interviews, sometime after the game, that he should have been more aggressive. Why wasn’t he? Could it have been that Wilt wanted to show Hannum, and the world, that if the Sixers weren’t going to throw the ball to him, they weren’t going to beat Boston? It may sound illogical, but who said Wilt was always logical?
It remains inexplicable why Wilt, his coach, and his teammates didn’t make sure that he got the ball.
Instead of Wilt coming to the offensive rescue, Boston completed its stunning comeback. Certainly, Philadelphia’s sports fans, among the most knowledgeable and rabid, have endured their share of disappointment by the city’s professional baseball, football, hockey, and basketball teams. But the collapse in the 1968 Eastern Finals, in which the 76ers botched a three-to-one lead, with two of the final three games at home, ranks with the worst of them.
"I remember they were calling us old when I came in, and that was six years ago," Havlicek had said. "We were fighting that then." Havlicek has now played on more championship Celtic teams than Bill Sharman did, and remember, Sharman's retirement was going to be the first crack in the dynasty. Everybody said so. Now they're all gone but Russell. He has outlasted every player in the league who was there when he came in. Just consider the Celtics who played with him, won their championships and have gone: Cousy, Heinsohn, Frank Ramsey, K. C. Jones, Jim Loscutoff, Andy Phillip, Arnie Risen, Jack Nichols, Gene Conley, Gary Phillips, Carl Braun, Clyde Lovellette, Jack McCarthy, Willie Naulls and Auerbach, too, of course, and Buddy LeRoux, the trainer. The owner, Walter Brown, died, and the owner after him, Lou Pieri. The team was sold and still has gone on, so that now Howell and Embry have their championships with Russell, too.
Comment: It's been said that the strongest case for Russell was Philadelphia's choke job rather than anything
he did. People don't see the 17 points and 31 rebounds in Game 6 outplaying Chamberlain; that his strategy was key to the comeback as he thought about how to win; no one mentions Russell not letting the team feel that it was hopeless, that they could come back from 1-3 down, but take it a game at a time—win the next game, then the next game, then the next game. And they did it—it'd never been done before. Imagine the confidence of the team after having done the unprecedented; no one mentions what Robert Cherry said: “Yes, they shot poorly, but
Boston’s defense, in particular Russell’s, had something to do with it. Russell blocked 10 shots and intimidated the 76ers on God knows how many others. The poor shooting against Boston was no aberration,” or that the 76ers shot 40 percent against Boston the whole year as opposed to 50 percent against everyone else but their offense suddenly went south rather than Boston ratcheting up the D; no one mentions the three crucial plays made by Russell in the final minute of Game 7 (probably because no one knows about them): a big free throw he hit, a clutch block of Chet Walker who he expressly focused on containing, or grabbing a big rebound (“Russell was the best clutch rebounder this game has ever seen,” Chamberlain said of Russell); no one mentions playing a record 292 minutes in the Finals; the near quadruple-double in Game 3; the game-saving block on Baylor in Game 5—blocked to Don Nelson (always to a teammate instead of out of bounds), which forced the Lakers to foul and ended the game (with 22 points and 25 rebounds). No, Russell didn't
do anything to be deserving.
My criteria is doing whatever your team needs to win, whatever it may be. No one else did that better.
