Moderators: Clyde Frazier, Doctor MJ, trex_8063, penbeast0, PaulieWal
70sFan wrote:Well, we have a lot more Wilt footage now than in 2017, but we still don't have enough. We just need more full games of prime Wilt to get a better idea of how good he was as a player. I want 13.11.1965 game against the Knicks, I want it badly...
penbeast0 wrote:Do you find watching Kareem hurts his rep with you? I would guess pretty neutral for me.
ty 4191 wrote:70sFan wrote:Well, we have a lot more Wilt footage now than in 2017, but we still don't have enough. We just need more full games of prime Wilt to get a better idea of how good he was as a player. I want 13.11.1965 game against the Knicks, I want it badly...
How many full games do you have on Wilt? How many are available on the planet, to your knowledge?
ty 4191 wrote:70sFan wrote:Well, we have a lot more Wilt footage now than in 2017, but we still don't have enough. We just need more full games of prime Wilt to get a better idea of how good he was as a player. I want 13.11.1965 game against the Knicks, I want it badly...
How many full games do you have on Wilt? How many are available on the planet, to your knowledge?
70sFan wrote:1970 Finals Game 7
ty 4191 wrote:70sFan wrote:1970 Finals Game 7
One of the greatest performances in history!!
"But not all was well. Wilt had fallen in Game 4 and had, so the press reported, sprained his right wrist—the wrist of the hand he had refractured some weeks before.
According to Dr. Robert Kerlan, the Lakers team doctor, Wilt was “very, very doubtful” for Game 5. X-rays of his wrist taken the day before Game 5 revealed that Wilt didn’t have a sprained right wrist—he had a broken right wrist.
Wilt said after the series that only he and Dr. Kerlan were aware the wrist was broken, and both chose to keep quiet about the seriousness of the injury.
In newspaper accounts Wilt also said he had a hairline fracture on the base of the index finger of his right (shooting) hand and a bruised left hand. Other than that, he was in perfect health.
Frank O’Neill, the Lakers trainer, had purchased at a sporting goods store the kind of pads that defensive linemen used to wear in football games. The pads had a sponge in them to protect the back of the hand. These were placed on both of Wilt’s hands; in addition, his right hand was heavily swaddled in tape.
He refused to take a pain-killing injection in the right hand before the game, fearful that he might lose his touch and the “feel” for the ball, so critical in basketball.
With his headband, his knee pads, and both of his hands wrapped, Wilt looked like a gladiator.
Game 5 was close for three quarters, but then the Lakers, clearly the superior team, pulled away, winning 114–100 and finally capturing the NBA championship.
West had 23 points and, as was his wont, contributed in so many other aspects of the game—ballhandling and defense, to cite just two. Goodrich had 25; McMillian, 20; and Hairston, 13.
But the star of the game was Wilt, who had 24 points, 10 blocked shots (and forced the Knicks to hurry or to change the direction of many others), and 29 rebounds—more rebounds than the next three Lakers combined and only 10 fewer than the entire Knicks team.
The Forum fans, joyous and deliriously happy, showed their appreciation by pouring onto the court after the game and hoisting Wilt up on their shoulders.
And what of the Big Fella? He was voted the MVP of the Finals, for which he received a Dodge station wagon from Sport magazine. Normally, the recipient received a sports car, but Wilt was granted his request for a station wagon—the better to transport his three Great Danes, he pointed out.
For years, he also used the Dodge to go back and forth to the beach, where he played volleyball, his passion in the years to come.
Two days after the victory, Wilt, resplendent in a raspberry-colored jumpsuit, was at Mamma Leone’s restaurant in New York, there to formally receive the keys to his new station wagon. It was at this occasion he revealed to the assembled press that his right wrist had been broken, not sprained, when he had fallen in Game 4. Wilt couldn’t resist pointing out that Bill Russell had questioned his desire after Game 7 in the 1969 Finals—the one where Butch van Breda Kolff refused to put Wilt back in for the final minutes of a game.
But the normally loquacious Wilt spoke little—he let the foot-long cast covering his wrist and arm do most of his talking that day. “Wilt played better in the playoffs than he did in the season,” said West. “He had an incredible year. Absolutely fantastic.”
-Cherry, Robert: "Wilt: Larger The Life"
ty 4191 wrote:70sFan wrote:1970 Finals Game 7
One of the greatest performances in history!!
"But not all was well. Wilt had fallen in Game 4 and had, so the press reported, sprained his right wrist—the wrist of the hand he had refractured some weeks before.
According to Dr. Robert Kerlan, the Lakers team doctor, Wilt was “very, very doubtful” for Game 5. X-rays of his wrist taken the day before Game 5 revealed that Wilt didn’t have a sprained right wrist—he had a broken right wrist.
Wilt said after the series that only he and Dr. Kerlan were aware the wrist was broken, and both chose to keep quiet about the seriousness of the injury.
In newspaper accounts Wilt also said he had a hairline fracture on the base of the index finger of his right (shooting) hand and a bruised left hand. Other than that, he was in perfect health.
Frank O’Neill, the Lakers trainer, had purchased at a sporting goods store the kind of pads that defensive linemen used to wear in football games. The pads had a sponge in them to protect the back of the hand. These were placed on both of Wilt’s hands; in addition, his right hand was heavily swaddled in tape.
He refused to take a pain-killing injection in the right hand before the game, fearful that he might lose his touch and the “feel” for the ball, so critical in basketball.
With his headband, his knee pads, and both of his hands wrapped, Wilt looked like a gladiator.
Game 5 was close for three quarters, but then the Lakers, clearly the superior team, pulled away, winning 114–100 and finally capturing the NBA championship.
West had 23 points and, as was his wont, contributed in so many other aspects of the game—ballhandling and defense, to cite just two. Goodrich had 25; McMillian, 20; and Hairston, 13.
But the star of the game was Wilt, who had 24 points, 10 blocked shots (and forced the Knicks to hurry or to change the direction of many others), and 29 rebounds—more rebounds than the next three Lakers combined and only 10 fewer than the entire Knicks team.
The Forum fans, joyous and deliriously happy, showed their appreciation by pouring onto the court after the game and hoisting Wilt up on their shoulders.
And what of the Big Fella? He was voted the MVP of the Finals, for which he received a Dodge station wagon from Sport magazine. Normally, the recipient received a sports car, but Wilt was granted his request for a station wagon—the better to transport his three Great Danes, he pointed out.
For years, he also used the Dodge to go back and forth to the beach, where he played volleyball, his passion in the years to come.
Two days after the victory, Wilt, resplendent in a raspberry-colored jumpsuit, was at Mamma Leone’s restaurant in New York, there to formally receive the keys to his new station wagon. It was at this occasion he revealed to the assembled press that his right wrist had been broken, not sprained, when he had fallen in Game 4. Wilt couldn’t resist pointing out that Bill Russell had questioned his desire after Game 7 in the 1969 Finals—the one where Butch van Breda Kolff refused to put Wilt back in for the final minutes of a game.
But the normally loquacious Wilt spoke little—he let the foot-long cast covering his wrist and arm do most of his talking that day. “Wilt played better in the playoffs than he did in the season,” said West. “He had an incredible year. Absolutely fantastic.”
-Cherry, Robert: "Wilt: Larger The Life"
70sFan wrote:I think you meant 1972 finals, right?
migya wrote:ty 4191 wrote:70sFan wrote:1970 Finals Game 7
One of the greatest performances in history!!
"But not all was well. Wilt had fallen in Game 4 and had, so the press reported, sprained his right wrist—the wrist of the hand he had refractured some weeks before.
According to Dr. Robert Kerlan, the Lakers team doctor, Wilt was “very, very doubtful” for Game 5. X-rays of his wrist taken the day before Game 5 revealed that Wilt didn’t have a sprained right wrist—he had a broken right wrist.
Wilt said after the series that only he and Dr. Kerlan were aware the wrist was broken, and both chose to keep quiet about the seriousness of the injury.
In newspaper accounts Wilt also said he had a hairline fracture on the base of the index finger of his right (shooting) hand and a bruised left hand. Other than that, he was in perfect health.
Frank O’Neill, the Lakers trainer, had purchased at a sporting goods store the kind of pads that defensive linemen used to wear in football games. The pads had a sponge in them to protect the back of the hand. These were placed on both of Wilt’s hands; in addition, his right hand was heavily swaddled in tape.
He refused to take a pain-killing injection in the right hand before the game, fearful that he might lose his touch and the “feel” for the ball, so critical in basketball.
With his headband, his knee pads, and both of his hands wrapped, Wilt looked like a gladiator.
Game 5 was close for three quarters, but then the Lakers, clearly the superior team, pulled away, winning 114–100 and finally capturing the NBA championship.
West had 23 points and, as was his wont, contributed in so many other aspects of the game—ballhandling and defense, to cite just two. Goodrich had 25; McMillian, 20; and Hairston, 13.
But the star of the game was Wilt, who had 24 points, 10 blocked shots (and forced the Knicks to hurry or to change the direction of many others), and 29 rebounds—more rebounds than the next three Lakers combined and only 10 fewer than the entire Knicks team.
The Forum fans, joyous and deliriously happy, showed their appreciation by pouring onto the court after the game and hoisting Wilt up on their shoulders.
And what of the Big Fella? He was voted the MVP of the Finals, for which he received a Dodge station wagon from Sport magazine. Normally, the recipient received a sports car, but Wilt was granted his request for a station wagon—the better to transport his three Great Danes, he pointed out.
For years, he also used the Dodge to go back and forth to the beach, where he played volleyball, his passion in the years to come.
Two days after the victory, Wilt, resplendent in a raspberry-colored jumpsuit, was at Mamma Leone’s restaurant in New York, there to formally receive the keys to his new station wagon. It was at this occasion he revealed to the assembled press that his right wrist had been broken, not sprained, when he had fallen in Game 4. Wilt couldn’t resist pointing out that Bill Russell had questioned his desire after Game 7 in the 1969 Finals—the one where Butch van Breda Kolff refused to put Wilt back in for the final minutes of a game.
But the normally loquacious Wilt spoke little—he let the foot-long cast covering his wrist and arm do most of his talking that day. “Wilt played better in the playoffs than he did in the season,” said West. “He had an incredible year. Absolutely fantastic.”
-Cherry, Robert: "Wilt: Larger The Life"
In light of all that, that's probably the greatest performance in nba history.