Post#24 » by penbeast0 » Sat Oct 9, 2010 1:05 pm
Interesting year. All the teams with winning records were in the Eastern division, led easily by Boston with the best record (6 games in front), the best SRS (over 3X that of the next best). It was Boston’s first time leading their division and first title despite having 3 HOFs for the previous few years (Cousy, Sharman, Macauley) as they added Heinsohn and Russell to replace Macauley. St. Louis also gets some credit for making it to the finals with a sweep over the Lakers.
BOSTON – Bob Cousy won the MVP with his Iverson like flashy game. However, of the Celtics 4 stars, he was the least efficient (21/5/7.5 .378 with 6.9fta) though that was around the league average (.380) and his assist totals were spectacular for the day; he also had his normal inefficient playoffs (.324) and was third on the team in playoff scoring despite the 50 point game against the Nats.
Sharman led the team in scoring and efficiency in the regular season (21/4/3.5 on .416 with 6.3fta @ .905ft%, but .381 with less fta in the playoffs. Heinsohn won ROY on (16/10/1.6 .397) with 4.8fta but then had a terrific playoff run (23/12/2 on .390).
Finally, Russell only played half the season as the first half he led the Olympic team to a gold medal with victory margins that exceeded the Dream Team’s dominance then came in a changed the league defensively plus putting up (15/20/1.8 on .427 with 6.4fta) and was even more dominant on the boards in the playoffs setting records with (15/24/3.2 on .365).
I’m less impressed with Cousy than the voters, Sharman was the best of the 3 Celtic scorers defensively and most efficient though Cousy dominated the ball and had the obvious talent (Sharman was purely a jump shooter). Add to that that Cousy and Sharman had never won the division or made it to the NBA finals in 4 seasons of Cousy/Sharman/Macauley (basically the Arenas/Butler/Jamison Wizards) and I think that including the postseason, Russell is the most valuable Celtic.
St. Louis had an unimpressive regular season but swept the rest of the West in the playoffs then took the Celtics to 7 games in the finals. Bob Pettit is probably my favorite pre-70s player other than maybe Gus Johnson and was the clear star of the team (25/15/2 .415 with 9.6fta in only 35 mpg – again, in a league shooting .380). And, unlike 1958 where I came in planning to vote for him but he slipped in the playoffs, this playoff he was even better (30/17/2.5 on .414)! (Quick note: Cliff Hagan in his rookie season only played about 15mpg during the season but showed what was to come in the playoffs finishing second on the team in scoring with 17/11/3 on .434).
Syracuse had the second best record in the league behind star Dolph Schayes (22.5/14/3 on .379 with 9.6fta @ .904ft%).
Philadelphia had the second best SRS (1.55 to Boston’s 4.79) behind stars Neil Johnston (23/12/3 on .447 with 9.4fta) and Paul Arizin (26/8/2 on .422 with 10fta).
Other players on the leaderboards included George Yardley of the Pistons (21.5/10.5/2 on .410 with 8.9fta), Maurice Stokes of the Royals in his second out of only 3 seasons before disease tragically cut him down (16/17/4.6 for 3rd in the league as a big man! on .347 with 5.3fta), and Clyde Lovellette of the Lakers (21/13.5/2 on .426 with 5.8fta).
My MVP votes:
1. Bob Pettit – full season plus big playoffs
2. Bill Russell – with a full season probably would vote for him
3. Dolph Schayes – 2nd best record eaten alive by Russell in the playoffs (.305 fg%)
4. Neil Johnston – Arizin disappeared in the playoffs altogether
5. Bill Sharman – More scoring, more efficiently than Cousy
“Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination,” Andrew Lang.
(55 average)
