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00:25Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney, and welcome to ESPN Classics'
00:28Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame, a series that takes a fresh look at sports personalities
00:32who are remembered largely for their mistakes, controversial moments, or questionable decisions.
00:38Our mission is to challenge conventional wisdom and re-examine what has been accepted
00:42as fact.
00:43Through the prism of history, nuances of the whole story have been shortened and distorted.
00:47In this show, we focus on one of the all-time great talents in the history of sports.
00:52We'll count down the reasons why you can't blame Wilt Chamberlain, the dominant NBA player
00:56of his time for repeatedly losing to Bill Russell in the Boston Celtics.
01:00First, let's look back at the legendary rivalry to learn exactly why Wilt the Stilt has been
01:05criticized for losing to Russell's Celtics in seven of eight playoff series.
01:12Wilt Chamberlain's reputation coming out of high school was that he was so big and so
01:17overwhelming that nobody could ever deal with him on a basketball court.
01:20Jimmy Breslin wrote a famous article that was in the Saturday Evening Post.
01:25How many people in any sport has that been said, that the person is going to destroy the game?
01:32His first game was against New York in the Garden.
01:35He scored 40 points.
01:36He scored so many points so easily that it became an expected thing.
01:42Everybody talks about the 100-point game.
01:44I talk about that season.
01:46That season, he averaged 50 points a game.
01:48How about 55 rebounds in one game?
01:52How about the fact that in one season, he averaged over 26 rebounds?
01:58How do you stop the guy?
02:00There's only one way to do it with an axe.
02:03He was the greatest physical specimen that anybody has ever seen on a basketball court.
02:08And one guy was David to his Goliath.
02:13One team, you mean.
02:22Wilt's tremendous size and power and strength against Russell's finesse and wiliness was just a great thing to see.
02:30Everybody has exactly the same memory that by 4.30 on a Sunday, Bill Russell was walking off winning and
02:38Wilt Chamberlain was walking off losing.
02:40In the duel that lasted a decade, Russell's Celtics had an 86-57 edge over the teams on which Chamberlain
02:48played.
02:49More significantly, of the eight postseason series in which they met, Boston won seven.
02:55In the 1960s, when their careers overlapped, Russell earned nine championship rings to Wilt's one.
03:03When you have a guy that's seven feet and who had a tremendous amount of talent, if his team lost,
03:11the fame was going to point at him.
03:13Things came too easy for him.
03:15That was his problem.
03:16He got a little lazy at times and decided, oh, I don't need to play tonight.
03:21If he had one-third of Russ's intensity, God, he would have been even more awesome than he was.
03:29Chamberlain was concerned about Chamberlain.
03:34He was in love with his stats.
03:37Wilt was the first one to get a stat sheet at halftime and he'd come over and question whether or
03:42not he got enough rebounds.
03:43Chamberlain would say, what do you mean?
03:45Yeah, he was definitely, yeah, he was the, he was the original stat patter in basketball.
03:52Nobody will dispute that.
03:54I will not dispute that.
03:56Russell held me.
03:57I got 35 points.
03:59I got 21 rebounds.
04:01He only got 19.
04:02So that in Chamberlain's way of assessing things, he won.
04:07It wasn't a matter of Wilt versus Russell with Bill.
04:12It was a matter of who won.
04:14Russell was a master of psychology.
04:17At times, he'd let Wilt score so that the ball would keep going to Wilt and the rest of the
04:21guys never got involved.
04:22And then he'd shut Wilt down.
04:24Russell would go to dinner at Chamberlain's house and eat his mother's food, be the great gentleman, and then go
04:30out and beat his butt at night, win the game.
04:32A lot of people thought that Russell sort of suckered in that.
04:37If I'm Wilt Chamberlain, I'm not going to let Bill Russell do them psych jobs on me.
04:42I'm not eating dinner with you.
04:44I'm not coming over to kick back.
04:47Uh-uh.
04:48Wilt went through that stuff.
04:51Whether Chamberlain was lulled by Russell, the popular perception is that, despite setting career records in rebounding and scoring, he
04:59was not at his best when it counted most.
05:02Bill Russell understood how to make his team better.
05:07I don't think Wilt really ever understood that.
05:10Wilt was very sensitive to the fact that he was labeled a loser.
05:14And he said, well, I'm Goliath.
05:15Nobody loves me anyway.
05:17Goliath was a loser.
05:18I think it's the will and the mind of Russell that will always dominate him.
05:24He wanted it more.
05:27You've just seen why Wilt Chamberlain is blamed for his inability to slow down Bill Russell and the Celtics.
05:33We're going to count down the top five reasons you can't blame Wilt later in this show.
05:36But first, here are some other points to be made on his behalf.
05:39We call them the best of the rest.
05:43Upbringing.
05:43Wilt's background forged a gentle giant.
05:47In the case of Wilt, because he did grow up in a mixed environment where he had white students along
05:54with black students,
05:56he was exposed probably a lot more to that culture at an early age than a Bill Russell.
06:02We didn't experience that much racism back then.
06:06Wilt was dating white girls back in high school.
06:09So it wasn't a thing that he was afraid.
06:13In contrast to Chamberlain's racially diverse surroundings in West Philadelphia,
06:18Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana,
06:20where African Americans lived under the spiritually crushing weight of state segregation laws,
06:26known as Jim Crow.
06:28The proprietor asked me what I wanted.
06:30I said, this is a restaurant, isn't it?
06:32I'd like to get something to eat.
06:34He told me no.
06:35So I walked out.
06:37West always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder.
06:40It was mostly whitey he was going against.
06:43And he would, this would trigger this emotional release.
06:47In other words, he was, I think he was fighting new racial battle on the floor.
06:52And from our standpoint, it worked wonderfully.
06:55I don't think Wilt Chamberlain ever played a game with hate, of hate in his life.
06:59Never, never, never hated anybody.
07:01He would dunk on guys, and if they put their hand up to block it,
07:06he could have probably broken their hand.
07:08He would let the ball go.
07:09That wasn't his makeup.
07:10His makeup was, I don't really want to hurt anybody.
07:15We are victims of our own personalities.
07:18And whatever your personality is, you have to follow that.
07:20And Wilt was the general person.
07:23What can you do about it?
07:25Another best of the rest occurred in Game 7 of the 1968 Eastern Division Final.
07:31Wilt didn't get the ball.
07:33Chamberlain was under heavy media attack after he took just two shots
07:37in the second half of a 100-96 loss to Boston.
07:42But you can't shoot what you don't have.
07:44Nobody can fault Wilt Chamberlain.
07:47It's mind-boggling that the ball didn't get into Wilt.
07:51Where's Hal Greer? Where's Wiley Jones?
07:53What were they doing out there?
07:54Why was the ball not getting to Wilt?
07:56The fact that he was our centerpiece and not to get the ball into him was an error.
08:01In a typical 76ers game, the ball would go into Wilt inside 15 times a quarter
08:08in that memorable seventh game.
08:11In the second half, the ball went into Wilt seven times.
08:15Five times in the third quarter, two times.
08:18In the fourth quarter of the most important quarter, in the most important game of the season.
08:24You can't blame a ball player that doesn't touch it for seven times.
08:27You can't perform without the ball.
08:31Rule changes.
08:33Wilt was punished for his size and talent.
08:36This is a man that they actually had to change rules to slow him down
08:40and give other people a chance against him.
08:43Think of all the rule changes we had.
08:45The widening of the lane.
08:46I went to 16, trying to neutralize the big guy's power underneath.
08:50You know, the offensive goaltending.
08:52You know, they throw an alley-oop today.
08:55Well, back in the day, when Guy Rogers used to make that pass to Wilt,
09:01they used to outlaw that because they call that guiding the ball into the basket.
09:07They weren't allowed to throw the ball over the backboard.
09:09They found out that Wilt could jump to the top of the backboard, so they outlawed that.
09:13They used to take free throws like a broad jumper.
09:16Wilt could dunk the ball from the foul line without running, so they put in a rule.
09:21You can't dunk the basketball from the foul line.
09:25Those are incredible things.
09:27Decades later, in 1997, at the 50th anniversary celebration of the NBA,
09:33Chamberlain succinctly defined how the modern game had changed to its chief beneficiary.
09:39Wilt said to Michael, hey, just remember, little guy,
09:42when you played, they changed all the rules to make it easier for you to dominate.
09:48When I played, they changed everything to make it more difficult.
09:53End of conversation.
09:55Advantage, Wilt Chamberlain.
09:58Did that reason grab you?
10:00If not, we've got four more to go.
10:02Here's reason number four.
10:05The luck of the leprechaun.
10:07Chamberlain's teams lost four Game 7s to Russell Celtics,
10:12all by a grand total of nine points.
10:15In these crucial final seconds, neither Wilt or Russell was involved in the critical plays.
10:21He was not the reasons his team lost.
10:24In Game 7 of the 1962 Eastern Division Final,
10:28Chamberlain scored Philadelphia's final five points,
10:30which included a three-point play to tie the game.
10:33But the Stilt's efforts were transcended by a long-range marksman.
10:38Sam Jones.
10:40Him.
10:41Paul Ayers in.
10:44Shot 4-22 from the field and a two-point loss.
10:47Which came off a pick, took a deep set shot, just happened to make it.
10:51How do you blame Wilt Chamberlain for that defeat?
10:54As Tom Mishuri, one of his teammates, said to me,
10:57but for Wilt, we wouldn't have been there.
11:01Three years later, in 1965,
11:04Chamberlain took over in the second half of Game 7.
11:08We were down like ten points, deep into the third quarter.
11:12And Wilt just came alive.
11:14And he was crushing people.
11:16He made Russell look like a college player.
11:19It was five seconds to go.
11:20We were one point ahead, and Russell took the ball out of bounds.
11:26And he threw a gun over his head to throw to somebody,
11:29and he forgot the wire was there.
11:31And the ball hit the wire.
11:33Russell came into the timeout and said,
11:35I screwed up, somebody get me off the hook.
11:37If they had scored, they would have won the championship,
11:40and we obviously felt that they were going to go into Chamberlain.
11:50There's a game.
11:54One error, one bad pass.
11:56It wasn't Wilt.
11:58Wilt was on the basket.
12:02Chamberlain and Russell faced each other for the last time
12:05in Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals.
12:08With his Lakers down by seven,
12:11Chamberlain limped to the sideline
12:12with 5-19 left in the fourth quarter.
12:16He was hurting, and I know he was hurting.
12:18He wasn't one of those players that would ever take himself over.
12:21He hated to come out of the game.
12:23Is it better for him to hobble up and down the floor
12:26against a running team like the Boston Celtics,
12:29or was it better for him to go off,
12:31try to see if he can gather himself,
12:34and then say,
12:35Hey, coach.
12:38Hey, coach.
12:40This isn't somebody that's just down on the bench.
12:43This is number 13.
12:45Hey, coach.
12:47I'm ready to go back in.
12:49The ass go back in that game.
12:51He came up like he was willing to go back in.
12:54He could go back in.
12:55And if I remember correctly the words I said,
12:57and I've said them off enough,
12:58so we're playing better without you.
13:00The Celtics go on to defeat Los Angeles in that game.
13:04Again, the leprechaun working for the men from Boston.
13:08The Celtics prevailed 108-106,
13:11and Chamberlain was cast as the scapegoat.
13:16Whatever criticism he received was unfair.
13:19Van Bredakoff thought that they could win without Will.
13:22He was wrong, and soon afterwards,
13:25he was not coaching the Lakers.
13:28Will lost four games in a total of nine points.
13:31It wasn't Will that caused the demise of the team.
13:35Can't blame one individual.
13:41Coaching instability.
13:43Chamberlain played for eight coaches
13:44in his 14 years in the NBA.
13:47Eight different coaches means
13:49eight different styles of play.
13:52He had to adjust to every one.
13:55And it wasn't fair.
13:56He never had the system,
13:57and he didn't have the great coach
13:59and motivator that Russell had.
14:01In 1959,
14:03Chamberlain began his NBA career
14:05with head coach Neil Johnston,
14:07who was overwhelmed with Will that first year.
14:10After the 1961 season,
14:13Johnson was replaced as Philadelphia Warriors coach
14:15by Frank McGuire.
14:18Will and his teams would have won more championships
14:21if Frank McGuire were his coach
14:23for three or four, never mind five or six years.
14:26But the promise of a long association
14:28with the legendary coach
14:30was broken after a year
14:31when the Warriors moved to San Francisco
14:34and McGuire wouldn't go.
14:35He was replaced by Bob Farrick.
14:38For their first year in San Francisco,
14:40they had a horrible year.
14:41They were about 20 games below the prior year.
14:44They'd never coached again.
14:46Wilt's world brightened in 1963
14:48when Alex Hannum became his fourth coach
14:50in five seasons.
14:52We went from a team loss
14:53to winning the division
14:55in playing for the world's title
14:56against Boston.
14:58But Chamberlain's tenure
14:59in the city by the bay
15:00ended in January of 1965
15:02when he was traded back to Philadelphia
15:05where a team called the 76ers
15:07had been established.
15:08Coach number five was Dolph Shaves,
15:11whose story toughness as an NBA player
15:13was not manifest on the bench.
15:16Dolph was too soft,
15:17too easy,
15:18and Wilt just hardly listened to Dolph.
15:24But help was on the way.
15:26Chamberlain was reunited with Hannum
15:28for the 1966-67 season
15:31and led the 76ers to the NBA title.
15:34Wilt Chamberlain's never been a loser,
15:36in my opinion.
15:37He's always done what he was asked to do.
15:39Wilt appreciated Hannum's approach
15:42to basketball and to life.
15:44And I thought,
15:45gee, if he had had Hannum
15:47for a long period of time,
15:49he don't want two or three titles.
15:51But after two seasons
15:52with Hannum in Philadelphia,
15:54Chamberlain was traded to the Lakers.
15:56A year under coach number six,
15:58Butch Van Bredekoff,
15:59and two more under coach number seven,
16:02Joe Mullaney,
16:03did not result in a second ring
16:04for Chamberlain.
16:05Then, in the 1972 season,
16:08coach number eight, Bill Sharman,
16:10led Wilt and the Lakers
16:11to 33 straight victories
16:13and the promised land.
16:18I don't think he really reached
16:20the epitome of what he could have been
16:22as a player
16:22until he ran into Bill Sharman
16:24as a coach with the Lakers.
16:26He never had the continuity
16:28of one particular coach,
16:30nor did he have the benefit
16:32of one specific system.
16:34The fact that he played
16:35with a lot of coaches,
16:36blame the coaches.
16:39That brings us to reason number two.
16:41The numbers don't lie.
16:43In their 143 confrontations,
16:46Chamberlain averaged 29 points,
16:48twice as much as Russell,
16:50and 28 rebounds,
16:52four and a half more
16:53than the Celtics center.
16:55If you statistically match
16:57what he did against Bill Russell,
16:59it was no match at all.
17:01If Russell owned Wilt,
17:04he must have let Wilt score
17:06a whole lot of points
17:07and grab a whole lot of rebounds
17:08after the game was decided
17:09because Wilt put up
17:11awesome numbers
17:12against Russell.
17:13Chamberlain holds the NBA.
17:17Outscored and out-rebounded
17:18Bill Russell like he did
17:21everybody else.
17:23It's a freaking joke
17:25to insinuate anything otherwise.
17:29Record of having taken down
17:3155 rebounds in a game.
17:34And guess who was
17:35the opposing center?
17:36Bill Russell.
17:37In those days,
17:38they didn't keep blocked shots.
17:40I kept them through
17:40all games in Wilt play.
17:42Russell blocked shots.
17:43But not as many as Wilt.
17:45There were games
17:46when he absolutely abused Russell.
17:47But Russell's teams always won.
17:49So he left this impression
17:50that Russell owned Chamberlain.
17:54The Celtics dynasty.
17:56They won 11 championships
17:57in 13 years.
18:00Unfortunately,
18:00from Wilt's standpoint,
18:02he was judged
18:03as an individual
18:04against a team.
18:05What the Celtics had going
18:06has never been duplicated
18:08in professional sports.
18:10I mean, Wilt,
18:10he never had a chance.
18:12It was all working against him.
18:13We had eight
18:15Hall of Famers
18:16come out of those
18:17late 50,
18:19early 60 teams.
18:20The Boston Eight
18:22were Bob Cousy,
18:24Bill Sharman,
18:26Tom Heinsohn,
18:27Frank Ramsey,
18:29John Havlicek,
18:31Sam Jones,
18:33Casey Jones,
18:34and Russell.
18:35Although they did not
18:37all play together
18:38at the same time,
18:39Russell was there
18:40for all 11 titles,
18:42lifting them
18:43to a higher place.
18:46They played basketball
18:48the way the game should be.
18:50The idea of playing defense,
18:52the idea of unselfishness,
18:55and the catalyst to that
18:56was Bill Russell.
18:57The Celtics,
18:58they could match Bill up
18:59with all these
19:00offensive players,
19:01and Bill was a great
19:04defensive player
19:05and rebounder.
19:06Boston Quintet dazzles
19:07the St. Louis Hawks
19:08with their fast-break attack.
19:10The Celtics sustained
19:11their excellence
19:12primarily because
19:13Red Auerbach
19:14kept infusing the team
19:15with fresh talent.
19:16When Sharman,
19:17Kuzi,
19:18and Ramsey retired,
19:20Auerbach was ready
19:20with replacements
19:21in Sam Jones,
19:23Casey Jones,
19:24and Havlicek.
19:25The Celtics were
19:26head and shoulders
19:29above anybody
19:30in the NBA
19:31in terms of an organization.
19:32That's how Boston
19:33stayed on top so long.
19:34They kept weaving them together.
19:36When you do that
19:37to a team,
19:37and you get the chemistry right,
19:38that's how you win
19:39a basketball game.
19:40That kind of stability
19:41is an incredible part
19:42of Russell's success
19:44as opposed to
19:45what Wilt went through.
19:46We were a terrific
19:48basketball team
19:50that relied on
19:52all the people to win,
19:54and they just went
19:54to Wilt.
19:58Between Chamberlain's
19:59rookie season of 1960
20:01and Russell's retirement
20:02in 1969,
20:04the Celtics lost
20:05only one playoff series,
20:07falling in five games
20:08to Wilt and the Sixers
20:09in 1967.
20:11No other team,
20:13much less any other
20:14single player,
20:15conquered Boston.
20:16If you blame
20:17Wilt Chamberlain,
20:18you have to blame
20:19every player of that era.
20:21How does Wilt Chamberlain
20:22get more criticism?
20:23Oscar,
20:24Elgin,
20:24Baylor,
20:25Jerry West,
20:26who never beat
20:27Bill Russell at all?
20:29That makes sense.
20:30Bob Pettit,
20:31Elgin Baylor,
20:32Jerry West,
20:32Oscar Robertson,
20:35Bob Pettit beat Bill Russell
20:38like second try.
20:40All failed,
20:41and they failed
20:42for one reason.
20:43The Boston Celtics
20:44had immortal teams.
20:47One superstar can't win.
20:49The bane of Wilt Chamberlain's
20:52adult existence
20:53was being called a loser.
20:55He thought it was undeserved.
20:56People who know the game
20:58think it's undeserved.
20:59Even someone as great
21:00as Wilt Chamberlain
21:02couldn't overcome
21:03the balance,
21:04offense,
21:05the stability,
21:06and the great defense
21:07of Bill Russell's
21:08Boston Celtics.
21:12There you have it.
21:13The top five reasons
21:14you can't blame
21:14Wilt Chamberlain
21:15for repeatedly losing
21:16to Bill Russell
21:17and the Boston Celtics.
21:19Maybe we changed your mind.
21:20Maybe we didn't.
21:21But hopefully we made you
21:22think about one of the
21:23all-time greats
21:24in a different light.
21:25I'm Brian Kenney.
21:26Thanks for joining us.
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