1. Bill Russell shut down Wilt -- According to Sixer stat man Harvey Pollack, Wilt and Russell squared off 142 times. Wilt averaged 28.7 points and 28.7 rebounds in those games. Russell averaged 23.7 points and 14.5 rebounds against Wilt (Russell's career average was 22.5 and Wilt's was 22.9, so it sure looks like Russell wasn't controlling the boards in those games!) Wilt had a 62 point game on January 14, 1962, in Boston and had 6 other games of 50 points against Russell. The most Russell ever scored against Wilt was 37, and he had only two other 30-point games.
Wilt grabbed an NBA-record 55 rebounds against Russell on November 24, 1960, and had six other games of at least 40 rebounds against Russell. When the Sixers beat the Celtics in the 1967 playoffs, Wilt averaged 22 points, 32 rebounds, and 10 assists -- a triple double-- against Russell! In the clinching game 5, he had 29 points, 36 rebounds, and 13 assists. If all of this is being "shut down" then Michael Jordan has been shut down by the Cleveland Cavaliers during his entire career. Michael Cooper shut down Larry Bird in the finals, because the Lakers beat the Celtics 2 out of 3 times! If this is being "shut down", then there isn't a player in the NBA that hasn't been "shut down" every single night of his career!
Russell.......... 20 P (7/14 fg/ 6/7 FT)......15 R......4 A
Chamberlain.. 24 P (9/13 FG/ 6/10 FT)...32 R......13 A
Russell........... 14 P(5/14 FG/ 5/6 FT).....24 R.......4A
Chamberlain.. 15 P(5/11 FG/ 5/9 FT).....29 R.......5A
Russell........... 10 P (3/13 FG/ 4/5 FT)....29R........9A
Chamberlain... 20 P (8/14 FG/ 4/8FT).... 41R.......9A
Russell........... 9P ( 2/7 FG/ 5/9 FT).......28R........5A
Chamberlain....2OP ( 8/18 FG/ 4/11 FT)..22R.......10A
Russell............4P (2/5 FG/ 0/1FT).........21 R......7A
Chamberlain...29P(10/16FG/ 9/17 FT)...36 R......13A
1)Wilt his scoring average is 30,1 PPG. Against Russel he scores 28, 7 PPG. The fg% is about the same. So if you give Russell 100% credit than the greatest defensive player ever caused Wilt to score 1,4 ppg less. Chamberlain still scored 14, 2 ppg more than Russell. On the other hand Russell his career rebounding average is 22,5. Chamberlain his career average is 22,9. Russell is plus 0,8, Chamberlain is plus 6,8. So Chamberlain destroyed Russell on the boards. I can see why somebody should say that Russell was outplayed bij Chamberlain, but the opposite point can not be made. The more talented Celtic teams beat the Chamberlain teams almost every time, that is true.
2) Chamberlain attempted 26,1 shots per play off game in the first stage(score as much as possible) of his career, he scored 50, 5 % of his fg's. Chamberlain attempted 31, 4 shots in the regular season of the first stage of his career. He scored his fg at 51 %. So the reason that he scored less is for the biggest part that he attempted less (26,1 shots versus 31,4 shots) and not that his fg% was lower ( 50, 5 versus 51) Those are the facts. So no myth, but the way it was. We can also remark that he took 26, 3 rpg in the playoffs and 24,8 rpg in the regular season (both for the first stage of his career)
Sauru wrote:i think its just one of those things where if you hold a player like wilt to 20 people say you dominated him, and its really stupid imo. like now if kobe would only drop 18 in game 7 and even if they won some jerk would come here and say someone from the suns shut him down. 18 points is not being shut down no matter who does it.
Sauru wrote:sometimes it is good to let the star shoot alot. like when iverson will score 47 but only shoot 31%. thats a good thing to me if i was going against him. shooting that much and that poorly almost always takes your teammates out of the game. thats why i have always felt being able to talk people into bad shots is a highly underrated skill(can you really call it a skill?)
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