1960s NBA – Page 3 – From Way Downtown

Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell: A Decade of Battle, 1969

Russell or Chamberlain? How do you like your steak—rare, medium, or well done?

Cazzie Russell: Cazzie’s Corner, 1969

It’s Cazzie’s Corner now, and the Knicks brass is so impressed that they are even experimenting with Bill Bradley in the corner.

A Tribute to Bob Cousy, 1962

Basketball is an endless search for the “open” man today. An orthodox pass will never find him. Cousy has practiced the no-look feed so expertly, there have been movements to frisk him for mirrors.

Bob Boozer and the Early Chicago Bulls, 1969

Last season was an even better one for Boozer. He scored 1,655 points, 13th-best in the league, and led the Bulls with a 21.5 average.

Pat Riley: Taking the Man Inside, 1994

Riley believes that the only way to make a team out of isolated players is “to get them to do what they don’t want to do.” Yet he knows, too, that there are things certain players can never do.

The NBA’s Five Most-Underrated Players, 1968

If we missed your favorite underrated player, we’re sorry. But it just proves that you’re right—he’s so underrated, even the experts never got to him!

Jimmy Walker: Play It Again Sam, 1968

“All I saw or heard was how inconsistent I was playing. But the only way I can play consistently is to have consistent time, and for the last two years, it hasn’t been.”

Hal Greer: It Only Took a Second, 1965

The Celtics said that Greer bounced the ball before he shot his half push, half throw. Greer says he did not bounce the ball. “I just turned and took the shot. I did not dribble the ball.”

How the Boston Celtics Established a Dynasty, 1976

The guiding hand behind those brilliant personnel decisions was, of course, Auerbach, the feisty, little, self-proclaimed “dictator” of the Celtics, who is still the club’s general manager and still producing winners. There is no longer a dynasty in Boston simply because no new Bill Russell has come along—and probably never will.

Bill Sharman Sends Warriors on Warpath, 1967

Sharman, a sharp observer as a well as one of the finest shooters in the history of basketball, knew all about Auerbach’s methods and had a number of ideas of his own.