THROWBACK THURSDAY: REMEMBERING RUSSELL
March 12 is an important day in the calendar of the Boston Celtics.
Since it was on March 12, 1972, that NBA’s winningest team decided to honor their legendary center Bill Russell and hang his No. 6 jersey on the rafters at TD Garden.
On this day of the week, which most of the people in the world choose as the day to remember a part of their past, let us refresh our memory of the 11-time NBA Champion that has iconized an era of dominance so great that it is yet to see a period of equal glamour.
BORN DOMINANT
When the Louisiana-born Russell first picked up a basketball, he was awkward, unremarkable and was average in terms of putting the rock through the hoop. But he always had great instinct in preventing others to score on his basket.
His size and his innate ability to defend earned him a scholarship at the University of San Francisco, where he developed his skills and honed his talent and became the dominant center that he will become in the NBA.
In three years with San Fran, the 6-9 center averaged 20 points and 20 rebounds per game. He was not a scoring machine as most of his baskets were from putbacks, and nicely set-up dunks, but his dominance on both ends of the court allowed him to lead his team to two consecutive NCAA championships.
LAST PIECE TO GREATNESS
In 1956, NBA powerhouse Boston had an offensive engine led by legendary guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, but their frontcourt had big hole and it has cost them championships in the past few seasons.
Celtics’ head coach and general manager Red Auerbach knew that Russell, the emerging draft-eligible center from USF, was the man to plug their weakness on the defensive end, and that last piece that will propel his side to greatness.
He was not wrong.
After working the phones and dealing with other GMs, Auerbach was able to ensure that they are to acquire Russell on Draft Day. In exchange for Russell, Auerbach gave up undersized center Ed Macauley and rookie Cliff Hagan to St. Louis, who picked Russell with the second overall pick of the 1956 Draft.
And the rest, was history. A 13-year, championship-filled history.
With the arrival of Russell, the already stacked team of Boston became the juggernaut that Auerbach imagined them to be.
Even in the NBA, Russell was far from a great scorer. During his rookie year, he only averaged 14.7 points on a poor 42.7% shooting. He shot 49.2% from the line, and had a True Shooting Percentage of 45%.
But his true worth is on the other side of the court, where his defensive instinct prevented teams from gaining momentum, and his dominance on rebounding allowed the Celtics to hoard possessions in the games.
And in the 1957 NBA Finals, Russell was able to lead the team to their first ever championship, not by scoring, but by defending and holding the team together.
The Celtics were on their way to another championship in the 1958 season, but Russell fell down with an ankle injury midway through the playoffs that rendered him ineffective for the rest of that term.
TEAM RUSSELL
When Russell returned for the 1959 season, he inspired the Celtics to win eight straight championships, including seasons without the retired great guard Cousy.
In 1966, after Boston nabbed their ninth consecutive championship Auerbach retired, leaving the reins to Russell, who opted to suit up as player-coach for the Celtics. Russell failed to extend the championship run in 1967, when they lost to Philadelphia 76ers in the Conference Final.
He was able to lead the Celtics back to form in the 1968 season, when he led them to defeat Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the NBA Finals. Russell, on his third season as playing coach, once again faced and prevailed over the Lakers in the 1969 Finals.
With 11 rings and five NBA season MVP awards in his 13 years in the league, Russell decided to quit while on the top of his game, and mark a career so successful that no player has even hoped to repeat it.
BASKETBALL EPITOMIZED
According to his peers and rivals, Russell was the truest basketball player- one that would rather work with a team, than carry one. He was gifted with length and instincts, but it was his understanding of team quality that allowed him to push sides to greater success.
He never asked for the ball too much, and will always sacrifice his body just to make the better basketball play. His own brand of defense influenced how much the game has evolved throughout the years.
Russell was just 6-9, and was not as muscular and heavy as other centers of the time. His success in defense and rebounding is born more of preparation than brute strength. His anticipation of opponents’ attacks, and his calculation of the ball’s bounce dictated much of his actions.
But his best trait is being able to hold everything together, that ability to anchor defenses, to know and tell his teammates when to attack and when to slow the game down.
“There are two types of superstars. One makes himself look good at the expense of others, and one who makes the players around him look better, and that’s the type of star that Russell was,” said Celtics legend Don Nelson of the Boston icon.
Wilt Chamberlain, Russell’s contemporary and greatest rival, had put up great numbers when being put up against the Boston great. But Russell does not mind those kinds of things, as he always claimed that basketball is a five-man sport and the only thing that matters is the final score.
Even today, Russell always decides to shy away from being ranked as one of the greatest players to ever step on a basketball court. He always cites that winning basketball games and championships require the best effort from all five men on the team.
STATUS STAMPED
Russell reappeared on the NBA scene in 1973 as head coach and general manager of the Seattle Super Sonics. He had little success, having only two winning seasons in four years before leaving again. He returned to action in 1988 when he took over the Sacramento Kings, but left again after one season when his team suffered a 17-41 losing record.
But nobody will really ever care if Russell is a disappointing GM or head coach, as it was his skills and mentality on the court that have earned him all the praises during his short career in the league.
In 1970, Russell was named as a member of the NBA’s 25th Anniversary All-Time Team. In 1972, his jersey number was forever etched to TD Garden when the Celtics retired the Number 6 from the roster, before he was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame two years later.
On the NBA’s 35th Anniversary, Russell was once again included in the All-Time Team, and was voted as the Greatest Player in the history of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America. In 2009, the league honored Russell by naming the NBA Finals MVP award the Bill Russell trophy.
Chamberlain might be claimed as one of the NBA’s best two-way monsters, and Michael Jordan and his all-around brilliance might have earned him the nickname “Greatest of All Time”, though none of them come close to Russell when it comes to winning games and titles.
The league will never run out of stars. There will some Kobe Bryants, some LeBron James, and Kevin Durants to come. But until the league sees another winner like Russell, his status and legacy will never be forgotten.
Story from NBA.com, stats from basketball-reference.com
Photo by NBA
