“Bill Russell Breaks Silence: What He Really Thinks About Wilt Chamberlain After ’66 Eastern Division Finals Victory!”

“Bill Russell Breaks Silence: What He Really Thinks About Wilt Chamberlain After ’66 Eastern Division Finals Victory!”

Bill Russell said, “I’m not saying anything bad about Wilt Chamberlain,” following the ’66 Eastern Division Finals victory.
Following the 1966 Eastern Division Finals, Russell would not speak poorly of his bitter adversary.

could match Wilt Chamberlain’s colossal stature; but, his total number of championships was insignificant in comparison to Bill Russell’s vast collection, as the latter eventually ran out of fingers to count his multiple victories.

On the one hand, Wilt’s supporters contend that the continual pressure he faced to be the best player on every team contributed to his two championship victories. Another criticism is that Wilt didn’t have the same cast of supporting characters as Russell; Wilt’s critics also wrote him off as a simple stat-paddler.

But after the Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Division Finals in the 1966 NBA Playoffs, the five-time MVP freely expressed his feelings about the eleven-time Rebound Champion.

Bill Russell and the Celtics were too strong for the Sixers.
Chamberlain finally gained the upper hand against Russell during the 1965–66 regular season. In addition to winning MVP honors, his Sixers’ remarkable 55-25 record allowed them to defeat Boston for the first seed in the Eastern Conference.

But when the two teams met in the Conference Finals, “The Big Dipper” scored 25 points and pulled down 32 rebounds, but the Celtics humiliated the Sixers with a 19-point loss in the first meeting. As if that loss weren’t agonizing enough, Boston triumphed handily 21 points later to take a decisive 2-0 lead in the series.

The Celtics defeated the 76ers in five games, even though Chamberlain’s average of 28.0 points and 30.2 rebounds per game eclipsed Russell’s average of 5.6 points and 26.2 rebounds per game. After defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Championship round, this triumph helped them secure their eighth consecutive championship.

Russell remarked, “I think this is a team game.” “I have nothing negative to say about Wilt Chamberlain. I chose him as the Most Valuable Player because he had a fantastic season.”

The eleven-time NBA Champion mentioned in closing that the Celtics were determined to silence those who thought their team’s dominance stemmed from the luxury of finishing series at home.