Jerry West | ||
| Full Name: Jerry Alan West Born: 5/28/38 in Chelyan, W. Va. High School: East Bank (W. Va.) College: West Virginia Drafted: Minneapolis Lakers (1960) Height: 6-2 Weight: 185 lbs. Nickname: Mr. Clutch | Honors: Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame (1980); NBA Finals MVP (1969); NBA Champion (1972); All-NBA First Team (1962-'67, '70-'73); All-NBA Second Team (1968, '69); NBA All-Defensive Team (1970-73); NBA Champion (1972); 14-time NBA All-Star (1961-'74); NBA All-Star MVP (1972); Olympic gold medalist (1960); NBA 35th Anniversay Team (1980); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996). | |
Combine a deadly jump shot, tenacious defense, obsessive perfectionism, unabashed confidence, and an uncompromising will to win, and you've got Jerry West, one of the greatest guards in NBA history.
During his 14-year playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers, West became synonymous with brilliant basketball. He was the third player in league history to reach 25,000 points (after Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson). He was an All-Star every year of his career and led Los Angeles to the NBA Finals nine times. He left the game holding records for career postseason scoring and the highest average in a playoff series.
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West was motivated by a relentless drive to succeed. Years after a game in which he hit 16 of 17 shots from the field, sank all 12 free throw attempts, and notched 12 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 blocked shots, West told the National Sports Daily, "Defensively, from a team standpoint, I didn't feel I played very well. Very rarely was I satisfied with how I played." This obsessive quest for perfection was a constant during West's playing years, and it continued in his later roles as coach and general manager of the Lakers and, currently, as president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Equally legendary was West's tolerance for pain. Not blessed with great size, strength, or dribbling ability, West made up for these deficiencies with pure hustle and an apparent lack of regard for his body. He broke his nose at least nine times. On more than one occasion West had to be helped to the court before games in which he ultimately scored 30 or 40 points.
Despite a level of intensity so high it could melt lead, West was one of the most admired and well-liked figures in professional basketball. His ferocity rarely, if ever, rubbed players, coaches or fans the wrong way. After the Lakers' heartbreaking loss to the Boston Celtics in the 1969 NBA Finals, John Havlicek walked up to West and said, "Jerry, I love you." Such comments were not uncommon.
Like many NBA stars, West came from humble beginnings. His first nickname, "Zeke from Cabin Creek," was actually based on faulty information. He grew up in Cheylan, W. Va., although his family got its mail in Cabin Creek. He was the son of a coal mine electrician who could afford no luxuries and who was usually too drained from work to play with his children. Jerry's closest brother, David, was killed in the Korean War when Jerry was only 12. The tragedy turned young Jerry inward, forcing him to develop his own coping mechanisms.
A smallish youth, West didn't make his junior high football, baseball or track teams. His only outlet was a basketball hoop nailed to a storage shed outside a neighbor's house. The dirt-covered court became his domain. In the rainy spring he dribbled in mud. When it snowed West played wearing gloves. He practiced shooting until his fingers bled. He taught himself his quick shot release by bouncing the last dribble hard off the ground. Until he got it right, the ball would frequently hit and bruise his face. After practice he would listen to West Virginia University Mountaineers basketball games on the radio.
West completely immersed himself in practice, often neglecting to eat. His mother lashed him when he showed up hours late for dinner. He became so thin that he had to receive vitamin injections. But the practice paid off. He made the varsity squad at East Bank High School, although he mostly sat on the bench during his junior year. Over the next summer he grew six more inches. As a 6-foot senior, West became the first prep player in state history to score 900 points in a season, averaging 32.2 points. With West's hot hand leading the way, East Bank won the 1956 state title.
Naturally, West enrolled at West Virginia University. With the Mountaineers he averaged 24.8 ppg and was twice named an All-America. The team reached the NCAA Championship Game in 1959 but lost to the University of California. In five postseason games that year, West scored a total of 160 points, presaging his later playoff heroics. The following year he and Oscar Robertson led an extremely talented U.S. squad to a gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
The Minneapolis Lakers chose West with the second overall pick behind Robertson in the 1960 NBA Draft. Emboldened by the success of the westward-bound Brooklyn Dodgers and faced with the dilemma of finding a site for its home games, the Lakers franchise moved to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season. The team had posted a 25-50 record in its last season in Minneapolis.
With Elgin Baylor ("Mr. Inside") scoring nearly 35 ppg and West ("Mr. Outside") contributing 17.6 ppg, the Lakers improved to 36-43 and finished in second place in the Western Division. They edged the Detroit Pistons in the division semifinals but then lost to the St. Louis Hawks in the division finals.
During the remaining 13 seasons of West's playing career the Lakers missed the Finals only four times. However, the Lakers and West came out on the losing end in eight of those nine Finals. Six of the losses came at the hands of the powerhouse Celtics. A few months before winning the title against the Knicks in 1972, West told Family Weekly, "It would almost be better not to get to the playoffs at all than to go so far but no further."
 When the chips were down, West, with his lightning-quick release, was the guy the Lakers turned to for the big basket. Many players have been tagged with the nickname "Mr. Clutch," but none of them lived up to it as well as West did. |
Unrealistic or not, West the perfectionist propelled the Lakers to the Finals repeatedly in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1961-62 West established himself as a deadly scoring threat in only his second year in the league. That year he averaged 30.8 ppg, the first of four seasons in which he averaged better than 30 points. The Lakers had risen from third place in the division to first since West's arrival, posting a 54-26 record. In the playoffs West averaged 31.5 ppg.
The Lakers' seven-game defeat at the hands of the Celtics in the 1962 NBA Finals was particularly heartbreaking. After taking the series lead on Baylor's then record 61-point performance in Game 5, Los Angeles dropped the next two. In Game 7 a 15-foot Frank Selvy jumper at the buzzer that would have won the game in regulation bounced off the rim. Boston won in overtime, 110-107.
Although West enjoyed great individual success during his prime, the team's record is a study in frustration -- "unbelievable frustration" is how West described it to the Los Angeles Times Magazine. During the nine seasons from 1962 to 1970 the Lakers reached the Finals six times, losing to Boston five times and to the Knicks once. Three of the Finals went seven games, with the Lakers losing two of those Game 7 contests to the Celtics by a single basket. And in 1969, as in 1962, the Lakers led Boston after five games only to drop the last two contests.
Despite the Lakers' failure to win more league titles, most of West's legendary exploits came during the postseason. In the 1965 NBA Playoffs, West averaged 40.6 ppg over 11 contests; his 46.3 ppg average against Baltimore in the division finals was a record for a six-game series.
In 1965-66, West had another stellar year, averaging 31.3 ppg and finishing behind only Chamberlain in the scoring race. He also ranked fourth in both assists (6.1 apg) and free- throw percentage (.860). In the playoffs he kept up his torrid scoring pace, averaging 34.2 ppg over 14 contests. Boston won another NBA Finals matchup, prevailing in Game 7 at Boston Garden, 95-93.
In the 1969 NBA Finals against Boston, West became the only member of a losing team ever to win the Finals MVP Award. And in the 1970 NBA Finals against New York, West launched the famous bomb that, at least briefly, resuscitated the Lakers. The Knicks' Walt Frazier recalled thinking as West let the miracle shot fly, "The man's crazy. He looks determined. He thinks it's really going in!" It did, sending Game 3 into overtime. New York, however, won the game and the title. "It was a beautiful thing wasted," West later said.
As players on a perennial bridesmaid team, West and Baylor were frequently eclipsed by Chamberlain, Robertson and Bill Russell, who collectively won virtually every Most Valuable Player Award during West's and Baylor's most productive years. Although both ranked among the top four leading scorers in history when they retired, neither man ever won the award. Still, West was named to the All-NBA First Team 10 times in his career, and he was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in four of his final five seasons.
Prior to the 1971-72 season the 33-year-old West was considering retirement. He thought of the broken noses, the broken hands, the pulled muscles and the lost championships. West returned, however, and helped make history. With Chamberlain now in the middle and Gail Goodrich pitching in on offense, the Lakers won a record 33 games in a row under new coach and former Celtics star Bill Sharman.
At midseason they were 39-3. At year's end they were 69-13, the best single-season record in NBA history until surpassed by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72-10). Despite his age and physical problems West kept scoring, averaging 25.8 ppg while leading the NBA in assists with 9.7 per contest.
Having come this far, West would not be denied an NBA title. In the playoffs the Lakers swept the Chicago Bulls in four games and beat the Milwaukee Bucks in six. In the 1972 NBA Finals against the Knicks, Los Angeles lost Game 1 but then won four straight by relatively large margins. Including playoff games, the Lakers' record for the year was 81-16.
West's long wait had ended. He had finally won a championship, in one of the greatest seasons ever for an NBA team. Revitalized, he went on to play for two more years. In 1972-73 the Lakers lost yet another Finals to the Knicks. In 1973-74 a pulled groin limited West to 31 regular-season contests and only one playoff game. "I'm not willing to sacrifice my standards," West told the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner when he retired. "Perhaps I expect too much."
In 1974, the 36-year-old West left the game as the NBA's third-leading career scorer, behind Chamberlain and Robertson, with 25,192 points in 932 games. His average of 27.0 ppg game stands as the fourth highest among retired players, behind Michael Jordan, Chamberlain and Baylor. His 31.2 ppg in 1969-70 (at age 31) is the highest average ever for a player over 30. And his 6,238 career assists (6.7 apg) rank among the best ever. Only Jordan had a higher career scoring average in the playoffs, and only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tallied more career points in the postseason.
After two years away from basketball, West became the Lakers' head coach for the 1976-77 season. In three campaigns with West at the helm the Lakers went 145-101 and returned to the playoffs after missing the postseason during West's absence from the team. He stayed on as a scout for three years and became general manager in 1982, helping to build the Lakers' dynasty of the 1980s.
West remained as uptight in the front office as he had been on the court. "If I'm not nervous, if I don't have at least a little bit of the same self-doubt and anxious feelings I had when I started playing, then it will be time for me to go on," he told the Orange County Register in 1990. "I must have that tension." West was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979. West was named the NBA Executive of the Year for 1995 after the Lakers posted their best record in four seasons.
He was also at the forefront of rebuilding the Lakers into championship shape by adding Shaquile O'Neal as a free agent and trading for Kobe Bryant, who entered the NBA out of high school in 1996. Those two players formed the nucleus of three consecutive championship teams beginning with capturing the 2000 NBA Finals.
After being employed by the Lakers for over 40 years, West retired but soon became the President, Basketball Operations of the Memphis Grizzlies on April 30, 2002.
Full Name: Willis Reed Jr. Born: 6/25/42 in Hico, La. High School: West Side (Lillie, La.) College: Grambling State Drafted by: New York Knicks, 1964 (10th overall) | Wills Reed | Height: 6-10; Weight: 240 lbs. Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1982); NBA champion (1970, '73); NBA MVP (1970); All-NBA First Team (1970); All-NBA Second Team (1967, '68, '69, '71); NBA All-Defensive Team (1970); Rookie of the Year (1965); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996). |
Of all the thrilling baskets scored in NBA history, there have been few more fabled than the two Willis Reed hit in the first few minutes of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. Although they counted for only four points on the scoreboard, they were worth a million buckets of inspiration in the hearts of the New York Knicks.
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In the first four games of the Finals against the formidable Los Angeles Lakers, Reed had scored 37, 29, 38 and 23 points, respectively, while averaging 15 rebounds. In the fourth quarter of Game 5 he sustained a deep thigh injury. The Knicks managed to survive that encounter but were demolished by the Lakers in Game 6.
The series was tied at three games apiece entering the decisive contest at Madison Square Garden. New York's Bill Bradley recalled Game 7 in an article in The New York Times: "We left the locker room for the warm-ups not knowing if Willis was going to come out or not."
At 7:34 p.m. Reed limped onto the court. The crowd went wild, and his teammates' confidence returned with a vengeance. Reed somehow managed to outjump Wilt Chamberlain. on the opening tip, then scored the game's first basket on a shot from the top of the key. He then scored the second New York basket from 20 feet out.
He did not score again, but he didn't have to; he had already inspired the Knicks to seize the day. New York led by as many as 29 points in the first half and eventually won the contest, 113-99.
Reed was the heart, soul and backbone of the Knicks' 1970 and 1973 championship teams. The 6-9½, 240-pound former Grambling Tiger played 10 seasons in New York and appeared in seven NBA All-Star Games. He was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1964-65 and NBA Most Valuable Player in 1969-70. He was selected Finals MVP both years that the Knicks wore the crown.
Reed was born on June 25, 1942, in Hico, Louisiana, a place so tiny that he once told Pro Basketball Illustrated, "They don't even have a population." While Reed was growing up on a farm in nearby Bernice, the Knicks were floundering. New York managed only one winning season in the 12 campaigns between 1955-56 and 1966-67. From 1956 to 1966 the Knicks finished last nine times, and the club failed to make the playoffs in the seven seasons from 1959 to 1966. In 1963-64 the Knicks brought up the rear of the Eastern Division with a 22-58 record.
At Grambling, Reed amassed 2,280 career points, averaged 26.6 points and 21.3 rebounds during his senior year, and led the school to one NAIA title and three Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships. Selected by the Knicks in the second round of the 1964 NBA Draft, he signed with the franchise for about $10,000.
Reed made an immediate impact. In March 1965 he scored 46 points against Los Angeles, the second-highest single-game total ever by a Knicks rookie. For the season, he ranked seventh in the NBA in scoring (19.5 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (14.7 rpg). He also began his string of All-Star appearances, and he was the first Knicks player ever to be named NBA Rookie of the Year.
Reed proved to be a clutch playoff performer throughout his career. He gave an early indication of this in 1966-67 when he bettered his regular-season average of 20.9 points per game by scoring 27.5 points per contest in the postseason.
The team continued to struggle for a few years while adding good players through trades and the draft. Perhaps the most important personnel move was the decision to replace Dick McGuire as coach with William "Red" Holzman midway through the 1967-68 season. The Knicks had gone 15-22 under McGuire; Holzman steered them to a 28-17 finish. New York's 43-39 record gave the team its first winning season since 1958-59.
Reed continued to make annual appearances in the NBA All-Star Game. By this time he was playing power forward instead of center in order to make room for Walt Bellamy. Reed continued to work hard on the boards, averaging 11.6 rebounds in 1965-66 and 14.6 in 1966-67, both top-10 marks in the league. By the latter season he had adjusted to the nuances of his new position, averaging 20.9 points to rank eighth in the NBA.
New York won 54 games in 1968-69 after staggering to a 6-10 start. On Dec. 19, the Knicks traded Bellamy and Howard Komives to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Dave DeBusschere. The trade was good for Reed in two ways. First, DeBusschere assumed some of the heavy labor inside, thereby taking some of the pressure off Reed. But second and more importantly, DeBusschere was a legitimate forward, which meant that Reed could move back to the pivot position, where he was more comfortable and effective. "Since that trade, I feel like a new person," Reed said at the time. "Center is my position."
| The lefthanded Reed presented a problem for opposing defenders. He had the bulk and the touch to play inside, but he was also deadly with his soft jump shot from up to 15 feet away. |
The Knicks stressed defense. In 1968-69 New York held opponents to a league-low 105.2 points per game. With Reed clogging the middle and Walt Frazier pressuring the ball, the Knicks would be the best defensive club in the league for five of the next six seasons. Reed scored 21.1 ppg in 1968-69 and grabbed a franchise-record 1,191 rebounds, an average of 14.5 rpg.
In 1969-70, the Knicks jumped out to a 14-1 start and went on to win 60 regular-season games for the first time in franchise history. New York's victories included a then NBA-record 18-game winning streak. Reed, who took home MVP honors at the 1970 NBA All-Star Game, averaged 21.7 ppg during the season, his highest season mark ever. But his most remarkable statistical characteristic was his steadiness: from 1966-67 to 1970-71, Reed notched averages of 20.9, 20.8, 21.1, 21.7, and 20.9 points per game, respectively.
In the 1970 playoffs, New York defeated the Baltimore Bullets in seven games and bounced the Milwaukee Bucks in five to advance to a dramatic NBA Finals against a Los Angeles team led by Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Chamberlain. Both Game 3 and Game 4 went into overtime, with each team winning one contest. Reed, whose magic in the legendary Game 7 led the Knicks to the title, was named the NBA Most Valuable Player, the All-Star Game MVP and the NBA Finals MVP. He and teammate Walt Frazierwere selected to the All-NBA First Team, the first Knicks players to earn that honor since Harry Gallatin in 1953-54.
The lefthanded Reed presented a problem for opposing defenders. He had the bulk and the touch to play inside, but he was also deadly with his soft jump shot from up to 15 feet away. When he didn't possess the ball he was effective at setting picks to free up teammates, an essential element of the Knicks' perpetual-motion offense.
The Knicks' trademark was teamwork, and each player knew his role. Frazier was a reliable playmaker and defender; DeBusschere excelled as a rebounder; Bradley was a tireless and intelligent runner; and Dick Barnett distinguished himself as a jump shooter. Reed, Frazier, DeBusschere, and Bradley all ended up in the Hall of Fame.
The Knicks slipped to 52-30 in the 1970-71 season, still good enough for first place in the Atlantic Division. In mid-season, Reed tied Harry Gallatin's all-time club record by hauling in 33 rebounds against the Cincinnati Royals. Once again Reed started in the All-Star Game. For the season, he averaged 20.9 ppg and 13.7 rpg, but the Knicks were eliminated by Baltimore in the Eastern Conference Finals. In 1971-72 Reed was bothered by tendinitis in his left knee, limiting his mobility. He missed two weeks early in the season and returned, but shortly thereafter the injured knee prohibited him from playing and he totaled only 11 games for the year.
The 1972-73 Knicks finished the season with a 57-25 record and went on to win another NBA title. Reed was less of a contributor than he had been two seasons earlier. In 69 regular-season games he averaged only 11.0 points. In the playoffs the Knicks beat Baltimore and the Boston Celtics and once more faced the Lakers in the Finals. After losing the first game the Knicks captured four straight, claiming their second NBA Championship with a 102-93 victory in Game 5. Reed leading a well-balanced team was named NBA Finals MVP.
Reed played 19 games in 1973-74 before retiring. In his 10 years with New York he had earned a place in the Knicks' top 10 in nearly every category, and he was among the top three in minutes played (23,073), field goals made (4,859), rebounds (8,414) and total points (12,183). In 1976, Reed became the first Knicks player to have his uniform number retired.
The Knicks' dynasty broke up over the next few years. Reed took over as coach for the 1977-78 season and managed to coax a 43-39 record out of the squad. However, he was removed as coach only 14 games into the following season.
Reed served as an assistant coach at St. John's, then as head coach at Creighton University from 1981-82 to 1984-85. While at Creighton he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1981. Also at Creighton, Reed coached 7-foot Benoit Benjamin, who later played on several NBA teams and was ultimately reunited with Reed in the New Jersey Nets organization in 1993.
In 1985, Reed joined the Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach, then filled the same role with the Sacramento Kings. On Feb. 29, 1988, he replaced interim New Jersey Nets Coach Bob MacKinnon and he guided a hapless 1987-88 Nets team to a 7-21 finish, completing a disastrous 19-63 season. The following year Reed coached the Nets to an improved 26-56 record before moving to the front office.
In 1993, Reed became the Nets' general manager. By 1994 he had built the Nets into a perennial playoff contender. By drafting Derrick Coleman and Kenny Anderson, Reed brought in two franchise players who defined the Nets of the early 1990s. Reed also staged a minor coup when he lured Chuck Daly to coach the team for 1992-93 and 1993-94. After a four-year absence from the postseason, New Jersey had made three consecutive playoff appearances by 1994. In 1996, Reed moved to the position of Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations, with the same focus of building the Nets into a championship contender.
After working with the Nets for over 15 years, Reed crossed the river to join the Knicks front office during the offseason before the 2003-04 campaign. The move returned him to the roots of his professional playing days.
The words that describe Reed's playing career may sound like a quaint cliche, but they are appropriate: endurance, pride, dignity, obligation, hard work and courage. For a decade he applied those qualities day in and day out on the basketball court, but they were distilled into a couple of dramatic minutes at the start of Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. Two decades after that legendary night Reed recalled, "There isn't a day in my life that people don't remind me of that game."
Full Name: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Formerly known as: Lew Alcindor Born: 4/16/47 in New York High School: Power Memorial (N.Y.)College: UCLA Drafted by: Milwaukee Bucks (1969) Transactions: Traded to Los Angeles Lakers, 6/16/75 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Height: 7-2; Weight: 267 lbs. Honors: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1995); NBA champion (1971, '80, '82, '85, '87, '88); NBA MVP (1971, '72, '74, '76, '77, '80); 10-time All-NBA First Team; Five-time All-NBA Second Team; Five-time All-Defensive First Team; Six-time All-Defensive Second Team; 19-time All-Star; One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996). |
When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left the game in 1989 at age 42, no NBA player had ever scored more points, blocked more shots, won more Most Valuable Player Awards, played in more All-Star Games or logged more seasons. His list of personal and team accomplishments is perhaps the most awesome in league history: Rookie of the Year, member of six NBA championship teams, six-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams. He also owned eight playoff records and seven All-Star records. No player achieved as much individual and team success as did Abdul-Jabbar.
Players 10 years his junior couldn't keep up with Abdul-Jabbar, whose strict physical-fitness regimen was years ahead of its time in the NBA. But if others have since emulated his fitness regimen, no player has ever duplicated his trademark "sky-hook." Although labeled "unsexy" by Abdul-Jabbar himself, the shot became one of the most effective weapons in all of sports. An all-around player, Abdul-Jabbar brought grace, agility, and versatility to the center position, which had previously been characterized solely by power and size.Despite his incredible success on the court, it wasn't until the twilight of his career that Abdul-Jabbar finally won the universal affection of basketball fans. He was a private man who avoided the press and at times seemed aloof. "I'm the baddest among the bad guys," he once told The Sporting News.
But late in his playing days Abdul-Jabbar began to open up, and as his career wound to a close, fans, players and coaches alike expressed their admiration for what he had accomplished in basketball. During the 1988-89 season, his last, Abdul-Jabbar was honored in every arena in the league.
Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley, who coached Abdul-Jabbar for eight seasons in Los Angeles, once said in a toast recounted in Sports Illustrated, "Why judge anymore? When a man has broken records, won championships, endured tremendous criticism and responsibility, why judge? Let's toast him as the greatest player ever."
Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. in New York City, two years after the end of World War II. He was the only child of an overprotective mother and a strict father whose impassivity, some say, Alcindor grew to resent. Far and away the tallest kid in the Harlem school system, Alcindor was viewed as something of a freak by his schoolmates. After dominating New York high school basketball at the now defunct Power Memorial, he enrolled at UCLA and played for John Wooden's powerhouse Bruins.
Alcindor simply ruled the college ranks. After sitting out his first season because NCAA regulations prevented freshmen from playing at the varsity level, he was selected as Player of the Year in 1967 and 1969 by The Sporting News, United Press International, the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He was also named an All-American and the most outstanding player in the NCAA Tournament in 1967, 1968 and 1969. With Alcindor taking charge in the middle, Wooden and UCLA pocketed three national championships.
The Milwaukee Bucks were only in their second season when they made Alcindor the first overall choice in the 1969 NBA Draft. (The Bucks' first season had been forgettable, at 27-55 and it won the coin toss for the first selection over the Phoenix Suns.) The time was ripe for a new center to dominate the league. Bill Russellhad just left the Boston Celtics, and Wilt Chamberlain, though still effective, was almost 35 years old. With Alcindor aboard in 1969-70, the Bucks rose to second place in the Eastern Division with a 56-26 record. Alcindor was an instant star, placing second in the league in scoring (28.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (14.5 rpg). He handily won NBA Rookie of the Year honors.
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Before the 1971-72 season Alcindor converted from Catholicism to Islam and took the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which means "noble, powerful servant." He was certainly a noble, powerful player, enjoying stellar years with Milwaukee. In 1971-72 he repeated as scoring champion (34.8 ppg) and NBA Most Valuable Player, and the Bucks repeated as division leaders for the second of four straight years. In 1973-74 Abdul-Jabbar won his third MVP Award in only his fifth year in the league and placed among the NBA's top five in four categories: scoring (27.0 ppg, third), rebounding (14.5 rpg, fourth), blocked shots (283, second) and field-goal percentage (.539, second).
Milwaukee returned to the NBA Finals in 1974 but lost to the Boston Celtics, who were led by 6-9 center Dave Cowens and a stable of guards who proved too quick for the 35-year-old Robertson. "The Big O" retired after the playoffs, ending the Bucks' string of division titles. The team plunged to last place in 1974-75 with a 38-44 record.
Despite his phenomenal success in Milwaukee, Abdul-Jabbar was unhappy due in part to the lack of people who shared his religious and cultural beliefs and wanted out. He requested that he be traded to either New York or Los Angeles, and Bucks General Manager Wayne Embry complied, sending Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers in 1975 for Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith, and Brian Winters. The second Abdul-Jabbar dynasty was about to take shape.
Chamberlain had retired two years earlier, a fact that helped explain the Lakers' 30-52 record and last-place finish in 1974-75. Abdul-Jabbar helped bring about a 10-game turnaround in his first season in Los Angeles. His contributions (27.7 ppg, 16.9 rpg) won him yet another NBA Most Valuable Player Award, his fourth in only seven years in the league.
The following season Jerry West was hired as the Lakers' coach, and he guided the team back into first place with a league-best 53-29 record. Abdul-Jabbar (26.2 ppg, 13.3 rpg, .579 field-goal percentage, 261 blocks) was named Most Valuable Player for the fifth time in eight years, tying Celtics legend Bill Russell's record. But the Lakers were swept in the conference finals by the championship-bound Portland Trail Blazers, who had a fearsome big man of their own in Bill Walton.
Despite Abdul-Jabbar's best efforts, the Lakers finished in the middle of their division in each of the following two years. He continued to put up big numbers, although he missed 20 games in 1977-78 after breaking his hand in a fight with Milwaukee's rookie Kent Benson in the season opener. Young players Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon looked promising, but Los Angeles nevertheless wallowed in mediocrity.
In 1979, using a first-round draft pick obtained from the Utah Jazz, the Lakers selected a 6-9 point guard named Earvin "Magic" Johnson from Michigan State. Johnson's arrival marked the beginning of a decade that would bring Abdul-Jabbar five more championship rings. With a blitzkrieg fast break that came to be known as "Showtime," the Lakers won nine division titles in the final 10 years of Abdul-Jabbar's career.
| "Why judge anymore? When a man has broken records, won championships, endured tremendous criticism and responsibility, why judge? Let's toast him as the greatest player ever." -- Pat Riley |
Abdul-Jabbar continued to average at least 20 points for the next six seasons. His rebounding average dropped to between 6 and 8 as years of pounding and battling for position began to take their toll. But he remained in remarkable shape, even in his late 30s when he was trim, muscular, and able to play 32 to 35 minutes per game at an age at which the vast majority of players had retired.
"He's the most beautiful athlete in sports," Magic Johnson told writer Gary Smith. In the final years of his career Abdul-Jabbar's fitness program became more important than ever. He practiced yoga and martial arts to keep his arms and legs strong and limber, and he meditated before every game to reduce stress.
On April 5, 1984, in a game against the Utah Jazz played in Las Vegas, Abdul-Jabbar had perhaps his finest moment. Taking a pass from Magic Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar whirled and launched his trademark sky-hook toward the hoop. The shot drew nothing but net, giving Abdul-Jabbar career point No. 31,420, which vaulted him past Wilt Chamberlain as the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
The Lakers reached the NBA Finals eight times in the 10 seasons between 1979-80 and 1988-89. They won five titles, beating Boston and Philadelphia twice each and the Detroit Pistons once. The 1985 series against Boston was perhaps the most satisfying for Abdul-Jabbar. At age 38 the league's senior center was thought by many observers to be washed up. In Game 1 it looked as though they were right -- Abdul-Jabbar had only 12 points and 3 rebounds in his matchup with Robert Parish. The Celtics romped to a 148-114 win in what became known as "the Memorial Day Massacre."
During the next two days Abdul-Jabbar watched hours of game films and took part in marathon practice sessions that included over one hour of sprinting drills. Repeated attempts by Coach Pat Riley to persuade Abdul-Jabbar to take a break failed.
In Game 2, Abdul-Jabbar recorded 30 points, 17 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 blocked shots in a 109-102 Lakers win. Los Angeles went on to win the series in six games. In the Lakers' four victories Abdul-Jabbar averaged 30.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.0 blocks. In one memorable sequence Abdul-Jabbar grabbed a rebound, drove the length of the court and swished a sky-hook. He even dove for a loose ball. "What you saw," Riley told Sports Illustrated, "was passion." Abdul-Jabbar was named Finals MVP.
Jabbar has said that the 1985 championship may have been the sweetest of his six. It was won on the floor of the Boston Garden and vanquished the ghosts of the arena and the Celtics, the team that defeated the Lakers just the year before and many other times during Russell's reign.
In 1986-87 the Lakers again beat Boston for the NBA Championship. Although Abdul-Jabbar played respectably, series MVP Magic Johnson was the star. During the regular season Abdul-Jabbar dipped below 20 points per game (17.5 ppg) for the first time in his career. At age 40 he signed a contract to play two more years. The following year the Lakers' victory over Detroit made them the first team since the 1968-69 Celtics to repeat as NBA champions.
In 1988-89, Abdul-Jabbar's final season, the Lakers returned to the Finals in a rematch against the Pistons. Abdul-Jabbar tallied season highs in Game 3 with 24 points and 13 rebounds, but with Johnson and Byron Scott both nursing injured hamstrings, Los Angeles was swept. In his final game Abdul-Jabbar recorded 7 points and 3 rebounds. During the regular season he shot below .500 from the field for the first time (.475) and averaged a career-low 10.1 points.
Abdul-Jabbar's retirement marked the end of an era for the NBA. He left the game as the games all-time scorer, which may never be surpassed, with 38,387 points (24.6 ppg), 17,440 rebounds (11.2 rpg), 3,189 blocks, and a .559 field-goal percentage from a career that spanned 20 years and 1,560 games. He scored in double figures in 787 straight games.
Several years after he retired Abdul-Jabbar told the Orange County Register, "The '80s made up for all the abuse I took during the '70s. I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change."
Since retiring, Abdul-Jabbar has authored several books, worked in the entertainment business and served as a "basketball ambassador," working in various capacities such as a coach and broadcaster as well as helped to fight hunger and illiteracy. In 1995 Abdul-Jabbar was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Full Name: Wilton Norman Chamberlain Born: 8/21/36 in Philadelphia Died: 10/12/99 in Los Angeles High School: Overbrook (Philadelphia) College: Kansas Drafted: Philadelphia Warriors (1959) Transactions: Traded to Phila. 76ers, 1/15/65, Traded to L.A. Lakers, 7/9/68 | Wilt Chamberlain | Height: 7-1; Weight: 275 lbs. Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1978); NBA champion (1967, '72); NBA Finals MVP (1972); NBA MVP (1960, '66, '67, '68); All-NBA First Team (1960, '61, '62, '64, '66, '67, '68); Second Team ('63, '65, '72); All-Defensive First Team (1972, '73); Rookie of Year (1960); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996). |
He was basketball's unstoppable force, the most awesome offensive force the game has ever seen. Asked to name the greatest players ever to play basketball, most fans and aficionados would put Wilt Chamberlain at or near the top of the list.
Dick Raphael/NBAE/Getty Images | ||||||||||||
As Oscar Robertson put it in the Philadelphia Daily News when asked whether Chamberlain was the best ever, "The books don't lie."
The record books are indeed heavy with Chamberlain's accomplishments. He was the only NBA player to score 4,000 points in a season. He set NBA single-game records for most points (100), most consecutive field goals (18) and most rebounds (55). Perhaps his most mind-boggling stat was the 50.4 points per game he averaged during the 1961-62 season--and if not that, then perhaps the 48.5 minutes per game he averaged that same year.
He retired as the all-time in career points with 31,419, which was later surpassed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan. He is tops in rebounds with 23,924. He led the NBA in scoring seven years in a row. He was the league's top rebounder in 11 of his 14 seasons. And as if to prove that he was not a selfish player, he had the NBA's highest assist total in 1967-68.
But the most outstanding figures are his scoring records; Most games with 50+ points, 118; Most consecutive games with 40+ points, 14; Most consecutive games with 30+ points: 65; Most consecutive games with 20+ points: 126; Highest rookie scoring average: 37.6 ppg; Highest field goal percentage in a season: .727. And with many of these, the player in second place is far behind. His name appears so often in the scoring record books that his name could be the default response any time a question arises concerning a scoring record in the NBA.
During his career, his dominance precipitated many rules changes. These rules changed included widening the lane, instituting offensive goaltending and revising rules governing inbounding the ball and shooting free throws (Chamberlain would leap with the ball from behind the foul line to deposit the ball in the basket).
No other player in NBA history has spawned so many myths nor created such an impact. It's difficult to imagine now, with the seemingly continuing surge of bigger skilled players, the effect of playing against Chamberlain, who was not only taller and stronger than almost anyone he matched up against but remarkably coordinated as well. A track and field star in high school and college, Chamberlain stood 7-1 and was listed at 275 pounds, though he filled out and added more muscle as his career progressed and eventually played at over 300 pounds.
An incident recounted in the Philadelphia Daily News involving Tom Meschery of the Seattle SuperSonics illustrated what it was like to play in the trenches against Chamberlain. Meschery had the ball in the line and put up four fakes before attempting his shot. Chamberlain slapped the ball down. Meschery got it again, faked again, and got it blocked again. Enraged and frustrated, the Seattle player ran up to Chamberlain swinging. As if in a scene from The Three Stooges, Chamberlain put his hand on the 6-6 Meschery's head and let him swing away harmlessly. After the third swing, Chamberlain said, "That's enough," and Meschery stopped.
Chamberlain's power was legendary. Rod Thorn, who has been a player, coach, GM and NBA executive, remembers a fight in which Chamberlain reached down and picked up a fellow player from a pile of bodies as if he were made of feathers. The man was 6-8 and weighed 220 pounds.
Chamberlain was one of the few players of his day who had the sheer strength to block a dunk. In a game against New York in 1968, Walt Bellamy, the Knicks' 6-11, 245-pound center, attempted to dunk on Chamberlain. "Bellamy reared back," one spectator who was there later recalled to the Philadelphia Daily News, "and was slamming the ball down when Wilt put his hand above the top of the rim and knocked the ball off the court. He almost knocked Bellamy off the court, too."
Strength was something Chamberlain developed as a college and professional player. Photographs of him in high school show a slender, agile boy who, at 6-11, towered above the other players. In three varsity seasons at Philadelphia's Overbrook High, starting in 1952-53, Chamberlain led the team to records of 19-2, 19-0, and 18-1. His coaches there took full advantage of his gifts. The team would practice missing free throws so that Chamberlain could grab them and score field goals. At a time when goaltending was legal, Chamberlain sometimes infuriated his teammates by tipping balls in on their way down, even if they were on target.
During his prep years, he scored 2,206 points and had individual games in which he scored 90, 74 and 71 points. In his senior year he averaged 44.5 points. In his 90-point game he scored 60 points in 12 minutes of the second half. "But it's nothing," Chamberlain said in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1991, "when you consider that the team we were playing against was trying to freeze the ball."
It was also during this time that one of his nicknames, "the Stilt," was coined by a local newspaper writer. Chamberlain detested it, as he did other monikers that called attention to his height, such as "Goliath." The names he didn't mind were "Dippy" and "Dipper," along with the later variant, "Big Dipper." The story goes that Chamberlain's buddies seeing him dip his head as his walked through doorways tagged him with the nickname and it stuck.
In 1955, Chamberlain announced he would play college ball at the University of Kansas. Because NCAA rules at the time prohibited freshmen from playing at the varsity level, Chamberlain was placed on the freshman team upon his arrival at Kansas. His first contest with the freshmen was against the varsity, which was favored to win its conference that year. Chamberlain later reminisced about the game in the Philadelphia Daily News: "We whipped 'em, 81-71. I had 40 or 42 points, about 30 rebounds, about 15 blocks. I knew I had to show them either I could do it or I couldn't."
Chamberlain made his debut for the Jayhawks' varsity squad in a game against Northwestern on Dec. 3, 1956. He set a school record when he scored 52 points in an 87-69 victory. Chamberlain then guided Kansas to the 1957 NCAA title game against North Carolina. Although North Carolina beat Kansas by one point in triple overtime, Chamberlain was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
The following year he was selected to all-conference and All-America teams. He showed his athletic versatility by winning the high jump competition in the Big Eight track and field championships, clearing the bar at 6-6. In May, 1958 Chamberlain decided to forego his senior season at Kansas, opting instead to turn pro. But because of an NBA rule that prevented college players from playing in the league until their class graduated, he was in limbo for one year. He passed the time by playing for the Harlem Globetrotters in 1958-59 for a salary reported to be around $50,000, an astronomical sum at the time.
In 1955, the NBA created a special "territorial" draft rule that allowed a team to claim a local college player in exchange for giving up its first-round pick. The idea was to cash in on college stars who had built strong local followings, but the Philadelphia Warriors, who were owned by the cagey Eddie Gottlieb, took it one step further. They claimed Chamberlain as a territorial pick even though he had played his college ball in Kansas. Gottlieb, one of the NBA's founding fathers, argued that Chamberlain had grown up in Philadelphia and had become popular there as a high school player, and since there were no NBA teams in Kansas, they held his territorial rights. The league agreed, marking the only time in NBA history that a player was made a territorial selection based on his pre-college roots.
When Chamberlain finally slipped on a Philadelphia uniform for the start of the 1959-60 season, the basketball world eagerly awaited the young giant's debut -- and he didn't disappoint. In his first game, against the Knicks in New York, he pumped in 43 points and grabbed 28 rebounds. In a sensational rookie year, Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds and was named NBA Rookie of the Year, All-Star Game Most Valuable Player and NBA Most Valuable Player as well as being selected to the All-NBA First Team. Only Wes Unseld would duplicate Chamberlain's feat of winning Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the same season. (Unseld did it in 1968-69.)
With Chamberlain, the Warriors vaulted from last to second and faced the Boston Celtics in the 1960 NBA Playoffs. The series saw the first postseason confrontation between Chamberlain and defensive standout Bill Russell, a matchup that would grow into the greatest individual rivalry in the NBA and possibly any sport. During the next decade, the pair would square off in the playoffs eight times. Chamberlain came away the victor only once. In that initial confrontation, Chamberlain outscored Russell by 81 points, but the Celtics took the series, four games to two.
Chamberlain's inaugural season seemed to take a heavy toll on him. After the postseason loss to Boston, the rookie stunned his fans by announcing that he was thinking of retiring because of the excessively rough treatment he had endured from opponents. He feared that if he played another season, he would be forced to retaliate, and that wasn't something he wanted to do.
In Chamberlain's first year, and for several years afterward, opposing teams simply didn't know how to handle him. Tom Heinsohn, the great Celtics forward who later became a coach and broadcaster, said Boston was one of the first clubs to apply a team-defense concept to stop Chamberlain. "We went for his weakness," Heinsohn told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1991, "tried to send him to the foul line, and in doing that he took the most brutal pounding of any player ever.. I hear people today talk about hard fouls. Half the fouls against him were hard fouls."
| Dominating the game as few players in any sport ever have, Chamberlain seemed capable of scoring and rebounding at will, despite the double- and triple-teams and constant fouling tactics that opposing teams used to try to shut him down. |
Of course, Chamberlain didn't retire. He simply endured the punishment and learned to cope with it, bulking up his muscles to withstand the constant shoving, elbowing and body checks other teams used against him.
In a virtual repeat of his rookie year, he poured in 38.4 points and 27.2 rebounds per game in 1960-61. The next season he made a quantum leap in his performance. Posting a phenomenal average of 50.4 points per game, he became the only player in history to score 4,000 points in a season.
On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain set a record that may stand forever. In a game against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pa., he scored 100 points in four quarters to help the Warriors win the game, 169-147. Despite the fact that Chamberlain had reportedly stayed out all night the previous evening, he obviously came ready to play against the Knicks. Chamberlain was so "on" that he even made 28 of 32 free throws, despite having, up to that point in the season, just a paltry .506 percentage from the stripe.
He hit 36-for-63 from the field, about which he commented to HOOP magazine, "My God, that's terrible. I never thought I'd take that many shots in a game." Toward the end of the game, the Warriors went out of their way to feed Chamberlain the ball, to the point of fouling the Knicks whenever they had possession.
In 1962, Chamberlain moved with the franchise to San Francisco, and he led the league in scoring in both 1962-63 and 1963-64. The Warriors lost to the Celtics in the 1964 Finals in five games. But midway through the following season, he was sent back home to Philadelphia. Two days after the 1965 All-Star Game (a game in which he scored 20 points and pulled down 16 rebounds), Chamberlain was swapped to the 76ers, formerly the Syracuse Nationals until the 1963-64 season, for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann and $150,000. In Philadelphia, he joined a promising 76ers team that included Hal Greer and Larry Costello in the backcourt and Chet Walker and Luke Jackson up front.
The Sixers were a .500 ballclub in Chamberlain's initial year on the team. The following season, 1965-66, Philadelphia posted the best record in the league, at 55-25, but for the second year in a row the 76ers fell to Boston in the Eastern Division Finals. Philadelphia, which had added talented forward Billy Cunningham, started the year by winning 45 of its first 49 games en route to an 68-13 record, at the time the best in league history.
In the division semifinals, the Sixers ousted Cincinnati. The division finals saw the 76ers matched up against the Celtics -- and Chamberlain matched up against Russell once again. After years of frustration, Chamberlain finally got by his arch rival as Philadelphia raced by Boston in five games, ending the Celtics' eight-year stranglehold on the NBA title. Playing the Warriors in the 1967 NBA Finals, the Sixers came away with the championship, winning the series in six games.
After his monstrous scoring year in 1961-62, Chamberlain's average dropped slowly each year until the 1967-68 season, when it rose slightly to 24.3 points per game from 24.1 the season before. During his first seven years Chamberlain scored an average of 39.4 points per game and led the league in scoring all seven seasons, a string matched only by Michael Jordan two decades later. In Chamberlain's second seven years, he averaged 20.7 points.
Was the waning production attributable to the effects of age and better defenses? Chamberlain didn't think so. "I look back and know that my last seven years in the league versus my first seven years were a joke in terms of scoring," he told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I stopped shooting -- coaches asked me to do that, and I did. I wonder sometimes if that was a mistake."
One of the main reasons coaches asked him to shoot less was to try to win more. Of the 14 years he played in the NBA, only twice did his teams emerge with the NBA title. In 1966-67, Sixers Coach Alex Hannum asked Chamberlain to pass the ball more often than shoot, and to play more aggressive defense. The strategy worked. Although he failed to win the NBA scoring title for the first time in his career, averaging 24.1 points, Chamberlain recorded the league's highest shooting percentage (.683), had the most rebounds (24.2 rpg), and was third in assists (7.8 apg).
Chamberlain took his new role so seriously that he led the league in assists the next season. In 1967-68, he was also chosen to the All-NBA First Team for the seventh and final time and selected league MVP for the fourth and final time. After taking the Eastern Division that season, the Sixers were eliminated in the Conference Finals for the third time in four seasons by the Celtics. Soon after, Chamberlain was traded to the Lakers for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff.
He spent his final five campaigns in Los Angeles and helped the Lakers to the NBA Finals four times in those five seasons. The most notable season was 1971-72, in which he scored only 14.8 points per game. But his contributions came in other forms. At age 35, he managed to grab 19.2 rebounds per contest and was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.
Chamberlain had become a great team player, complementing the styles of guards Jerry West and Gail Goodrichand forwards Happy Hairston and Jim McMillian. The 1971-72 Lakers set an NBA record by winning 33 games in a row en route to a then NBA-record 69-13 regular-season mark, one victory better than Chamberlain's 1966-67 Sixers team (the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan would post a 72-10 record in 1995-96 . The Lakers then stormed to the championship with a five-game triumph against New York in the 1972 NBA Finals.
Retiring from the NBA at the end of the 1972-73 season, Chamberlain went on to demonstrate the full range of his talents. Eclectic didn't begin to describe his activities. Like many pro players, he spent a year coaching at the pro level, for the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association. San Diego had wanted him to be a player-coach, but legal entanglements prevented that, and Chamberlain soon because bored with a coach-only role. In 1984 he acted in the movie Conan the Barbarian. Big-league volleyball attracted his energies for a while, as did tennis, running marathons and even polo. At one point he hoped to challenge Muhammad Ali to a world heavyweight fight.
Even when he was in his 50s, a story would pop up every now and then about some NBA team talking to Chamberlain about making a comeback, figuring he could still give them 15 or 20 solid minutes as a backup center. Chamberlain, who loved the limelight, seemed to bask in those reports, but he never took up any team on its offer. Rather he continued to be a voracious reader who also published several books and involved himself with other pursuits including maintaining a lively bachelor's existence.
In 1978, his first year of eligibility, Chamberlain was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1996-97 he was selected to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
On Oct. 12, 1999, Chamberlain passed away at the age of 63 due to heart failure at his home, which he named Ursa Major after the constellation containing the stars forming the Big Dipper, his trademark in the basketball world. He left the NBA as a legendary figure to talk about for years to come.
Full Name: John J. Havlicek Born: 4/8/40 in Martins Ferry, Ohio Height: 6-5; Weight: 205 lbs. High School: Bridgeport (Ohio) College: Ohio State Drafted by: Boston Celtics, 1962 Nickname: Hondo | John Havlicek | Honors: Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1984); NBA champion (1963, '64, '65, '66, '68, '69, '74, '76); NBA Finals MVP (1974); All-NBA First Team (1971-74); All-NBA Second Team (1964, '66, '68, '69, '70, '75, '76); All-Defensive First Team (1972-76); All-Defensive Second Team (1969-71); 13-time All-Star; One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996). |
| Complete Bio | Summary | ||
"On stamina alone he'd be among the top players who ever played the game," longtime New York Knicks Coach Red Holzman once said of John "Hondo" Havlicek. "It would've been fair to those who had to play him or those who had to coach against him if he had been blessed only with his inhuman endurance. God had to compound it by making him a good scorer, smart ballhandler and intelligent defensive player with quickness of mind, hands and feet."
Richard Pilling/NBAE/Getty Images | ||||||||||||
A key member of two generations of Celtics, Havlicek provided the spark off the bench during the Celtics' dynasty years of the 1960's. During the 1970's he was the trusted veteran who captained youthful teams to championships in 1974 and 1976.
Known for clutch performances in big games, Havlicek posted impressive numbers during his illustrious 16-year career. In 1,270 regular-season games he scored 26,395 points and averaged 20.8 points to rank as the Celtics' all-time leading scorer and top scorer in NBA history. He also grabbed 8,007 rebounds, recorded 6,114 assists, and played on eight Boston championship teams. He appeared in 13 consecutive NBA All-Star Games, earned 11 selections to the All-NBA First or Second Team and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First or Second Team eight times.
The child of Czechoslovakian immigrants, Havlicek was born in the small town of Martins Ferry, Ohio, home to coal miners and steel workers. As a boy he loved to run, sprinting to and from school or from one mile marker to another on a local highway. He once said that he was forced to keep up with his bike-riding pals on foot because his parents refused to let him have a bicycle.
At Bridgeport High School, Havlicek starred in basketball, baseball and football. An All-State selection in all three sports, he was a highly recruited quarterback who could throw the ball 80 yards. He chose Ohio State but did not play football. Although he did play baseball and batted over .400 in his freshman year, he focused on basketball. A collegiate All-American, Havlicek scored 14.6 points per game in three varsity seasons, playing on Buckeyes teams with Jerry Lucas, Bobby Knight and future Celtics teammate Larry Siegfried. Havlicek's Ohio State teams compiled a 78-6 record and won an NCAA Championship in 1960.
After his senior season Havlicek was drafted into two professional sports leagues. The NFL's Cleveland Browns selected him in the seventh round of the 1962 NFL Draft, and the NBA's Boston Celtics nabbed him in the first round of the NBA Draft. The Browns, impressed with Havlicek's athletic ability and his 6-5, 205-pound frame, tried him at wide receiver. He played in several exhibition games that summer before being released by the team in favor of future All-Pro Gary Collins.
Havlicek turned his attention to the Celtics, who had taken him with the last pick of the first round. Boston already had Bill Russell manning the post, and Celtics Coach Red Auerbach later said that his expectations of Havlicek had been modest; he had simply wanted a player to eventually fill the sixth-man role held by veteran Frank Ramsey.
When Havlicek joined the Celtics in 1962 they had won four consecutive NBA titles. Boston was loaded with talent, but star players such as Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Ramsey, and Jim Loscutoff were in the final stages of their careers. Havlicek's youthful physical intensity was like a shot of adrenaline for the aging team. Coming off the bench mostly as a forward, he averaged 14.3 points during his rookie year, many of them coming at the receiving end of Cousy's famous passes on the fast break. "I made a living off Bob Cousy," Havlicek often said.
An NBA All-Rookie Team selection for 1962-63, Havlicek displayed great hustle and tenacious defense, but he didn't impress everyone in his first season. According to Sports Illustrated, Cousy assessed him as a "non-shooter who would probably burn himself out." But Havlicek possessed awesome physical skills. Among the first of the great swingmen, he combined brute force with quickness. At 6-5 he could overpower most guards, yet he was quicker than most forwards.
He also had the inner drive that characterized "Celtics pride." After his first year Havlicek went home and worked hard to improve both his outside shooting and his dribbling. The next season he led the team in scoring, averaging 19.9 ppg and he showed that he was ready to assume Ramsey's position as the Celtics' all-important sixth man. Despite Cousy's retirement, Boston won 59 games in 1963-64 and vanquished the San Francisco Warriors in five games for the NBA crown. Havlicek made the All-NBA Second Team.
| "The guy is the ambassador of our sport. John always gave his very best every night and had time for everybody -- teammates, fans, the press." -- Jerry West -- Jerry West |
Havlicek didn't mind the sixth-man role. "It never bothered me," he once said, "because I think that role is very important to a club.. One thing I learned from Red Auerbach was that it's not who starts the game, but who finishes it, and I generally was around at the finish."
During the 1960s Havlicek proved that Cousy had misjudged him. The "nonshooter" had blossomed into an offensive force who could be counted on to score 18 to 21 points per game. Havlicek could hit from anywhere and excelled at shooting on the run. He showcased his talents at the 1968 NBA All-Star Game, in which he racked up 26 points in 22 minutes. In addition, his improved ballhandling made him just as effective at guard as at forward.
Nor did Havlicek burn out as Cousy had predicted. The "man in motion," as he was dubbed in a book title, continued to run defenders into the ground. It was once estimated that he ran three to five miles per game.
The quiet, even-tempered Havlicek didn't cut an imposing figure, but he had the broad-shouldered, sinewy frame of a steelworker. He also brought tremendous self-discipline and a methodical approach to tasks. When a reporter made fun of his habit of keeping his socks on a hanger in the locker room, Havlicek defended his fastidiousness in Sports Illustrated. "I'm a man of routine and discipline," he explained. "My socks have to dry out. My whole life has been thought out."
In addition to his impressive statistics, Havlicek showed great poise. At crucial moments when a decisive play had to be made, it was "Havlicek time." A classic example of his clutch performing occurred in the seventh game of the 1965 Eastern Division Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. With only five seconds left in the game, he deflected an inbounds pass from Hal Greer to save a one-point Celtics victory, prompting broadcaster Johnny Most's legendary call, "Havlicek steals it. Over to Sam Jones. Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball!"
In 1968, during another seventh game against the Sixers in the division finals, he scored 40 points at Philadelphia to help Boston to a 100-96 victory. Later, in the pivotal Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals, he sank a miraculous, game-saving basket against Phoenix in the closing seconds of the second overtime to force a third extra period. The Celtics outlasted the Suns, 128-126, and went on to win the championship.
By the end of the 1968-69 season it had become clear that the Celtics' old order was passing. K. C. Jones had already retired, Sam Jones was 36 years old, Russell was 35, and "Satch" Sanders was 30. The team finished in fourth place during the regular season. In need of his firepower, the Celtics looked to Havlicek for scoring, and he responded with 21.6 points per game. With a strong effort from Havlicek in the playoffs, Boston's graybeards defeated Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games to capture the NBA title. It was the Celtics' sixth championship in Havlicek's seven seasons.
The 1969-70 campaign put an end to the Celtics' dynasty. With Russell and Jones retired, the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. Under new coach Tom Heinsohn, Havlicek became a starter and the hub of Boston's offense. He had a sensational year, accomplishing the rare feat of leading his team in three categories: scoring (24.2 ppg), rebounding (7.8 rpg), and assists (6.8 apg). He ranked eighth in the league in scoring and seventh in assists.
Havlicek, whose nickname, Hondo, was inspired by the John Wayne movie of the same name, led a Celtics comeback during the early 1970s. In 1970-71 and 1971-72 he averaged 28.9 and 27.5 points, respectively. Despite having turned 30 years old in 1970, he led the league in minutes played for both of those seasons, averaging more than 45 minutes per game.
As the one remaining star from the Celtics' past, Havlicek became captain of a team that now included Jo Jo White, Don Chaney, and newcomer Dave Cowens. Employing a fast break that brought back memories of Cousy's Celtics, Boston rolled through the 1972-73 season with a 68-14 record.
The Celtics might have won an NBA title that year, but misfortune struck when Havlicek severely injured his shoulder in the third game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks. He made a valiant return later in the series, but the Knicks ousted the Celtics in seven games. Prior to the fourth game at Madison Square Garden, the New York fans gave Havlicek a spontaneous standing ovation when he appeared in street clothes.
Five years after Russell's retirement the Celtics returned to the top of the NBA by beating the Milwaukee Bucks for the league title in 1974. Voted NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, Havlicek was now recognized as the leader of the new generation of Celtics. Customarily stoic, he became emotional after the triumph, according to The New York Times. "Thanks for doing this for me," he said, as he hugged and kissed teammates in the Boston dressing room after the final game. "This is the greatest one."
The following season Havlicek continued his whirlwind offense and defense. The New York Times reported that after watching him put on a one-man show against the Knicks one evening, Bill Russell was heard to say, "The man is crazy. One of these days he'll find he can't do it anymore." But Havlicek was able to do it right up until the end. He played in all 82 games and averaged more than 16 points during his final campaign in 1977-78, despite turning 38 in midseason. His last year was a dismal one for the Celtics, however, as they fell to the Atlantic Division basement. But Hondo was treated to a two-month farewell tour in which fans flocked to arenas to pay tribute.
Havlicek retired with a slew of impressive statistics. He was the NBA's all-time leader in games played at the time. He also ranked in the NBA's top 10 in minutes played and in total points. At the end of his career Havlicek had so many championship rings that he could have opened a jewelry store. He had been on eight Boston championship teams, six with Russell and two without. In 1980 he was named to the NBA 35th Anniversary All-Time Team. In 1983 he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1996 he was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Jerry West told Sports Illustrated, "The guy is the ambassador of our sport. John always gave his very best every night and had time for everybody-teammates, fans, the press." Cowens added, "You tell me how many class guys there are like him anywhere. They ought to retire his number from the whole NBA. Just take 17 and stash it up there in lights."
But the highest compliment may have come during a halftime salute in his final game at Boston Garden, in which Havlicek, in typical fashion, scored 29 points. "He epitomizes everything good," said Celtics General Manager Red Auerbach in The New York Times. "If I had a son like John I'd be the happiest man in the world."
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