Wilt Chamberlain: Veteran Defensive Anchor (LA Lakers vs Chicago Bulls G6 1971 NBA Playoffs)

[jongib369]

damn....30 rebounds and only 2 offensive boards

[djwc6]

imagine if he would have been allowed to enter the league at the age of 20,like shaq did,he would most likely be the only player to reach 40,000 points.and if he didn't change his offensive philosophy and continued to be the high scoring player he was prior to 1967 he may have possibly hit 50,000. by far the greatest basketball player of all time.

[jongib369]

@djwc6 so true! Kareem being the scoring leader is a joke IMO. check out the vid i have on my channel. Credit goes to dantheman for most of the footage, but the stuff in the blog is really interesting. Its a link in the description, tell me what you thinK!

[MrSkeletonman123]

I would love this video if it didn't have music...

[dantheman9758]

@MrSkeletonman123 I'll look into uploading a version w/o music

[MrSkeletonman123]

@dantheman9758 Thanks! Great video though, you make great points.

[Ariamaluum]

Wilt had problem with left-handed players like Russell, Reed, or Cowens. I think had Willis been healthy in 72, they would have won it.

[jongib369]

@Ariamaluum How did he have trouble? He always dominated his man individually

[Ariamaluum]

@jongib369. He dominated on offense. But it was defense. Wilt had trouble with those guys who could drive and shoot on the outside. Since he didn't want pick up cheap fouls, he let them shoot and clog the middle. Russell would simply stay outside, rest, play defense, and wait for one big play. With Kareem, he would come hard off his shots because he was right-handed.

[dantheman9758]

Everyone watch the play @ 12:25 and it's associated slow motion replay... that's crazy defense, nobody in the NBA ever even tries to D up 2 on one fast breaks against explosive slashing fowards of that caliber. Chamberlain is the only guy barreling his way down court to attempt it. When I saw it the first split seconds in the cutting room my gut said "oh man, he's gonna get posterized". In hustle and difficulty that's like a chasedown block x10, I've honestly never seen a play like that before.

[stere0brain]

@dantheman9758 I have.

Elgin went for the layup. Sixer Wilt left his feet, hand above the rim. Elgin (prolly laughin to himself) went hang time under and around Wilt to come out on the other side of the basket for the dunk.

Problem for Elgin was, Wilt spun IN THE AIR with his back to Elgin goin underneath, and cleanly blocked Baylor's dunk with his other hand on the other side of the rim.

He knew where Elgin's dunk was going to come from without even looking.

[ddenuci]

Wilt knows not to go for the Walker fakes at 2:50 because he played with Chet for several years when they were both with the Sixers. Hack-a-Wilt at 3:29. It made even more sense back then, because only one shot was awarded if the team was not in the penalty. Notice how Wilt almost never boxes anyone out. An example occurs at 4:42. And yet he is, and will probably forever remain, the all-time leading rebounder. Why? Because he simply outmuscles and outjumps everyone.

[dantheman9758]

@ddenuci I noticed in his LA games Wilt was either nowhere near a rebound (doing other things generally, like guarding the wing), or they seemed to fall right where he was standing, even if he doesn't get it. In 3 games I can't recall a rebound trajectory that seemed to surprise him or catch him off guard yet. I'm wondering if he also (due to the smaller league) had a sharp enough mind to learn where most players shots were going to fall if short or long or w/e. I could be over analyzing it

[musikaNeues]

@ddenuci I remember all my friends used to say Chamberlain boxed just like Muhammad Ali... Ali never used his hands to guard his head, and Wilt never used to box out to guard the basket on rebounds

[ddenuci]

In G7, Wilt scores 25 points, grabs 19 rebounds, and dishes out 9 assists.  Lakers win 109-98, in a game that was very close until the final minutes of the 4th qtr.

[dantheman9758]

This game was to showcase the profound impact just "13 points" means when used against Wilt Chamberlain. His POSITIVE impact was immense, and he never choked or gave up. In almost every game I've ever seen, no matter how much or how little his role was to "score" his presence was monstrous, and his team mates were the ones who were having bad nights. In this game his young squad ALL got cold in the second half, and it reflected in his assists. He actually stepped UP his own scoring production.

[kileer7]

@dantheman9758 "choked or gave up." this is one of the more annoying Wit myths to dispel, because as you're aware Wilt is believed to have "wilted" in the playoffs which is absurd if one takes the time to actually go through his career. Great job with the video.

[jongib369]

@dantheman9758 I respect your opinion a lot, can you tell me what you think of these 2? First link is being scouted as possibly the next BILL RUSSELL.

/watch?v=qggE9Xaw6n8

/watch?v=mXB6vc5Z_A4

[garioldwin]

@dantheman9758 I have seen this game before but thanks for the upload . You really took an effort describing the info . Its all thrue , someone would say Wilt scored only 13 points but his game was much more then those 13 points .

[musikaNeues]

10:00 you can see his knee still hurts.

Chamberlain jacked his knee in the 69 Finals. After off-season of rest, that knee lasted 10 or 12 games before it blew clear out (Lakers coach wanted him to go back to being a scoring force that 70 season, & he was averaging about 35 ppg...) he had surgery & missed the season. He came back for the playoffs but he was never the same.

He turned into pure D - his last 3 years' average was just 16 ppg - but even that low rate STILL ties him with MJ

[jongib369]

12:40 

[musikaNeues]

@jongib369 Tom Boerwinkle had almost all the Bull records until 23 showed up.

Erickson was the biggest bricklayer ever.

6'10" Jim Fox was the Pistons center when Chamberlain threw down the greatest game in history, 22 points, 25 rebounds, and 21 assists.... & Wilt, who knew how to count stats just as well as Bill Russell (contrary to popular opinion & his own mythmakiing, Russell was a huge rebounding stat hog, often arguing at the scorers table), said he had 12 blocks in that game

Great clip

[dantheman9758]

@musikaNeues Yah but Wilt is playing a midget white guy center equal in both height and weight to Andrew Bynum, guys today would be way bigg...... oh wait.....

[musikaNeues]

@dantheman9758 Yeah at 7' 265- 280 lbs Tom was one of the biggest centers to ever play basketball. Not Shaq size, but BIG.

He was a powerhouse under the basket for years, on some great Bulls teams.. but he does kinda look like a midget here, don't he

[dantheman9758]

@musikaNeues And 7' was barefoot back then. Today's league lists heights in shoes. So Boerwinkle today would be listed 7'1". Chamberlain, Yao, and Shaq are probably the only 3 players in history that would make Boerwinkle look that modest in size lol. Robinson of same height was only up to about 250 in comparison - and that was late in his career, at 23 years old Robinson was only 226lbs... I couldn't imagine any center physically looking big against 305lb Wilt lol

[musikaNeues]

@dantheman9758 Wes Unseld did. Even though he was short at 6'7 & listed 245 lbs, he looked just like a tank. He was like Ben Wallace - that short powerful center can often throw a bigger guy off balance, like Ben did to Shaq.

The guy who people underrate as far as size, strength & skill, is Willis Reed. That guy was just amazingly talented. He's remembered for the "knee game" but he was really smart powerful & would easily be the best center in today's league. Howard would eat his dust.

[dantheman9758]

@musikaNeues I'll have to find the game, but there's a game where announcers are talking about Reed recently cutting some weight from a previous weight of roughly 300lbs... so I knew he was one of the bigger guys who's ever played as well lol. Also, Thurmond got really jacked late in his career, wasn't he once up to about 275? Gotta give credit to D. Howard these days too, he's about 280lbs at least according to ESPN sport science, up from his 240 drafted weight and 265 list weight.

[musikaNeues]

@dantheman9758 Howard is elite no question

[jongib369]

@musikaNeues I disagree on your comment with Howard. Offensively I think Willis Reed would be limited like he would playing chamberlain or Russell. Sports science listed howard at 280....although its espn so who knows....but would he do anything really against reed offensively? yeah, but he be limited as well. To me its almost a toss up. but offensively Reed is better...although ill say this, I think howard has more potential because of his athleticism

[musikaNeues]

@jongib369 We can disagree then. Howard has real athletic ability but his hoops skills are pretty low to be matched up against Willis.

It's hard to measure Reed because that Knicks team was so balanced.

DeBusschere, Reed, Frazier, Monroe, Lucas ALL TOP FIFTY ALL-TIME PLAYERS

Plus Bill Bradley in the HoF, and Red Holzman, HoF coach... with a kinda basketball smart 6th man who became the greatest coach in history...

But Reed was the centerpiece of that team, powerhouse under the basket

[jongib369]

@musikaNeues Howard has a lot of time to improve so the argument wont be settled until hes done. If he keeps working on his footwork and post moves with hakeem, he could see a major improvement. What do you think of gred oden???

/watch?v=IE2G4E16L3Y such a shame seeing so much potential go to waste

[musikaNeues]

@jongib369 about Howard: no, there's not any argument. Reed was wracked with injuries all through his career, and is not just in the Hall of Fame. He's one of the great centers, able .to score out to 12-15 feet.

Howard has improved his offense, but the great centers come into the league already a monstrous scoring threat. Look at Wilt, look at Bells, look at Kareem, look at Moses, look at Shaq, look at Robinson.

Now it IS true that defensive specialists score less, so to a point...

[musikaNeues]

@jongib369 Oden is unfortunately in the same group with Grant Hill, Bill Walton, and it may surprise you, but ... Elgin Baylor. Baylor's knee injury came just half way into his career, by all accounts he was never the same.

Walton gets discounted by guys who never saw him, in the 70s many many people (maybe even most) thought he was better than Kareem

[jongib369]

@musikaNeues also, check out the links that i sent to dantheman in a comment. Im really looking forward to those 2 coming ot the nba

[jongib369]

6:57 is incredible.... Hes that high up at age 34, coming off a major injury, and 300+.....He must be chuck norris