NBA in 1961

Recently we had a look at Wilt Chamberlain of Philadelphia and his amazing statistics. One year in particular stood out, that year 1961.

Boston Celtics had come off an impressive 4-1 win over the St Louis Hawks in the playoffs the previous year which was their 3rd championship in 4 years. They were starting a dynasty that will never, in my eyes, be surpassed. I am not just talking NAB here either I am talking sport.

The Celtics went on to win the next 6 championships before slipping in 66-67 season, then picking up another two rings in the subsequent seasons.

This was the era that Wilt Chamberlain was rocking the NBA with his complete dominance, but no year he was more dominant than in 1961. Statistically he was racking up figures (yes on and off the court) that today's players can only dream of. 50 points and 25 rebounds a game, how can this be possible? And how can we forget his March 2nd game against the New York Knicks in which he scored a lazy 100 point, yes 100 points in a game. (Philadelphia won 169-147 in the shootout in front of 4,124 fans.)

Elgin Baylor of the Los Angeles Lakers was next on the points leader board with 38ppg (18rpg), and the heart of the Celtics Bill Russell was 2nd in the rebounds with almost 24rpg (18 ppg).

Other stars of the time include Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati with 30ppg, 12rpg and 11 Assists per game. Walt Bellamy had 32ppg and 19rpg, Bob Petit had 31 and 19. We also had names like Jerry West, Bob Cousey & Tom Heinsohn thumping the hardwood around the US. It was a grand time for the NBA with so many superstar efforts.

Coming to the end of the season it would seem almost certain that Chamberlain's season would provide him with the MVP. How could he not win, no other player was close to matching his season statistically.

But Boston as a team was dominating, individually they didn't blow anyone out of the water with their box scores. Tom Heinsohm was their leading scorer with a measly 22 points per game. Bill Russel managed to pull down the boards like Chamberlain and managed to grab 24 per game as mentioned earlier. But none of them were as individually great as Chamberlain.

In fact, as far as efficiency on the court is concerned Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Walt Bellamy and Bob Petit were ahead of the first Boston player in Bill Russell.


So how did Bill Russell win the MVP that year? From a statistical view it seems crazy. I was not around back then but I cant figure it out. Maybe the judges wives were part of Chamberlains 10,000 women statistic. I can only assume that Bill Russell was the best player on a great team, which at the end of the day means more than individual honours.

This article was originally posted onwww.onski.blogspot.com on the 14/12/2007.

Coach Onski

Thanks to http://www.databasebasketball.com for the stats, http://www.nba.com for a great amount of history and http://www.prairienet.org for the picture.