That’s Bill Russell died Sunday at the age of 88, was the all-time winner in every major sport. Jordan has won his six NBA championships, NCAA titles, and two Olympic gold medals. Russell has won his 11 NBA titles, two NCAA championships, and an Olympic gold medal.
Russell played 21 winner-takes-all games, winning 21-0. Jordan lost to Indiana in Round 16 of the NCAA Tournament in their final game in North Carolina.
It wasn’t meant to knock Jordan out, but it was meant to back up Auerbach’s claims. It was beyond the numbers. Russell did something most centers have never done. He made everyone around him better. He’s a defensive genius and he was the first to understand why he was so much better at blocking shots and putting them in play than driving the ball down the third row. His teammates knew they could bet on defense because Russell was backing them up in the paint.
He wasn’t a great scorer — he averaged 15.1 points in his 13-season NBA career — but he had good scorers around him with the Boston Celtics, so it doesn’t have to be. did. He was an exceptional rebounder, scoring 22.5 per game.Only Wilt Chamberlain finished more rebound than Russell’s 21,620. He also averaged 4.3 assists. Many great centers never gave up the ball — Russell gladly did. The NBA didn’t start tracking blocked shots until Russell retired, so there’s no way of knowing how many times he blocked. His blocks have definitely turned into more points than anyone else who has played the game.
“When he blocked the shot, it was like starting a fast break.” Sam Joneshis longtime teammate once said. did.”
Russell had a lot more than his amazing stats.He First black man to coach a major professional sports franchise When he took over the Celtics from Auerbach in 1966 and won two NBA titles in three years, it was no doubt helped by the fact that his center was Bill Russell. A civil rights advocate throughout his life, he faced racism from his time as a young man in Louisiana to his time playing for Boston.
He was named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 and was a lifelong inspiration for speaking out on political issues long before it was considered acceptable for athletes (especially black athletes) to do so.
Auerbach played a key role in Russell’s career, leading the Dons to a 55-game winning streak after graduating from the University of San Francisco in 1956. There were no scouts at the time, but in the 1954 tournament George Auerback, who was coach at the University of Washington Bill Reinhart, played against Russell’s team.
“He called me and said, ‘When he graduates from college next year, you Must Find a way to catch him,” recalled Auerbach. “This is the center that makes you a championship team.”
At that point, the Celtics were doing well but not winning an NBA title. In 1956, they won the sixth draft pick and Russell was considered the number one choice. Auerbach traded the rights to two future Hall of Famers, Ed McCauley and Cliff Hagan, to the St. Louis Hawks, promoting him to second place. He could not trade it because he would be accused in the local media of trying to save money.
“He said to me, ‘If I trade that pick, they’ll run me out of town,'” Auerbach said years later.
Auerbach came up with a solution. He told Celtics owner Walter Brown, who happened to own Ice Capez, that if Harrison didn’t get Russell with the No. 1 pick, the Ice Capez would face Rochester all week next year. persuaded to commit to Harrison scored Duquesne’s shift his green, Russell his second and ice his capades played before a packed crowd in Rochester, and a year later the Royals moved to Cincinnati.
The Celtics won their first title in 1957 and won 11 of 13 championships before Russell retired in 1969.
After retiring, Russell coached in Seattle and briefly in Sacramento, but was always close to the Celtics and Auerbach. Auerbach died in 2006In 2009, Russell wrote a book titled “Red and Me”. Subtitle summarizes their relationship. “My coach, my lifelong friend.”
Auerbach loved telling Russell’s story. Often Russell gets bored with practice and “ruins practice” by blocking every shot that comes close to him, he said. Auerbach tells Russell to go home early something happened. Other days he stopped his practice altogether. “There wasn’t much point in actually practicing,” Auerbach said.
But what Auerbach loved most was sitting back and listening to people debate whether Russell would be as dominant in the 21st century as he was in the 1950s and ’60s.
“How was he defending Shaq?” People wonder how the 6-foot-10-inch, 215-pound Russell will go up against the 7-1, 325-pound Shaquille O’Neal.
Auerbach puffed on his cigar and smiled. “First and foremost, he defended Wilt Chamberlain well, who was as big and offensively as Shaq,” he said. He paused to make sense of it and, if necessary, reminded people that Russell won 11 titles to Chamberlain’s two.
He then delivered the finishing blow. he hit him on the floor. And when all is said and done, do you know which team will win the game? Russell’s team — because Russell’s team always won when it mattered. ”
No one has won more important games than Bill Russell. Fifty-three years after his last match, he still plays a key role.
