There’s two narratives I always hear about the eight times Bill Russell’s Celtics faced one of Wilt Chamberlain’s teams in the playoffs in the 1960s. Many people say that Russell, one of the greatest defensive players of all time, absolutely shut Wilt down and basically wiped the floor with him. Others claim that the first notion is all wrong, that Russell barely slowed Wilt down at all, and the only reason Chamberlain usually lost to the Celtics was that they were the better team. As you’ll see though, there were three occasions when the Celtics had a worse record that Wilt’s team but won anyway (1966, ’68 and ’69).

Bill Russell joined the Celtics in 1956 at age 22 and Wilt Chamberlain joined the Warriors in 1959 at age 23. Wilt reached the NBA at a relatively late age because he missed a year of school as a child due to health problems, and thus didn’t start college until age 19. Russell attended the University of San Francisco and won two NCAA Championships there in 1955 and ’56 and won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Wilt went to the University of Kansas and led the Jayhawks to the National Championship game in 1957, but lost to the University of North Carolina. He decided not to return to school in ’58-59 for his senior year, instead playing for the Harlem Globetrotters before he was drafted by Philadelphia.

Both players had immediate success; Russell won his first of eleven NBA titles as a rookie in 1957 and won the first of five League MVPs in ’58. Wilt was MVP, Rookie of the Year and All Star MVP in 1960. He would win three more MVPs, but didn’t win his first championship until 1967. The two all time greats became good friends once Wilt joined the league, and Russ was very supportive of the younger star. They sometimes spent holidays together, and some thought the ultra-competitive Russell was actually buttering Wilt up so he’d take it easier on his Celtics. When asked if he saw Wilt as his greatest rival, Russell stated that he saw him as his greatest competitor, as he saw Wilt as his friend and not his rival.

The two had a falling out after the 1969 NBA Finals and Russell’s subsequent retirement. Chamberlain, now on the Lakers, sat on the bench during the closing minutes of game seven, and Russell publicly questioned why Wilt hadn’t been in the game, which the Celtics won by just two points. Bill may not have known it at the time, but Wilt went off the floor after hurting his foot, and later requested to be put back in. Lakers’ coach Butch van Breda Kolff refused, saying the team was playing better without him. Luckily the two reconciled years before Wilt’s death in 1999 at age 63.

1960

Boston Celtics: 59-16
Philadelphia Warriors: 49-26
The Celtics beat The Warriors 4-2 in the Eastern Division Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. Divsion Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
74	42.5	7.5	46.7	3.2	61.2	24	3.7	2.8	18.2
6	42.8	9	44.6	2.7	76.2	27	2.8	4.3	20.7

Wilt’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
72	46.4	14.8	46.1	8	58.2	27	2.3	2.1	37.6
6	45.5	12.3	50	5.8	49.3	27.5	2	2.2	30.5

As you can see, Wilt put up big numbers in the series against the Celtics, but his points were down by 7.1 a game, which represents an 18.9% decrease. Meanwhile, Russell’s scoring went up a bit.

1962

Boston Celtics: 60-20
Philadelphia Warriors: 49-31
The Celtics beat the Warriors 4-3 in the Eastern Division Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
76	45.2	7.6	45.7	3.8	59.5	23.6	4.5	2.7	18.9
7	47.7	8.4	39.9	5.1	70.6	25.9	4.3	4	22

Wilt’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
80	48.5	20	50.6	10.4	61.3	25.7	2.4	1.5	50.4
7	48	12.6	46.8	8.4	64.8	26.9	2.9	2.3	33.6

Wilt’s 50.4 points a game in ’61-62 is a single season record that still stands, and there’s no shame in only averaging 33 points a game in a playoff series, but the drop of almost seventeen points a game represented a full third of his production.

1964

Boston Celtics: 59-21
San Francisco Warriors: 48-23
The Celtics beat the Warriors 4-1 in the NBA Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. NBA Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
78	44.6	6	43.3	3	55	24.7	4.7	2.4	15
5	42.8	4.4	38.6	2.4	48	25.2	5	4	11.2

Wilt’s regular season vs. NBA Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
80	46.1	15.1	52.4	6.8	53.1	22.3	5	2.3	36.9
5	46	12.4	51.7	4.4	41.5	27.5	2.4	2.4	29.2

Although this series was pretty one-sided in favor of the Celtics, neither player really excelled. Russell averaged just over 11 points on low efficiency and Wilt saw about a 20% drop in scoring and only improved in terms of rebounding.

1965

Boston Celtics: 62-18
Philadelphia 76ers: 40-40
The Celtics beat the 76ers 4-3 in the Eastern Division Finals
Note: Wilt was traded to the 76ers from the Warriors mid-season and only played 35 games for Philadelphia that year.

Russell’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
78	44.4	5.5	43.8	3.1	57.3	24.1	5.3	2.6	14.1
7	48.6	6.6	44.7	2.4	47.2	25.3	6.7	4.1	15.6

Wilt’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
73	45.2	14.6	51	5.6	46.4	22.9	3.4	2	34.7
7	48.7	11.6	55.5	7	57.6	31.4	3.3	2.9	30.1

A very good series for Wilt, but once again we see his points dropping while Russell’s increase slightly. His rebounding took a big jump, however.

1966

Boston Celtics: 54-26
Philadelphia 76ers: 55-25
The Celtics beat the 76ers 4-1 in the Eastern Division Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
78	43.4	5	41.5	2.9	55.1	22.8	4.8	2.8	12.9
5	N/A	5	42.4	4	57.1	26.2	5.6	3.2	14

Wilt’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
79	47.3	13.6	54	6.3	51.3	24.6	5.2	2.2	33.5
5	N/A	11.2	50.9	5.6	41.2	30.2	3	2	28

This was another series where Wilt declined in most categories besides rebounding, while Russell increased his impact in most areas.

1967

Boston Celtics: 60-21
Philadelphia 76ers: 68-13
The 76ers beat the Celtics 4-1 in the Eastern Division Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
81	40.7	4.9	45.4	3.5	61	21	5.8	3.2	13.3
5	45.6	3.8	35.8	3.8	67.9	23.4	6	3.6	11.4

Wilt’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
81	45.5	9.7	68.3	4.8	44.1	24.2	7.8	1.8	24.1
5	47.8	8	55.6	5.6	51.9	32	10	2.8	21.6

This was the year Wilt and the Sixers finally got the best of Russell and the Celtics, who were trying for their ninth straight championship. Wilt had a great series, averaging a triple double, but his points were down and his field goal percentage took a big hit. Russell had good rebounding and assist numbers, but he only scored 11.4 points on poor efficiency.

1968

Boston Celtics: 54-28
Philadelphia 76ers: 62-20
The Celtics beat the 76ers 4-3 in the Eastern Division Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
78	37.9	4.7	42.5	3.2	53.7	18.6	4.6	3.1	12.5
7	46	5.3	44	3.1	59.5	23.9	4.1	3.9	13.7

Wilt’s regular season vs. Division Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
82	46.8	10	59.5	4.3	38	23.8	8.6	2	24.3
7	47.9	8.3	48.7	5.6	42.4	25.1	6.7	2	22.1

Not a big drop in points for Wilt in this one, but his field goal percentage took a big hit and his assists were down as well. As for Russell, his numbers were all up other than assists.

1969

Boston Celtics: 48-34
Los Angeles Lakers: 55-27
The Celtics beat the Lakers 4-3 in the NBA Finals

Russell’s regular season vs. NBA Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
77	42.7	3.6	43.3	2.6	52.6	19.3	4.9	3	9.9
7	48	3.6	39.7	2	58.3	21.1	5.1	4.1	9.1

Wilt’s regular season vs. NBA Finals

G	MP	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	TRB	AST	PF	PTS
81	45.3	7.9	58.3	4.7	44.6	21.1	4.5	1.8	20.5
7	47.3	4.1	50	3.4	37.5	25	3	3	11.7

Wilt had such a drop off in points in the Finals that I suspect that it had more to do with a change in strategy for LA or an injury than Boston’s defense, but I’m really not sure.

Stats don’t always tell the whole story, but my conclusion from these numbers is that by normal human standards, Wilt played amazing basketball in most of these series. By Wilt’s standards though, it’s clear that the Celtics’ defense, anchored by Russell, made a real impact on his ability to score, which with the exception of ’67, always gave the Celts a chance to win.