The first Warriors - Celtics NBA Finals: Chamberlain vs Russell
This is the second Final that will face Warriors and Celtics. The previous one was played in 1964 and was marked by one of the most legendary individual duels in history.
The Warriors and Celtics have met 346 times in the regular season of the NBA, with the first on November 26, 1946. They won (66-54), in the fifth game in their history. The Warriors played in Philadelphia and were heading to the ring of that inaugural season of what was still the embryo of the NBA, the Basketball Association of America.
The Warriors played the first two finals of the competition and had won two titles (1947 and 1956) when the green era began, that of the eleven rings in thirteen years (1957-69) of the Celtics. One of them in 1964 and embedded between the duels against the Lakers that built an eternal rivalry, at the expense of the Warriors: 4-1, mercilessly in the axis of a legendary stretch of eight consecutive titles. Something that, of course, no one has approached later.
MVP went to Russell
When that 1964 final was played, the Warriors had already been in San Francisco for two years and were led by Wilt Chamberlain, the giant (2.16) who broke all the records that had been and would be considered by many to be the best in the history… if those Celtics and their granite center, Bill Russell, hadn’t existed. Russell was Chamberlain’s kryptonite, nemesis and torture. Perhaps nothing explains it better than the 1961-61 season: Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds in 48.5 minutes per night. He scored 100 points in one game, a legendary record. However, the MVP went to Russell.
Celtics conquered the Warriors
In an NBA with fewer teams and more head-to-head duels, Russell (always on the Celtics) and Chamberlain (Warriors, Sixers, Lakers) met 143 times, 94 times in the regular season and 49 in the playoffs. The C’s won on all fronts: 57-37 in the regular phase and 29-20 in qualifying rounds in which they met eight times and won seven. Chamberlain only won in the 1967 East finals, with the Sixers went on to win in the Finals. It was the first of two rings for him, nine less than a Russell who had already retired in 1972, when Chamberlain was champion with the Lakers. In the finals, he played two times against Russell and lost both: in 1969 with the Angelenos and, before that, in 1964.
That was the last Warriors-Celtics duel for the ring… until tonight.