No Subject

Wilt vs. Russell -- classic clashes

                               Man against team: Chamberlain had the numbers,
Celtics the titles.
                              Mercury News Staff and Wire Reports 

                              When Bob Cousy would dribble into the lane
against Wilt Chamberlain, he wouldn't
                              imagine taking a shot. He would just hope to get
a pass around this guy he still thinks of
                              as ``humongous.''

                              ``I don't know what height they listed him at;
it should have been 7-4,'' Cousy said
                              Tuesday. ``To me, he looked like 7-8. The image
he would project to the guards
                              penetrating was frightening.''

                              Of course, Cousy, the great point guard for
those Boston Celtics championship teams of
                              the 1960s, had a front-row seat for one of the
classic rivalries in sports: Wilt
                              Chamberlain against Bill Russell.

                              That matchup, and the way it was marketed and
promoted, brought more attention and
                              exposure to the league than any in NBA history,
Cousy said. Not even the rivalry
                              between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson two decades
later compared.

                              ``I don't think I'm reaching,'' Cousy said.

                              Russell's Celtics teams beat Chamberlain's teams
twice in the championship series and
                              five times in the conference finals. Three
times, a series was decided by a seventh game
                              that Boston won by either one or two points.

                              ``As a youngster growing up in Massachusetts I
was a Celtics fan, and I remember those
                              epic battles between Russell and Wilt,''
Warriors General Manager Garry St. Jean said.
                              ``He was so talented, and such a great athlete
and had such a flair about him.

                              ``It really was like these two giants, each with
their separate styles. Wilt with the great
                              individual talent with the great numbers, but
yet, Russ somehow was the fulcrum to the
                              wheel to the Celtics that allowed them to win.
He didn't have those big numbers, but yet
                              the end result was at the end Russ won. And the
debate was, if you switched them on
                              different teams would Wilt have won all of
these? And that's where you get into the
                              psyche of Bill Russell and the way he approached
the game.

                              ``What I thought was tremendous was the respect
each had for each other's game. Russ
                              would have Wilt over to his house for
Thanksgiving, take a nap on one or the other's
                              beds, depending on whether they were in Boston
or Philadelphia. And Russ used to say,
                              `I gave him a big turkey dinner and then he'd go
out and score 50 on me.' ''

                              But the rivalry extended off the court. There
was the time Chamberlain demanded a raise
                              from the Warriors to $100,000 per season so that
he could be paid more than Russell,
                              only to find out later that Russell's deal with
the Celtics called for him to make one dollar
                              more.

                              Another Celtics Hall of Famer, Tom Heinsohn,
thought that Celtics-Chamberlain rivalry
                              was the single best example of the sports axiom
that it takes a team to beat an individual.

                              Wilt's statistics were overwhelming, of course.
He scored 100 points against the Knicks
                              in 1962 in Hershey, Pa. He had 55 rebounds in
another game. He averaged 50.4 points
                              in one season, and led the league in assists in
another. And he never fouled out of a
                              game.

                              ``I don't think if Wilt said, `I'm going to be
like Russell and block shots and play
                              defense,' I don't think it would have made the
difference on those early teams he played
                              on,'' said former teammate Bill Melchionni.

                              ``Wilt always had the ego thing going with Russ
right to the end,'' Cousy said. ``Neither
                              one neutralized the other, but I think Russ
forced Wilt to be adaptable. Everyone else in
                              the league, he'd literally overpower. He'd throw
it up and go chase it. I think that's how
                              Wilt developed that little fadeaway shot that
became his staple.''

                              Of course, the Celtics had to deal with
Chamberlain. When he arrived in the league in
                              1959, after playing at Kansas and a year with
the Harlem Globetrotters, ``his first game,
                              he dominated Russell,'' said Heinsohn.

                              ``I think he scored, like, 53 points. I said,
`We're never going to win another title.' But
                              after that, we had to find ways to beat Wilt.''

                              The last time Heinsohn saw Chamberlain was in
late May when he flew into Boston for a
                              ceremony re-retiring Russell's number. Heinsohn
said he ended up going out with
                              Chamberlain after the event. They were out late
telling war stories.

                              In the end, Heinsohn said, Russell had more
championships, but ``it's amazing, the
                              happier person ended up being Wilt. Russell had
his own demons to exorcise.''


                              Mercury News Staff Writer Jesse Barkin
contributed to this report.