The 60's Celtics 11-0 record in Game 7's is criminally underrated

[SouBeachTalents]

For all the talk about the Celtics dynasty, I think this is a statistic that not only gets seriously underplayed, but one that is in it's own right an achievement as incredible as their 11 championships. What adds to the amazement of that 11-0 record is how insanely close those Game 7's turned out to be

1957 Finals: 125-123 (2 OT's)
1959 EDF: 130-125
1960 Finals: 122-103
1962 EDF: 109-107
1962 Finals: 110-107 (OT)
1963 EDF: 142-131
1965 EDF: 110-109
1966 EDS: 112-103
1966 Finals: 95-93
1968 EDF: 100-96
1969 Finals: 108-106

Out of those 11, an astounding 8 of them came within 2-3 possessions of going the other way, with sometimes only 1 possession or play being the difference. And on top of that, the Celtics were defeating the likes of Wilt, Oscar, West, Baylor, and Pettit, arguably 5 of the 20 greatest players of all time, remarkably facing at least one of them in 10 of their 11 Game 7's to boot

[Harison]

Bill Russell was arguably GOAT clutch, but fans now rarely give credit for it. He did everything what was necessary to win. GOAT defense, rebounding, passing, blocks, leadership and yes - when needed scoring as well. Russell's 30 points 42 rebounds is the best GM7 ever.

[ISHGoat]

Bill Russell was arguably GOAT clutch, but fans now rarely give credit for it. He did everything what was necessary to win. GOAT defense, rebounding, passing, blocks, leadership and yes - when needed scoring as well. Russell's 30 points 42 rebounds is the best GM7 ever.

We also have to account for the pace and competition they played against.

Who gets more boards? The guy playing against teams that regularily score 110, 120, 130 on terrible efficiency (by today's standards)

Or

The guy playing against a league that averages around 100 pts a game on far higher efficiency?

The guys playing against other guys of similar physique, or the grown man playing against high schoolers? IMO the talent and physical difference between Russell and his peers is like a div 1 player and your regular joe intramural player.

Not to hate on Russell or past greats, but it's hard to call someone the GOAT when the eras are so different

[LAZERUSS]

We also have to account for the pace and competition they played against.

Who gets more boards? The guy playing against teams that regularily score 110, 120, 130 on terrible efficiency (by today's standards)

Or

The guy playing against a league that averages around 100 pts a game on far higher efficiency?

The guys playing against other guys of similar physique, or the grown man playing against high schoolers? IMO the talent and physical difference between Russell and his peers is like a div 1 player and your regular joe intramural player.

Not to hate on Russell or past greats, but it's hard to call someone the GOAT when the eras are so different

Russell was 6-9 1/2...or the same height as Demarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, and Dwight Drummond.

Russell was actually shorter than the league average in height for centers of his era (6-10 to 6-11 in the decade of the 60's, and generally measured barefoot.)

[ISHGoat]

Russell was 6-9 1/2...or the same height as Demarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, and Dwight Drummond.

Russell was actually shorter than the league average in height for centers of his era (6-10 to 6-11 in the decade of the 60's, and generally measured barefoot.)

My point is that Russell was indeed an athletic beast that was as tall as dwight but looked like he could move much better. Perhaps not as strong, but from the grainy footages you can tell that this dude was a ****ing athletic beast.

But from what I understand, his competition were simply not on the same level of competition that guys like dwight and deandre face. Hell, dwight and deandre faced eachother in the second round. Mind you, at times Russell's teams only had to play two rounds to win the chip, so there should be further context when evaluating his rings. I think this part is greatly overlooked when people just start jizzing over "11 RANGZ DOE".

Who did russell face, other than wilt on his team of scrubs?

[LAZERUSS]

My point is that Russell was indeed an athletic beast that was as tall as dwight but looked like he could move much better. Perhaps not as strong, but from the grainy footages you can tell that this dude was a ****ing athletic beast.

But from what I understand, his competition were simply not on the same level of competition that guys like dwight and deandre face. Hell, dwight and deandre faced eachother in the second round. Mind you, at times Russell's teams only had to play two rounds to win the chip, so there should be further context when evaluating his rings. I think this part is greatly overlooked when people just start jizzing over "11 RANGZ DOE".

Who did russell face, other than wilt on his team of scrubs?

I could also argue that other "GOATs" built their playoff stats with early round cannon-fodder, year-after-year. Let's be honest here...how many times do you see an #8 seed beat a #1 seed?

Secondly, in leagues that had between 8-14 teams, Russell won 11 rings, including his last season, and in a league of 14 teams, and in which he won three series without HCA.

And keep in mind, in these 8-14 leagues, he was facing centers like Bellamy, Reed, Thurmond, Beaty, Wilt, and later, Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld.

[Psileas]

For all the talk about the Celtics dynasty, I think this is a statistic that not only gets seriously underplayed, but one that is in it's own right an achievement as incredible as their 11 championships. What adds to the amazement of that 11-0 record is how insanely close those Game 7's turned out to be

1957 Finals: 125-123 (2 OT's)
1959 EDF: 130-125
1960 Finals: 122-103
1962 EDF: 109-107
1962 Finals: 110-107 (OT)
1963 EDF: 142-131
1965 EDF: 110-109
1966 EDS: 112-103
1966 Finals: 95-93
1968 EDF: 100-96
1969 Finals: 108-106

Out of those 11, an astounding 8 of them came within 2-3 possessions of going the other way, with sometimes only 1 possession or play being the difference. And on top of that, the Celtics were defeating the likes of Wilt, Oscar, West, Baylor, and Pettit, arguably 5 of the 20 greatest players of all time, remarkably facing at least one of them in 10 of their 11 Game 7's to boot

But, but...8 teams, which...according to ISH logic and adjusting to 30 teams, is more like 3-0 today*. Ammirite, ISH?

*(still better than Jordan's, Magic's, Bird's, etc, Game 7 records, lol)

[stanlove1111]

We also have to account for the pace and competition they played against.

Who gets more boards? The guy playing against teams that regularily score 110, 120, 130 on terrible efficiency (by today's standards)

Or

The guy playing against a league that averages around 100 pts a game on far higher efficiency?

The guys playing against other guys of similar physique, or the grown man playing against high schoolers? IMO the talent and physical difference between Russell and his peers is like a div 1 player and your regular joe intramural player.

Not to hate on Russell or past greats, but it's hard to call someone the GOAT when the eras are so different

I will compare how Russell did in his era against how anyone else did in their era. Only way to compare across eras.

If Lebron was born in 1935 he would have played like they did back then.

[stanlove1111]

My point is that Russell was indeed an athletic beast that was as tall as dwight but looked like he could move much better. Perhaps not as strong, but from the grainy footages you can tell that this dude was a ****ing athletic beast.

But from what I understand, his competition were simply not on the same level of competition that guys like dwight and deandre face. Hell, dwight and deandre faced eachother in the second round. Mind you, at times Russell's teams only had to play two rounds to win the chip, so there should be further context when evaluating his rings. I think this part is greatly overlooked when people just start jizzing over "11 RANGZ DOE".

Who did russell face, other than wilt on his team of scrubs?

Where do you get Wilt and a team full of scrubs? Wilt was surrounded by great talent from 1965 on. He beat West and Baylor many times. Even at the end of his career he beat the Willis Reed Knicks who many consider one of the greatest teams of all time.

Not sure why less rounds in the playoffs really matter and not sure why so many bring it up. Are there a lot of 8th seeds beating number 1 seeds today that I don't know about?

I don't rank any player ever above Russell. Players should only be judged on how many value to add to a tea, and Russell added as much of more then anyone ever. He is underrated on this board because of people who don't understand basketball and only know how to read offensive stat sheets.