Jerry West's stats in 1969 NBA Final game 7 VS Boston Celtics

[ashbelly]

42 points (14/29) FG, 13 rebounds and 12 assists but they lost 108-106.. He got the Finals MVP even though they lost.. I can see something similar happening this year but the numbers will be a little bit worser and no finals MVP.

[branslowski]

Gasol doesn't need all those asist...And so what if he doesn't win Finals MVP...But I still think LA wins a game 7...

[ashbelly]

Gasol doesn't need all those asist...And so what if he doesn't win Finals MVP...But I still think LA wins a game 7...

I see what u did there. but i was talking about the wan kanobi.

[branslowski]

I see what u did there. but i was talking about the wan kanobi.

My fault, I forgot dude is on your mind 24/7...The trolling thing is cool...Keep it up bro..

[Juges8932]

Gasol doesn't need all those asist...And so what if he doesn't win Finals MVP...But I still think LA wins a game 7...

Well said.

It just needs to be sure that Gasol gets minimum of 22 FGA, he gets the ball and play-makes, and for Kobe to set picks for him so Gasol can use his aggressive/physical effort to get to the rack. Assists are not needed.

[Lakers_Kobe_Fan]

42 points (14/29) FG, 13 rebounds and 12 assists but they lost 108-106.. He got the Finals MVP even though they lost.. I can see something similar happening this year but the numbers will be a little bit worser and no finals MVP.

no morrison doesnt need to get that many rebounds....he just needs to get it going and he will get the MVP...I think he will be ok

[Duncan21formvp]

42 points (14/29) FG, 13 rebounds and 12 assists but they lost 108-106.. He got the Finals MVP even though they lost.. I can see something similar happening this year but the numbers will be a little bit worser and no finals MVP.

Yep. Had Wilt showed up they would have won.

[jlauber]

Yep. Had Wilt showed up they would have won.

Yep....ALWAYS Wilt's fault. How did Wilt do in that game seven BTW? First of all, his counterpart, Bill Russell, scored six points, on 2-7 shooting, with 21 rebounds in 48 minutes. Meanwhile, Wilt, who did not show up, scored 18 points on 7-8 shooting, with 27 rebounds...and, thanks in large part to his COACH, he missed the last five minutes of the game.

[lilgodfather1]

Yep....ALWAYS Wilt's fault. How did Wilt do in that game seven BTW? First of all, his counterpart, Bill Russell, scored six points, on 2-7 shooting, with 21 rebounds in 48 minutes. Meanwhile, Wilt, who did not show up, scored 18 points on 7-8 shooting, with 27 rebounds...and, thanks in large part to his COACH, he missed the last five minutes of the game.

Boy did Wilt ever choke

[PHILA]

Boy did Wilt ever choke

This is not to down Jerry West's performance, but you need to watch the full 4th quarter on Youtube. Count how many touches Chamberlain actually received in the pivot. As soon as Russell picked up foul number 5, Chamberlain goes down low next possession attempting to take him out. Had the coach brought him back in to finish the game there is no question they would have won. As I have said before the Celtics may officially have 17 championships, but in reality the Lakers gave one away to them. Literally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3k9eWPEbXE#t=3m20s

[jlauber]

Of course, no one mentions the play of Elgin Baylor in the post-season that year...

Once again, thanks to Wilt's COACH...Baylor averaged 15.4 ppg on .385 shooting...while Wilt averaged 13.9 ppg (his lowest BY FAR at that point in his career), on .545 shooting.

Despite his coach's incompetence, Chamberlain still outscored, outrebounded, and probably considerably outshot Russell (who shot .423 in the playoffs that year.)

But, as ALWAYS...blame Wilt.

The next year he came back from major knee surgery, WAY AHEAD of even the most optomistic medical opinion, averaged 23.2 ppg, 24.1 rpg, and shot .625 in the Finals, and with a huge under-dog team...and outplayed Reed, who was at 23.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and shot .483...including his famous 4-3 game in game seven (while all Wilt did was put up a 21-24 game, on 10-16 shooting)...and yes, Reed won the MVP...while Wilt was ripped for not being more dominant.

[ShaqAttack3234]

Yep....ALWAYS Wilt's fault. How did Wilt do in that game seven BTW? First of all, his counterpart, Bill Russell, scored six points, on 2-7 shooting, with 21 rebounds in 48 minutes. Meanwhile, Wilt, who did not show up, scored 18 points on 7-8 shooting, with 27 rebounds...and, thanks in large part to his COACH, he missed the last five minutes of the game.

He averaged 11.7 ppg for the series, come on, yes, his coach deserves some blame, but so does Wilt. He averaged 20+ ppg in the regular season so when you're a superstar, your production drops that much and you lose to a team you were heavily favored against, you deserve a good amount of blame. Not sure what his FG% was in the '69 finals, but considering he shot 36% from the line(24/66) I wouldn't imagine he was that efficient overall even if he did shoot a high percentage from the field. But that means Wilt averaged just 10.7 ppg the first 6 games. Now it's not unreasonable to say if Wilt played up to his usual level or close that there wouldn't have even been a game 7. The Lakers had a chance to close it out in 6, but they lost and Wilt had just 8 points.

By the way, Wilt left the game at 5:19 remaining and Boston was up 103-94, but before Don Nelson's miracle shot with 1:17 left it was a 103-102.

Simply put, the '69 finals are the low point of Wilt's career. It's pretty hard to defend his performance.

[jlauber]

This is not to down Jerry West's performance, but you need to watch the full 4th quarter on Youtube. Count how many touches Chamberlain actually received in the pivot. As soon as Russell picked up foul number 5, Chamberlain goes down low next possession attempting to take him out. Had the coach brought him back in to finish the game there is no question they would have won. As I have said before the Celtics may officially have 17 championships, but in reality the Lakers gave one away to them. Literally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3k9eWPEbXE#t=3m20s

I have mentioned it many times...but not only should have LA won that series, they were ONE lousy play away from winning the series, 4-1. In game four in Boston, and with the Lakers leading the series, 2-1...LA had the ball, and an 88-87 lead with only a few seconds left. Johnny Egan, the point guard who replaced all-star Archie Clark (one of THREE players traded for Wilt)...lost the ball. Boston imbounded, and Sam Jones banked home a wild shot while falling down as time expired, to win the game 89-88. In game five, back in LA, Wilt crushed Russell on the glass, 31-13, and the Lakers easily won game five, 117-104. Had Egan been able to dribble a few more seconds, and the Lakers would have won convincingly in that series.

[PHILA]

By the way, Wilt left the game at 5:19 remaining and Boston was up 103-94, but before Don Nelson's miracle shot with 1:17 left it was a 103-102.

And they cut a 17 point 4th quarter deficit to 7 before his exit.

[Fatal9]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3k9eWPEbXE#t=3m20s

Seems to me his team was playing better without him, they cut the lead very quickly right after he left the game. Team played better at both ends afterwards and thanks to Jerry they didn't lose a step, why would the coach sub an (injured) Wilt back in?

As for touches, maybe they feared Wilt would choke another game at the foul line (flashback to '68 perhaps)? Boston does seem to be intentionally fouling him if he gets good position. After all, he was a miserable 24/66 (36.4%) from the free throw line in the finals (4/13 in the game 7). Why would you give touches to someone who isn't giving you much scoring wise, and is basically turning over the ball at the FT line, especially when you have Jerry West on your team?