He'd been 94 today!

bobheckler wrote:

sam wrote:Okay, Bob, here you go.

Sam

Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers
NBA Finals Game 6
Wednesday 04/24/1963 at Los Angeles Sports Arena
Los Angeles, California, USA

Boston Celtics
......................MIN....FGM....FGA....FTM....FTA.....REB....AST....PF....PTS
Bob Cousy.........30.......8.......16........2........2........3.......7......4.....18
John Havlicek.... 28.......8.......20........ 2........3........2.......5......2.....18
Tom Heinsohn....33.......8.......18........6........9........9.......2......4.....22
K.C. Jones.........14.......3.........6........3........4........2.......4......3.......9
Sam Jones.........24.......2.......10........1........3........3.......0......3.......5
Jim Loscutoff........1.......0.........0........0........0........0.......0......0.......0
Frank Ramsey.....20.......4.........8........2........3........1.......0......2.....10
Bill Russell..........48.......5.......12........2........5......24.......9......3.....12
Tom Sanders.......42.......9.......14........0........0........7.......3......5.....18
Totals..........................47.....104......18......29.......61......30....26....112
Team Rebounds: 10

Los Angeles Lakers
.......................MIN.....FGM.....FGA.... FTM....FTA....REB....AST....PF....PTS
Dick Barnett.......24........4......... 12......4........4........1........ 1...... 3.....12
Elgin Baylor........47.......11........ 24......6........6........8........ 8...... 3.....28
Leroy Ellis..........19.........3..........3......3........3........5........1...... 1.......9
Jim Krebs...........12.........0..........3......0........0........2........0......3.......0
Rudy LaRusso.....42.........9 ........14......1........1........5........3......4......19
Frank Selvy........16........13..........1......2........3........3........3......3.......3
Jerry West..........44........13........24.....6.......10........7........9......0.....32
Gene Wiley.........36..........3..........6.....0.........1......14........1......3......6
Totals............................44........89....21.......27......58.......26....20..109
Team Rebounds: 13

...............................1......2......3........4..............F
Boston Celtics...........33....33.....26....20............112
Los Angeles Lakers....35....17..... 28....29............ 109
Head Coaches: Boston Celtics - Red Auerbach, Los Angeles Lakers - Fred Schaus

Attendance: 15521
Start Time: 11:30PM ET
Boston Radio: WHDH

Sam,

Thanks.

Last season, the team with the highest average fga/game was the Phoenix Suns, with 85.7, followed by the Houston Rockets at 85.1 (Boston was 77-something).

This shows that even the most uptempo team in today's league, led by that sneaky little Canadian, didn't put up as many shots as the team that lost this Championship game back in '62-63 and is totally eclipsed by the one that won. So much for old school basketball being slower!

Is that the air I hear leaking out of today's newbies?

bob

.

Bob

48 minutes was slower back then.

Hell some scoreboard clocks still had HANDS for crying out loud! Had to be a Rhodes scholar to figure out the time.

beat

Bob

finally found a photo of the OLD clock in the OLD garden 1957.
I assume the 23 number is the shot clock, wonder why they later moved it to the left/right (not sure which) (think it was left) corners on the floor in the offensive end. Guess it would be easier to see there than looking up and over your shoulder.




beat

Thought this was an interesting piece from SI Vault.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/gallery/featured/GAL1159413/1/10/index.htm

brings back a few memories, and the Garden is included.

beat

Bob

Quote from Hondo about the clock............taken from the Old Garden story

"What I think helped us as much as anything was the clock. Not the clock now, the one before it. It had a black minute hand and a red second hand, and it was a hockey clock. Our periods would end at 12-minute marks on the clock, but the big designations were at 15, 30 and 45. I don't think anybody in the league knew how to read that clock except Red and us. I'd see guys staring at it. Or startled when the buzzer went off at 12 minutes."

beat

Bob, I know this may startle those who like to claim that I lack objectivity about the Celtics. But there's an element of hypocrisy in Red's condemnation of flopping. Flopping was basically invented by Red's own player, Frank Ramsey, in the 1950s. Rams had the flop down to a science; and, of course, flopping was made easier back then by the fact that there was no "relief arc" for the offensive player under the basket. I never heard or read any gripes from Red about the tactic in those days.

Sam

sam wrote:Bob, I know this may startle those who like to claim that I lack objectivity about the Celtics. But there's an element of hypocrisy in Red's condemnation of flopping. Flopping was basically invented by Red's own player, Frank Ramsey, in the 1950s. Rams had the flop down to a science; and, of course, flopping was made easier back then by the fact that there was no "relief arc" for the offensive player under the basket. I never heard or read any gripes from Red about the tactic in those days.

Sam

Sam,

"He may be a crook, but he's our crook". If it can work for US foreign policy lo these many decades why not sports?

bob
P.S. You do lack objectivity about the Celtics. So do I. That doesn't mean we lack ALL objectivity. That doesn't mean we can't back up a fair amount of what we believe, but I know I'm no angel and have been known to err on the side of the green and am damn proud to admit it. Nothing wrong with at least a little of that, just don't start chewing on the furniture. That gets you rapped across the nose and put out in the backyard. Not that I'd know that personally...

beat wrote:Bob

Quote from Hondo about the clock............taken from the Old Garden story

"What I think helped us as much as anything was the clock. Not the clock now, the one before it. It had a black minute hand and a red second hand, and it was a hockey clock. Our periods would end at 12-minute marks on the clock, but the big designations were at 15, 30 and 45. I don't think anybody in the league knew how to read that clock except Red and us. I'd see guys staring at it. Or startled when the buzzer went off at 12 minutes."

beat

beat,

That clock is too much. Talk about a built-in homecourt advantage. Who needs favorable calls by the refs, we've got 1950's technology!

Too much.

bob

.

bobheckler wrote:

beat wrote:Bob

Quote from Hondo about the clock............taken from the Old Garden story

"What I think helped us as much as anything was the clock. Not the clock now, the one before it. It had a black minute hand and a red second hand, and it was a hockey clock. Our periods would end at 12-minute marks on the clock, but the big designations were at 15, 30 and 45. I don't think anybody in the league knew how to read that clock except Red and us. I'd see guys staring at it. Or startled when the buzzer went off at 12 minutes."

beat

beat,

That clock is too much. Talk about a built-in homecourt advantage. Who needs favorable calls by the refs, we've got 1950's technology!

Too much.

bob

.

Bob

If the quote is indeed acurate from Hondo, and it was indeed a clock set up for hockey, would it stand to reason that the so called BIG DESIGNATIONS as he puts it should be at 20-40-60? After all Hockey has 3, 20 minute periods. Or could have Hondo think there were 4 periods in Hockey? Oh well.

Back in school when I was in 1st grade or so the HS Gym was small and the graduating class was only about 30 to 40. The Gym had a score clock that has the score on each side of a clock. As the second hand wound around you really hqad to look to tell jusy how many minutes there were in the game. When the second hand turned under the final minute the face of the clock that was yellow turned red. And even if you turned the switch off the clock would continue to move 2-3 seconds.

The gym was so small that the center circle overlaped both foul shooting circles and the over and back line was the opposing foul line. Along one sideline as ther was not enough room to stand out of bounds for a throw in, there was a line of dashes about three feet in bounds, that area was known as the lane and when inbounding a ball no player could be standing in there on that sideline or it was a violation. Sort of a bandbox but lots of the gyms arond heere in the early 60's were quite similar to that.

beat

Beat, you're right about the 20-minute hockey periods. But John might also have had a point.

In the mid-fifties, it was mandated by the NHL that intermissions between periods would be 15 minutes. I don't know whether they used the clock to count off those 15 intermission minutes in hockey the way they did in later years (and maybe still do) with the digital clock for basketball halftimes. But it could be that both the 15-minute AND the 20-minute notations on the old clock might have been enlarged.

If so, the 15-minute notation, being closer to the NBA's 12-minute notation and also beginning with the digit "1," might have been the more confusing factor.

I'm not at all certain about this, but maybe it's a possibility. Any older hockey fans out there who could clarify this?

I know that clock was tremendously confusing....for the fans too. And I always marveled that there weren't more balls stolen while the dribbler was looking over his shoulder and upward toward that clock.

Sam

Sam

who knows for sure. In trying to find a better photo of the old clock I found this. Never knew that the last scoreclock in the old Garden was saved and is hanging in the Natick Mall.



beat

Couple other shots of the OLD score clock. I do note that the 24 second clock hangs over the basket not under the clock as the other photo makes it appear.







beat

Okay Beat, no fair looking it up. Who was #4 in the last picture, and what year would that have made it? (Hint: I'm quite sure that's Elgin Baylor—#22 on the right.)

Sam

Sam

I would have a couple guesses but I do not know off the top.

I know it's not Jim Paxson! (kidding)

One guess would be Clyde Lovette (sp) but beyond that no idea right now. I though he was a bit bigger however.

beat

Ok looked it up and still don't know. Lovettei is listed at 6-9 and that guy is not 6-9 ( at least I don't think so. )

Carl Braun played for the C's in 62 and wore 4. and was 6-5. So I gather it must be him.

beat

PS notice on the top one of those three photos.... NO BANNERS in sight! Seems they would should have been . And in themiddle photo the green banners from the various conference championships.

Clyde was next to wear #4 after this guy. And, yes, he was a lot bigger.

It was one of Red's reclamation jobs. Carl Braun a backcourt swingman (but more of a 2 than a 1) had played most of his career for the Knicks. I believe he was on some all-star teams. I think he just played the 1961-62 season for the Celtics.

Sam

Actually, Basketball Reference lists Braun as a guard-forward.

About the fast break, Red liked to say that his college coach, Bill Reinhart, was the first to run an "organized fast break". It was kind of Red's Holy Grail. What he considered to be the ultimate was a fast break in which the ball was advanced up the court by passing, never touching the floor. I suppose that's to be contrasted with an unorganized fast break which wasn't practiced, just get the ball on a turnover or long rebound and get out ahead for a layup. It must have taken huge amounts of practice time to be able to execute an "organized fast break".

Havlicek once complained (imagine?) that Heinsohn made them practice the fast break until they dropped - 2 man breaks, 3, 4 and 5. They had to have it down to the pont where each man could run the break with any combination of teammates and be able to anticipate their moves. They ran on every play, the whole game, so that the other team started backing up, as soon as they got a shot off, to defend against the break.

The purpose wasn't even so much to score points or to tire the other team out: as Cowens said, "It was intimidation."

When Danny took over as GM of the Celtics, he said he had a "vision" of how he wanted the team to play. He also conferred with Red all day every day until Red died, and there's not doubt the irascible one whispered "organized fast break" in Danny's ear a time or two. That's one of the more frustrating aspects of the current stall in negotiations, because the Celtics have the perfect point guard, and a growing stable of fast running young legs, - it's as though there's a light at the end of the tunnel that keeps blinking on every once in a while just to mess with your head.

I wonder what Dr. Naismiith would say about the fast break. I happen to think it brings out the beauty in basketball—the closest thing in sport to a symphony orchestra. Whereas I feel isolation play is the antithesis of pure basketball.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the ideal fast break emphasizes passing, and the most typical iso play involves a lot of dribbling.

All of which makes me wonder how Dr. Naismith might have defined "purity" in basketball when he invented it. In his vision, what was the ideal balance between passing and dribbling in movement of the ball? Maybe he didn't care as long as there was plenty of slamma jamma going on.

Sam

It's been a while since I read about Naismith's invention of basketball, but I definitely recall that dribbling wasn't allowed or, better to say, envisioned, under the first set of rules. Naismith put forth a game in which passing was the preferred way to advance the ball.

It was the players themselves, these young toughs, who started dribbling. Apparently, some players were running with the ball and some others were tackling them. That was too much like football and falling probably hurt. Thus, dribbling made its debut. As Tyrone Shoelaces said of his Basketball Jones, "Ever since I was a baby, I always be dribblin'."

Somewhere, probably youtube, there's old grainy footage of basketball games from the early years of the past century. Two things I remember from that video are 1) defense was serious d back then, hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners defense, and 2) the fast break - these guys were running all over the court, running right out of the video, incuding throwing at least one length-of-the-court pass.

Not sure what happened to the game that Naismith envisioned but it became a slow, plodding, unexciting slugfest in the thirties, forties and early fifties. It was Bill Russell and K.C. Jones more than anyone else (Reinhart, Auerbach and Cousy deserve mention here as well) who lifted it into the speedy, athletic ballet it became - until Jordan ruled and turned it into a boring dribble-fest.

What goes around comes around. Wouldn't it be special if the modern Celtics were to return to their roots and show the league how much fun and how intimidating the fast break can be?

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one . . ."

Spike,

Interesting insight about the absence of dribbling in the original game. It would be fun to see that footage. "Grainy" is my middle name. The early running game is a real revelation and deserves more investigation. That's a real eye-opener, at least for me.

We may have differing perspectives on the popularization of the fast break in the NBA. My feeling is that K.C. Jones basically inherited a fast break machine that had been established by Cousy and Russell (with Red's imprimatur), and the machine actually slowed somewhat after 1962-63 without The Cooz in charge. In fact, it's been my impression that Cooz, Auerbach and the 24-second rule combined to have the fast break imperative well under way even before Russ hit the scene, although it could easily be argued that Cooz and Russ perfected it.

Since there seems to be some feeling that I'm less than objective in some of these matters, I thought it might be useful to look at a few stats. In the absence of fast break stats back in those days, the closest I can come to relevant figures involves field goal attempts per game. I know they're not synonymous with the fast break, but I think it's fair to say there's a high degree of correlation between the two.

From 1951-54, the Celtics averaged 82.6 field goal attempts per game with Cousy at the helm and MacAuley and Sharman his chief henchmen:

1950-51 81.2 FGA
1951-52 83.4
1952-53 78.2
1953-54 77.5

The 24-second rule was initiated for the 1954-55 season. In the 1954-55 and 1955-56 (the last two seasons before Russ hit the scene), the Celts increased their FGA attempts to 90.7 and 96.0 respectively. Clearly, the new rule opened the flood gates, and Cousy & Company were gaining fast break momentum each year:

1954-55 90.7 FGA
1955-56 96.0

Then Russ came on board. From 1956-57 through 1959-60, the Celts' FGA inexorably mushroomed to an all-time Celtics high of 119.6 with Cousy at PG and was still at a robust 109.7 when Cousy retired:

1956-57 101.8 FGA
1957-58 107.8
1958-59 107.8
1959-60 119.6
1960-61 117.7
1061-62 113.8
1962-63 109.7

Certainly, K.C. played a role in achieving these gaudy figures, but he didn't join the team until 1958-59, when Cousy averaged 37 MPG to KC's 12. Cousy's strong fingerprints were still all over the playmaking function in the record-setting FGA year of 1959-60, when he averaged 35 MPG to KC's 17.

Cooz retired after 1962-63. In 1963-64, the Celtics, with K.C. Jones the primary PG, the Celts' FGA per game was still potent, although the stat lost steam with each succeeding year:

1963-64 109.6
1964-65 107.6
1965-66 104.6
1966-67 102.8

K.C. retired after the 1966-67 season.

It could be argued that the FGA stats are inconclusive as an indication of game tempo unless FTA are also taken into consideration. Maybe someone else will want to do that. I did take a look at 1962-63 versus 1963-64 and found that 1962-63, with Cooz on the roster, produced 34.7 FTA per game compared with 31.1 the year after Coos retired.

So I have a feeling that incorporating FTA into the mix wouldn't change my conclusion that it was unquestionably Cousy who pioneered, sharpened and, with Russell, perfected the vaunted Celtics' fast break that became the envy and standard of emulation for the rest of the league. KC was heir to the throne, and he obviously acquitted himself very well (Hall of Fame well), particularly by adding a previously unheard of defensive element to the playmaker position.

As for stylistic factors, it's my opinion that nothing could top the beauty of a Cousy-led fast break. While he was one of the great dribblers of his generation, he was one of the staunchest supporters of a "pass first" mentality. And nothing could ever match the artistry of a Cousy pass in full fast break mode. Particularly in 1962-63, when he had Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, John Havlicek, Bill Russell, Frank Ramsey, and even Tom Heinsohn as running mates. Not because they were all speed demons but because they collectively may have boasted unmatched senses of timing and anticipation.

Sam

sam

The K.C. I was thinking about was the USF guard who combined with Bill Russell for one of the most devastating fast breaks ever in college basketball. It wasn't an "organized fast break". USF coach Phil Woolpert didn't have Russ and K.C. practice it. It grew out of their approach to the game and their speed and athleticism. Nor did they do it the whole game. They would clamp down on defense, score a flurry of fast break points, rack up a 20 or 30 point lead, and Woolpert would take them out.

Also, it's quite charming that they had as a running mate a 6' 4" shooting guard named Hal Perry who could run like the wind, play great defense, and hit the clutch shot - kind of like that other Jones they played with on the Celtics.

The word 'intimidating' didn't apply to that USF team: they were terrifying, unnerving; they won many games before they began.

Bill brought that same approach to the Celtics and the rest is history. He and Cousy clicked from the first game. BUT, the Celtics fast break didn't become the force it was until Bill Russell joined the team AND the plays he brought with him were invented by him and K.C. Jones.

Of course, K.C. was no Cousy and no one, with the possible exception of Magic Johnson, could run the fast break like Cooz did. All I meant to say was that it all started with the plays Bill and K.C. worked out at USF and the reason they could do it was because they used their speed and athleticism in ways that no teammates ever did before.

Thanks for the clarification, Spike. Actually, the Celtics had a pretty sizzling fast break going before Russ and KC got together and before the 24-second rule came into existence. The problem was that they couldn't get the ball consistently enough to make the break a dominating factor until Russ came along. But that fast break did contribute strongly to the Celtics having the most potent offense in the league in each of the five years before Russ joined the team.

Of course, the peak years in the Celtics offense were when both Cousy and KC were operating at the playmaker position (and KC was also contributing mightily by frequently shutting down guys like West and Oscar on defense).

If you have some references to the break as run by Russ and KC in college, I'd love to read them.

Sam

About USF, I'm still taking notes on how Bill and K.C. bleshed, which is really about the invention of a different approach to the game of basketball. Most information is in 'The Dandy Dons' by Johnson. Good book - wish there were more like it.

Reasearching the fast break quickly leads to one of the greatest coaches ever, John McLendon, a protege of James Naismith and the man who is widely credited with inventing the fast break. He coached for years at North Carolina College where he may have molded the game of one of the Celtics all-time greats.

McLendon said that Naismith told him that the best way to play basketball is to be always on the attack, on both offense and defense, no matter where the ball is on the court. McLendon designed an offense of constant movement where the ball was constantly pushed upcourt, accompanied by a full-court pressing defense.

Supposedly, McLendon's teams practiced endlessly and were in superior physical condition. There's even a report that in one game the pace was so unrelenting that the referees had to call a time out to catch their breaths.

McLendon (and presumably Naismith) thought that an uptempo game was more fun for the players and fans.

Perhaps one reason fast break basketball has fallen out of favor is that it's so difficult to practice it and to keep dedicated to it to the bitter end.

Interesting, Spike. Perhaps just another way we have been robbed of some of the aesthetics of the game by the temporary affiliations of so many players with their teams.

Another coach widely associated with the fast break was Adolph Rupp of U. of Kentucky (alma mater of players like Frank Ramsey and Cliff Hagen). In fact, it’s no coincidence that Red Auerbach selected Ramsay, Hagen and Lou Tsioropoulus from the U. of Kentucky teams of 1953 and 1954—both of which were awarded the Helms National Championship. So the Russell Celtics boasted two players, each of whom was a two-time national champion in College, spanning a four-year period (1953-1956), PLUS former national NCAA champs Cousy and Havlicek.

I took the following writeup from something called “Walter’sWildcatWorld.com.”

Sam

Adolph Rupp

UK Record:
Alma Mater (Year):
Hometown:
Born:
Died: 876-190 (82.2%), 42 years
Kansas (1923)
Halstead, Kan.
Sept. 2, 1901
Dec. 11, 1977 (age 76)

Adolph Rupp

“In the storied land of Kentucky Colonels, there dwelled but one Baron, a man of consummate pride and a molder of powerful teams which for more than four decades made the name University of Kentucky synonymous with the game of basketball.”

Rupp was born outside Halstead, Kansas, to Mennonite German immigrants, the fourth of six children. He grew up on a 173-acre farm which his father Heinrich homesteaded. After his father’s death in 1910, Rupp’s oldest brother Otto took over farming responsibilities. As a youngster, Rupp worked on the farm and attended a school in a one-room school house in the country. He first became interested in the sport of basketball at the age of six when Halstead won the first of two consecutive Kansas state high school titles. According to interviews, he and his brothers stuffed rags into a gunnysack which his mother sewed up to use as a basketball on the family farm. Later, after growing to a sturdy 6-foot-2, Rupp was a star on his Halstead High School team, averaging over 19 points a game in both his junior and senior years. Rupp also served as team captain and unofficial coach.

After high school, Rupp attended the University of Kansas from 1919–1923. He worked part-time at the student Jayhawk Cafe to help pay his college expenses. He was a reserve on the basketball team under legendary coach Forrest “Phog” Allen from 1919 to 1923. Assisting Allen during that time was his former coach and inventor of the game of basketball, James Naismith, who Rupp also got to know well during his time in Lawrence.

In Rupp’s junior and senior college seasons (1921–22 and 1922–23), Kansas (KU) had outstanding basketball squads. Later, both of these standout Kansas teams would be awarded the Helms National Championship, recognizing the Jayhawks as the top team in the nation during those seasons.

Tutored by the great Phog Allen at Kansas and a student of the game under Dr. James Naismith, Rupp learned his craft at an early age. After leaving the high school ranks in Freeport, Ill., to take the UK job in 1930, the “man in the brown suit” became the winningest coach in all of college basketball. He was an innovator of the fast break, a trademark of the Wildcats even today.

Rupp went on to become the winningest coach in his sport. He passed his mentor, Coach Allen, on March 12, 1966, with his 747th victory against Dayton)n in the Mideast Regional. He achieved the top ranking when he passed Western Kentucky’s E.A. Diddle with victory No.760 on Feb. 18,1967, at Mississippi State.

Rupp finished with 876 wins when he retired in 1972, a mark that stood for 25 years until North Carolina’s Dean Smith moved ahead during the 1997 season. Rupp is currently fourth (behind Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith) in total victories by a men’s NCAA Division I college coach. Rupp is also second among all coaches in all-time winning percentage (.822), trailing only Clair Bee.

At Kentucky, he earned the titles “Baron of the Bluegrass” and “The Man in the Brown Suit” (Rupp always wore a brown suit to games). Rupp was a master of motivation and strategy, often using local talent to build his teams. In fact, throughout his career, more than 80% of Rupp’s players came from the state of Kentucky. Rupp promoted a sticky man-to man defense, a fluid set offense, perfect individual fundamentals, and a relentless fast break that battered opponents into defeat. Rupp demanded 100% effort from his players at all times, pushing them to great levels of success.

Rupp’s Wildcat teams won four NCAA championships (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958), one National Invitation Tournament (NIT) title

in 1946, appeared in 20 NCAA tournaments, had six NCAA Final Four appearances, won five Sugar Bowl tournament championships, captured 27 Southeastern Conference regular season titles, and won 13 Southeastern Conference tournaments. Rupp’s Kentucky teams also finished ranked #1 on six occasions in the final Associated Press college basketball poll and four times in the United Press International (Coaches) poll. In addition, Rupp’s legendary 1966 Kentucky squad (nicknamed “Rupp’s Runts”) finished second in the NCAA tournament and Rupp’s powerful 1947 Wildcats finished second in the NIT. Further, Rupp’s 1933 and 1954 Kentucky squads were awarded the Helms National Championship.

Rupp coached some of the nation’s best -- Sale, Beard, Groza, Hagan, Ramsey, Cox, Hatton, Nash, Riley and Issel. In all, Rupp coached 32 All-Americans, chosen 50 times, 52 All-SEC players, chosen 91 times, 44 NBA Draft Picks, 2 National Players-of-the-Year, 7 Olympic Gold Medalists, and 4 Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Fame members.

Before the end of his 42-year career, the four-time National Coach of the Year was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1969. Rupp also earned SEC Coach of the Year honors on seven occasions.

Rupp died at age 76 in Lexington, Kentucky, on December 10, 1977, on a night that Kentucky defeated his alma mater, Kansas, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas. The game that night was promoted as “Adolph Rupp Night”. He is buried inLexington Cemetery.