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(Original caption) Bill Russell (#6) tied up Walter Dukes long enough to win a jump ball during the first quarter of the NBA all-Star game in Syracuse, New York, January 17th 1961. Charging in are Tom Gola (#15), Cliff Hagan (#16) and Paul Arizin (#11). The West won 153-131. (Photo by UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In the 1980s, the NBA, under David Stern, moved to a more star-oriented game, and you can’t really blame him. With guys like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Michael Jordan, to name a few, it was a marketing dream. All those players, and many more, were spectacular.
So when you see the older NBA, the one that reigned until the 1970s, it’s hard to recognize.
Take this clip from the 1961 NBA All-Star Game. This game had historical talents like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and others, and it just doesn’t look the same.
Yet Chamberlain had a 50” vertical, Russell once jumped clean over a defender on a fast break, and Robertson averaged a triple-double.
The priorities were different – flashiness, aka hot-dogging, was discouraged – but you saw signs. Bob Cousy couldn’t go to his left, but his passing vision was as good as anyone in the history of the game.
Elgin Baylor was full of clever fakes and drives, aided by an involuntary twitch that he put to good used.
Still, it wasn’t the same. Tommy Heinsohn, for instance, was a heavy smoker, and that limited his minutes. No one tries to do a powerful, intimidating dunk. Russell and Chamberlain get a few here, but they just drop it in. It’s all very utilitarian.
Make no mistake, though. Despite appearances, some of these guys, if you could move them forward in time, would be world-class basketball players. Chamberlain, West, and Robertson in particular could easily succeed today.
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