Bill Russell is one of the greatest winners in American sports history. There is no player who is more decorated than him in terms of championships across all major leagues in the USA. This is primarily because Russell was arguably one of the greatest big-game players of all time.
Due to him being a defensive specialist, Russell had the ability to completely shut out opponents in big-game situations. He did that various times in his career and achieved an incredible statistic that no other NBA player has even come close to.
Over the course of his basketball career, Bill Russell never lost a winner-take-all game. His teams ended up being 22-0 in these decisive games, an incredible winning streak that we may never see again in basketball history.
Bill Russell never lost a "winner take all" game in his entire basketball career 🙌
11-0 in NBA
9-0 in NCAA
2-0 in Olympics
Your memories will live on forever, Bill 🙏 pic.twitter.com/I3L0wH8SAB
— Fadeaway World (@FadeawayWorld) August 1, 2022
Russell started his winning streak in winner-take-all games in 1955 when he led the San Francisco Dons to an NCAA Championship. He repeated as NCAA Champion in 1956 while also winning the Olympic Gold in basketball. If it weren’t clear already, Russell would add a laundry list worth of big-game wins after this. Considering the NCAA tournament is decided via single-game elimination, Russell’s back-to-back college titles look even more impressive.
Russell won 11 NBA championships in his career, proving that when it came to crunch time, Russell would be the one to emerge victorious. The great LA Lakers led by Jerry West failed multiple times, and even Wilt Chamberlain failed to dethrone Russell consistently in his career. Bill even knew that Michael Jordan wouldn’t come close to breaking his records.
We will never see another player like Russell again. The sport has changed a lot since Russell’s era, and we have seen how tough it is for teams to enjoy a sustained run of championship success. Russell won 8 titles in a row, and no other team has even come close to that record. Winning is a mindset, and Bill Russell embodied that mindset.
