Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were the original great rivalry in the NBA. The two big men dominated the game in their way throughout the 60s. The records Chamberlain set with his unbelievable performances still haven’t been touched to date, and some like the 100-point game may never be either. Bill Russell was a defensive monster, and he won more rings than any other player in NBA history with 11.
Russell and Chamberlain faced off 94 times during their careers, and the Celtics being as dominant as they were meant that Russell would more likely get the win even if Wilt did have the better stats. And considering how small the league was at the time, a lot of games they played had great playoff significance.
Wilt was on the Philadelphia 76ers in 1966 and Russell was obviously with the Celtics when the two had a fairly heated altercation during an Eastern Conference Finals game. A video of the fight recently went viral on Instagram.
“Celtics player Woody Sauldsberry (a mutual friend of both Wilt and Russell) warned Wilt not to touch anybody on the Celtics. ‘I’m warning you. Bill will k*ll you. He’s not playing around. He’s mad.'”
The Celtics went on to win that series in 5 games, before beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals to win the whole thing. So Bill got the last laugh out of this altercation, but Wilt didn’t have to wait too long for his first title, finally reaching the promised land the next season.
Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell are a rivalry that likely will never be seen in the league again. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had a legendary one, but it was never as lopsided in terms of stats and rings as this. At the end of the day, it’s hard to tell who would have won in a fight between the two behemoths.
