Bill Russell earned his legacy as a champion and an engineer of finals Game 7 victories.
The Boston Celtics legend played in 10 Game 7s in his career, five of which came in the NBA Finals.
Russell earned a finals MVP in 1962 when he scored 30 points and an are-you-kidding-me 44 rebounds in the Celtics' 110-107 overtime victory. That was his best performance, but he had four others.
In Game 7 of the finals in 1957 against the St. Louis Hawks, the team that drafted him in 1956 and immediately traded him, Russell had 19 points, 32 rebounds and a key block in the final minute of the game. Ken Shouler for ESPN in 2006 did a fantastic job breaking down Russell?s play:
His first was against the St. Louis Hawks, a West powerhouse that competed in four finals in five years. The Hawks were ahead by a point in regulation with under a minute left. Jack Coleman drove in for a layup that would have upped the lead to three.
But Russell chased him down from behind and blocked his shot. Years later Tommy Heinsohn said it was "the greatest play I never saw in basketball. That sumbitch went by me like I was standing still, and I was near midcourt. He was the fastest man on the team."
Russell knocked out the Hawks again in a 122-103 Game 7 win in the 1960 finals with a 22-point, 25-rebound performance. Russell won another title via a Game 7 win in 1966 with a 95-93 win against the Los Angeles Lakers in which Russell scored 25 points and had 32 rebounds.
He was the master of Game 7s, and you can imagine the love he'd receive from today's media by winning so often.
The Celtics? all-time great went out on top by way of another victorious Game 7 even though Russell tallied nowhere near his prior finals Game 7 numbers.
In his final season, the 1969 Celtics beat the Lakers 108-106, despite the 36-year-old Russell, the team's player-coach, being limited to six points though he still had 21 rebounds. His center counterpart Wilt Chamberlain scored 18 points and had 27 rebounds, but Russell was the one who earned an 11th championship trophy.
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