Common Denominator

"Played for the NBA's St. Louis Hawks in 1964/65 (Bob Pettit's last season) and with Rick Barry on the 74/75 Golden State Warriors."

That would be Jeff Mullins and Bill Bridges (Who just passed away last September). Mullins and Bridges would see Pettit average just 11.5 points per game against Baltimore in the 1965 playoffs. Bridges fared a little better, being good enough for 13.0 ppg. Mullins did little, however. He played less than six minutes per game, averaging just 4.0 ppg and 3.0 rpg. The Bullets won the series over the Hawks, three to one.

Mullins and Bridges took a different times to meet up with Barry. Mullins was on San Francisco (As they were called) in 1966/67. They made it all the way to the finals. Now, normally that meant facing the Boston Celtics (Who'd beaten the Warriors in the '64 finals). But now, Wilt Chamberlain and his Philadelphia 76ers had beaten the Celtics in just five games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Long before it was MJ and his Bulls vs. Isiah and his Pistons, it was always Wilt vs. Bill (Russell). Russell's team's had Chamberlain's number. But not in '67.

However, the 76ers still had to beat the Warriors. Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond were ready for Wilt and his great team. Having swept the Los Angeles Lakers (Who failed to win an NBA crown in the 1960s despite six trips to the finals) and taken six to dispose of St. Louis, they too had a chance. Just in case Wilt and co. thought they'd seen the last of the tough times, it was San Francisco with a surprising win in game three. The 76ers had taken the first two contests at home, then looked to have it in the bag when they against beat the Warriors, right there in San Fran, 122-108. Barry had 43 points. Mullins 14. However, Jeff fouled out. The Warriors then stunned 'em in game five in enemy territory, before the 76ers finally wrapped it up with a close 125-122 win in the sixth game.

In 1971/72, the Warriors became the Golden State Warriors. In a very competitive decade, it didn't matter what your name was (Individual or team), there we no easy playoff matchups. And things weren't about to get any easier for them in 1974/75. In September of '74, before the start of the NBA season, Nate Thurmond was traded to the Chicago Bulls for Clifford Ray. But as a team, it was the Warriors that could trade baskets with anyone.

They won only 48 games that year, but it only seemed to make them tougher when it all counted. They beat the Seattle Supersonics in six, got past the tough Bulls in seven, then came up against the Washington Bullets. It turned out to be Barry easy.

Rick averaged 29.5 points per game in the series. And 5.0 assist per game. It was a dominating performance that stats can't even explain. Mullins averaged 8.0 ppg. But it was Bridges that didn't do much. He barely played and averaged just 1.0 ppg. When he walked off the court on May 25th, 1975, his career was over. Mullins played one more year before hangin' 'em up. Ironically, they went out winners against the very team that had ended Bob Pettit's career ten years earlier. Golden State, meanwhile, would have to wait. Until 2014/15, to be exact, to win again.


References

Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 26 Apr. 2016

Common Denominator: Pitched To Mantle In The Postseason, Guarded Wilt In The Postseason

That would be Gene Conley, star pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves in the 1950s and later for the Boston Red Sox. Conley was also a forward on the Boston Celtics. But in 1959/60, he had to help centre Bill Russell guard Wilt! Wilt seemed like a super imposing figure on the Philadelphia Warriors the way Mantle was an imposing figure on the Yankees.

In 1957, it was the Milwaukee Braves vs. Mickey Mantle's Yankees in the Fall Classic. The Yankees seemed like the better team, and it was going to take a group effort to beat them. The Braves had Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews' big bats.

By the time Conley took over the hill in the top of the third inning of game three, it was already 5-1 New York. One out. Mantle had walked and scored in the top of the first. Walked and was forced out at home in the third. The home town Braves were in for a long day.

Conley got Jerry Coleman to pop out to Mathews at third for the second out. Pitcher Don Larsen (Making his first appearance on the hill in the World Series since his perfect game in game five of '56) then grounded out to end that.

The top of the fourth saw Conley retire Hank Bauer for the first out. But then Tony Kubek singled. Mantle was back at the dish. And he deposited a 3-1 Conley offering over the wall in right-centre to make it a 7-1 ballgame. Gene got out of there without further damage, but in the bottom of the frame, he left for a pinch hitter.


Conley did not make another appearance in the 1957 World Series, which the Braves eventually won. In 1959, he was on the Boston Celtics of the NBA, when the big rookie was Wilt Chamberlain. The Big Guy got 30 points on Russell (22 points himself) in their first ever head-to-head meeting on November 7, 1959. Conley did not do much. Wilt seemed even more dominating in their next meeting, just eighteen days later. Wilt put up 45 points to Russell's 15. Conley did much better this time out, however. He scored 17 points himself. But Wilt's team won. This team was a worthy opponent.

The very next day, November 26, Conley scored 24 points vs. Wilt's Warriors. It proved to be a season high. The Celtics first opponent in the playoffs was Philadelphia, of course. Philly had beaten Syracuse in the first round.

Wilt got 42 in the first game vs. Boston, although the Celtics won. Wilt scored only 29 in the second game as the Warriors knotted things. Boston blew 'em out by 30 in game three, however. Six Celtics scored 10 or more points, with Conley getting exactly 10. Gene failed to score a point in the crucial game four, but the Celtics won anyways as Wilt got only 24 compared to Russell's 17.

But when things went back to Boston, Wilt assumed a God-like mode in this game five. It was a must-win situation. And Wilt won the game for his team. 50 points. Russell got only 22. Conley, 15. The series finally ended with a close 119-117 win in game six in Philadelphia, as the first Russell / Chamberlain matchup lived up to it's billing. Wilt scored 26, but Russell stayed right with him with 25 of his own. Conley added sixteen.

The Celtics then needed seven game to beat the St. Louis Hawks for the NBA crown. Conley fouled out in the final game and scored only five points, but Boston won.

References

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 19 August 2015.

Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. Web. 19 August 2015.

Basketball History On Youtube: Wilt's 100!

The game of the century.

Wilt Chamberlain, perhaps the most dominating pro athlete in the history of all sports, scored 100 points in one NBA game March 29, 1962. Kobe had 81 a few years back, but that's still not even close. The Philadelphia Warriors may have been playing a poor Knick team, but still...

Sadly, the game was not televised, so we have only the audio, but no matter. It's sort of like, "The Giants win the pennant," and "Oh, the band is out on the field!", for me. Wilt was truly a superman!

Things to look (hear) for:

Wilt scored 31 in the final quarter

Wilt made 27 of his first 28 free throws, then went into a slump and made only 1 of his last four. That's still good enough for an amazing 28/32! Quite an accomplishment for a poor free throw shooter!

Speaking of which, the Warriors shot 43 of 52 from the line, and only three players (Chamberlain, Guy Rogers and Joe Ruklick) actually missed free throws. The rest of the Philadelphia players went 5-5 from the line.

Al Attles has a perfect game: 8 for 8 from the field and 1 for 1 from the line. Another forgotten footnote from this game!

Wilt attempted 63 shots and made 36 of them. The Philadelphia Warriors actually made 63 of their shots from the field. They attempted 115.

Amazingly enough, the New York Knicks actually attempted more shots (118) then the Warriors did. But they made only 57.

Wilt had a better night at the line then Richie Guerin (13-17) and Willie Naulls (13-17) of the Kicks combined!

Wilt missed at his first two attempts at 100.

The Knicks score is given incorrectly no less then three times!

The attendance was just 4, 124!




References

http://www.nba.com/sixers/news/wilt_boxscore.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anDkZskmQVs

Reaching 100 Post, I Need More!

So Wilt was happy to reach 100 points in a game, and Phil Esposito set that standard in hockey (and 52 more in 70/71), plus we got 138 in one college game! Oh yeah, 100th Grey Cup!

But in all honesty, 100 posts on my blog, while it is a great milestone, I need more!

For the simple reason, I dawned on me the other day (okay, and several times before that) when looking at my blog, that I lacked any football, very little golf, and even not that much tennis.

Just from the time I was a little kid in the 1980s, when the explosion of sports on (cable) television dawned, when Magic and Larry returned basketball to front and center, sports has been prevalent to me.

And I don't see that changing.

The truth is that I always hungered for more. More knowledge. And perhaps had the Internet never come around, I could have realized that their is only so much you can do.

When I was at one of my favourite book stores the other day, I came across the book Rudy. Having seen the 90s movie with Sean Austin, I was tempted to buy it.

But then I realized I don't know jack about football.

And then I realized, my sports blog needs more football.

Irony is, ask me to name the most famous sports call ever, it's Joe Starkey, "The Play". Or how about the most lopsided score in any sport, gotta be Georgia Tech's 222-0 win over Cumberland in 1916.

But at 100 post, I can afford to wait.

Wait till I memorize!

Oh, by the way, I'm now officially at 101!

Take that Wilt!

I'll see you at the free throw line on that one!