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Showing posts from May, 2020

If They Played Today - Bill Russell

Former-Celtics great, Bill Russell, walked around with a chip on his shoulder, but he also played basketball with that same attitude. Russ has mellowed over the years, but the chip remains in place for anyone attempting to knock it off. Could he play - or even be a star these days? Here's my analysis. Who am I to judge? I lived down the street from Russell in Reading, Massachusetts during the 1960's and started following the NBA at the same time. Bill's second home in Reading was more upscale and private than his first residence on busy Main Street. A line of cedar trees all-but-shielded the Haverhill Street home from view. It was "Big Bill's" (as Johnny Most called him) play on the court that largely fueled my interest in the Boston Celtics, all the way to his final game, and triumph, when he led his team to its 11th Championship on May 5, 1969 versus the Los Angeles Lakers. As Jim Murray, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning sports writer of the Los Angeles T