For most of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain’s illustrious, decorated careers, they were in direct competition with each other. They faced off in the playoffs 8 times in 10 years. And they got along well those 10 years. For this is a story of reverse beef– direct competition equaled friendship. Their playing days no longer overlapping, the end of direct competition, equaled... beef. Enjoy.
Written and produced by: Clara Morris
Directed and edited by: Charlotte Atkinson
Motion Graphics by: Phil Pasternak
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Written and produced by: Clara Morris
Directed and edited by: Charlotte Atkinson
Motion Graphics by: Phil Pasternak
Subscribe: http://goo.gl/Nbabae
Enter the Secret Base: http://www.sbnation.com/secret-base
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/secretbase
Follow us on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/secretbasesbn
Follow us on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@secretbasesbn?
Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/9pMHRV
Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/NvpZFF
Explore SB Nation: http://www.sbnation.com
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SportsTranscript
00:00 For most of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain's illustrious, decorated careers,
00:04 they were in direct competition with each other.
00:07 They faced off in the playoffs eight times in ten years.
00:11 And they got along well those ten years.
00:14 For this is a story of reverse beef.
00:17 Direct competition equaled friendship.
00:19 Their playing days no longer overlapping,
00:21 the end of direct competition,
00:23 that equaled beef.
00:26 [music]
00:28 Bill Russell joined the league in 1956.
00:31 His specialty was defense and rebounding,
00:34 and he left the scoring to his teammates.
00:36 It was an extremely successful strategy.
00:39 Within his first three seasons, he won an MVP award,
00:42 two rebounding titles, and two championships.
00:46 Probably would have been three championships
00:48 if he hadn't destroyed his ankle during the finals his sophomore season.
00:52 The guy was king of the league,
00:54 but at the end of his third year, his reign was predicted to be over.
00:59 And I mean the exact end of his third year.
01:01 As Russell was waiting for a flight home after winning the 1959 NBA championship,
01:06 he had to field questions about a young hotshot center who was set to replace him.
01:11 Wilt Chamberlain had been famous since high school,
01:14 where his teams took title after title,
01:16 and he once scored 90 points in a game.
01:19 The center's reputation preceded him.
01:21 Here's a sampling of comments from before Wilt ever played a professional game.
01:25 "Chamberlain's better than Russell could even hope to be."
01:29 This one's from Russell's own all-star teammate, Bob Cousy.
01:33 "Russell and Chamberlain haven't even played each other yet."
01:37 So, here we have our first opportunity for beef.
01:40 "Russell, ya pissed?"
01:42 "The press said so."
01:43 "Russell's working on his shooting over the summer because he won't be outdone."
01:47 "But uh, these quotation marks are just decoration."
01:51 "Russell didn't say war."
01:53 "He said, 'You can bet I'll be working this summer.'"
01:56 "That's not beef. That's the most casual comment I've ever seen."
02:01 So, Beef Opportunity 1 rejected.
02:03 Once they actually played each other,
02:06 Wilt didn't end up eclipsing Russell.
02:08 He was very, very good his rookie year,
02:10 but Russell didn't have a bad 1960 either.
02:14 So, who was superior?
02:16 That was debated widely.
02:17 Beef Opportunity 2?
02:19 "You guys wanna pitch yourselves or denigrate the other guy?"
02:23 Nope.
02:23 They only had the nicest stuff to say about each other.
02:28 Turns out, all this...
02:30 was the start of a beautiful friendship.
02:33 These guys were used to dominating with ease.
02:36 It was fun to play hard and be challenged.
02:39 The competition with each other united them.
02:42 And apparently, loving competition is the basis for the strongest friendship imaginable.
02:47 Because these two had so many more legitimate beef opportunities that they totally bypassed.
02:54 Let's take a step back and look at their careers on the whole.
02:57 Chamberlain went on to dominate Russell in individual statistics, as you can see here.
03:03 Okay, well, Russell was never gonna be a scoring champion, he was all about defense.
03:07 The All-Star comparison doesn't look that substantial,
03:10 but All-Star games were East vs. West,
03:12 Chamberlain played in Philly for six and a half years,
03:15 thus our pal centers were often on the same All-Star team.
03:18 And there's only one starting center per team.
03:22 Usually Wilt.
03:24 Russell admitted that stung.
03:26 But he kept those feelings to himself until after his playing days.
03:31 Russell held this record before Chamberlain with 51 rebounds per game.
03:35 And Chamberlain actually set this record while playing against Russell and the Celtics.
03:40 But the Celtics won that game.
03:44 So this one didn't sting.
03:46 And Russell's quote here brings us to this row of the chart.
03:52 Bill Russell, 11 championships.
03:55 Wilt Chamberlain, 2.
03:57 Wilt has the stats, but Russell has the rings.
04:00 And if we zoom-enhance that row, we see that in the 10 years their careers overlapped,
04:05 they met in either the Conference Finals or the NBA Finals eight times.
04:09 Seven out of those eight times, Bill's team beat Wilt's teams.
04:13 It's in this one-sided playoff record that we get the bulk of our beef opportunities.
04:18 There's the year Russell not only beat Chamberlain in the Eastern Division Finals,
04:22 but got league MVP despite the fact that Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game.
04:28 That seems frustrating, eh, Wilt?
04:30 Feeling a little resentful, maybe?
04:34 Nope.
04:35 In fact, this is what Chamberlain said after Russell ended his season.
04:38 "There's nobody like him.
04:39 Boston should win the finals with a man like Russell around."
04:43 The public, the press, and the league asked to speak with the restaurant manager.
04:46 They'd been waiting too long for their beef.
04:49 So, fine, whatever, they'll make their own.
04:52 The year Chamberlain didn't make the playoffs, he got roasted alive in the press.
04:56 He's selfish.
04:57 He doesn't try hard enough.
04:58 He's a crybaby for claiming Russell has better coaches and teammates than him.
05:03 Meanwhile, Russell enjoyed headlines like...
05:06 Russell the Great!
05:08 Bill Russell is the Emperor of Basketball!
05:10 Hail Russell!
05:11 A narrative was forming.
05:13 Bill was the good guy.
05:15 Wilt was the bad guy.
05:17 The loser.
05:18 And the waiter left the kitchen with two plates heaped high with beef.
05:22 But before he arrived at Wilt and Bill's table, Chamberlain gave a subtle shake of his head.
05:27 Nah.
05:28 The waiter turned on his heels.
05:30 Chamberlain wasn't resentful toward Russell because of the roles the press thrust upon them.
05:35 In fact, during all this time, Chamberlain was having Russell come to his house for Thanksgiving dinner.
05:41 With Chamberlain's mom and extended family and stuff.
05:44 That's the highest level of friendship.
05:46 It's friends becoming family.
05:48 And it was a reciprocal relationship.
05:50 Russell didn't just sit back and enjoy the turkey and the hero role.
05:54 He spoke out against his friend's "loser" label.
05:57 That was a stand-up move, especially because Chamberlain had confided in Russell.
06:02 The "loser" label hurt.
06:04 But okay, how about the 1966 Eastern Division Finals, Game 2, a fight?
06:10 The Pals nearly come to blows here.
06:13 Was that a little shove?
06:15 The chef tossed the beef on the grill, but then the waiter ran in.
06:18 That's not what they ordered.
06:20 Bill and Wilt ordered friendship pie.
06:22 They wouldn't discuss the argument with the press and held no grudges.
06:26 It happened on the court, it did not come off the court.
06:29 The incident and lack of aftermath was emblematic of the guys' relationship.
06:32 Enemies on the court, all good off the court.
06:36 Remember, it's the intense competition that bonded them.
06:39 They liked being challenged.
06:40 If they weren't nearly coming to blows while playing, it would be a sign something was off.
06:45 But now it's time to find out what could break their bond.
06:49 1969, NBA Finals, Game 7, 5 minutes and 19 seconds left.
06:55 Russell Celtics up 7 points on Chamberlain's Lakers.
06:58 Chamberlain hurts his knee and comes out of the game.
07:01 And he looks pretty hurt and pretty upset.
07:04 Minutes later, the Lakers are down only 1, and Wilt is begging to come back in.
07:09 Maybe the initial shock and pain of his knee injury had receded.
07:13 Seems reasonable to want back in.
07:15 But that was a sentiment Chamberlain's many, many critics did not consider.
07:21 What they did consider was when the Lakers looked like they were gonna lose,
07:25 Wilt was too hurt to play.
07:27 And then minutes later, when it looked like they could win, he was apparently fine.
07:32 And one of those critics statting his injury and integrity?
07:36 Chamberlain's close personal friend, Bill Russell.
07:39 Ladies and gentlemen, the beef is finally served.
07:42 Russell was so pissed at Chamberlain for leaving the game,
07:46 because now his title was tainted.
07:48 He had to endure people who believed the Lakers would have won if Chamberlain wasn't hurt.
07:53 He had to endure press clippings that literally said he did not beat Chamberlain for this title.
07:58 You might be thinking, "So what? Who cares what people say?
08:01 Why can't Russell just be happy with his ring?"
08:03 Well, Game 7, 1969, was the last NBA game Bill would ever play.
08:08 He hadn't told anyone beforehand, but he had decided to retire.
08:12 So, thanks to Wilt leaving the floor, Russell's career ended not with a big bang,
08:17 but with a tiny little star.
08:20 Now, if you believe Chamberlain was really injured, how could you be mad at him?
08:24 It's not a guy's fault he gets hurt.
08:25 But Russell did not believe Wilt was injured.
08:28 At least not enough to come out of the game.
08:30 We didn't see bone. His spine was still functioning.
08:34 Stay and compete! Fight me!
08:35 That's what our friendship relies on.
08:37 And if that competition is gone, well, buddy, get ready to see another side of Bill Russell.
08:44 Not only did Russell cast doubt on the severity of Chamberlain's injury,
08:47 but he joined the "Wilt is a loser" bandwagon.
08:51 He became the most credible source,
08:53 validating the narrative the press had pushed for years,
08:55 the narrative his friend told him was hurtful,
08:58 the narrative he himself didn't buy in his playing days.
09:01 "Hey, recently retired Russell,
09:03 why does Chamberlain have fewer championships than you?"
09:06 He's selfish.
09:07 Does Chamberlain deserve the loser label?
09:09 Yes and no.
09:11 "Oh, hey, that doesn't sound too bad."
09:14 So Bill said yes, he deserves it because he is a loser and a braggart.
09:19 Okay, well, the yes part was always going to be harsh.
09:22 How about that no, he doesn't deserve it part?
09:25 Recently retired Russell said Chamberlain didn't deserve his bad rap because
09:30 "people see his potential as greater than it is.
09:33 They don't take human frailties into consideration."
09:36 In other words, everyone overestimated a frail man.
09:40 That's mean.
09:43 These quotes came out a few weeks after the finals.
09:45 In his autobiography published 22 years later,
09:48 Wilt admitted he was furious,
09:50 but in 1969 he simply didn't respond to the betrayal.
09:53 And then he and Russell did not speak to each other for the next 24 years.
09:59 They spoke about each other during those two and a half decades
10:03 because people asked them about each other.
10:06 And also maybe because a certain someone was still angry.
10:11 A decade after Wilt left the floor,
10:13 Bill Russell wrote a book in which he continued to cast doubt on Chamberlain's Game 7 injury.
10:18 And continued to lend credibility to the "Wilt is a stat-obsessed loser" narrative.
10:23 Russell did write that his anger toward Chamberlain was selfish,
10:27 but even recognizing that, he didn't hold back.
10:30 Meanwhile, the only retaliation from Chamberlain that I could find in the decades of silent
10:36 treatment was extremely passive and weighted with hurt.
10:40 He defended his legacy, saying Russell always had better teams and coaches than him.
10:44 In his 1973 autobiography, Chamberlain said he grew more in defeat than Russell did in victory.
10:52 But Chamberlain's 7'2", does growing more really make up for rings in reputation?
10:57 And I know he's not talking about height.
10:59 My point is, the solace of quietly being a better man doesn't seem like much solace.
11:05 In a 1987 TV interview, Chamberlain awkwardly avoided admitting Russell's
11:10 the best player he ever played against.
11:12 Would it automatically be Bill Russell or maybe a surprise?
11:15 No, not at all. I think Bill Russell did a great deal for his team.
11:19 There's a lot of great, great players out there. Willis Reed, Nate Thurman, Oscar Robertson.
11:25 Protesting too much, you know?
11:26 He also suggested that Russell wasn't happy in retirement.
11:31 But today, I'm not so sure that he is a very happy man.
11:35 Perhaps alluding to Russell's not super successful stint as a broadcaster.
11:40 Or his also minimally successful attempts at coaching.
11:45 And sure, maybe Russell's not as happy as when he was celebrating a championship on the court.
11:50 But none of Chamberlain's comments seem like an equitable comeback for the vile Russell spat at him.
11:56 I guess that's where the 24 years of not speaking comes into play.
12:00 Chamberlain doesn't get petty or vengeful. He just drops his old friend completely.
12:04 Now, on one hand, it's odd that the beef lasted so long because Russell has said...
12:10 And while both men say there was an apology, the details are a bit murky.
12:25 But then he apologized a few years later on, but never to me, but through the press or what have you.
12:30 Then in his 1991 autobiography, Chamberlain specifically asks his former friend
12:35 why it's so hard to apologize to him directly.
12:38 Both of their various books shed light on why this beef had no expiration date.
12:43 Russell said, essentially, competitive people are stubborn.
12:46 Chamberlain admitted there might be some deep down,
12:49 never expressed resentment toward Russell for the good guy, bad guy roles.
12:54 With no reconciliation in sight, Reebok came to the rescue. Kind of.
12:59 In 1993, Reebok cast this collection of legendary centers in a commercial for rookie Shaquille O'Neal's new shoe.
13:06 And as you can see, this ad featured Chamberlain and Russell standing next to each other.
13:12 And Wilt said, "Fuck it. Let's have fun and be friends again."
13:16 Look at how hard they're laughing in this behind-the-scenes footage.
13:20 You cannot tell these guys hadn't spoken in over two decades.
13:24 Wilt would rather just have fun with his old friend than get revenge or justice for some shitty quotes.
13:30 And just like that, the beef evaporated.
13:32 They did interviews together and talked on the phone all the time.
13:37 All this was no match for the bond formed when the best compete with the best.
13:45 In this story, friendship wins.
13:48 Enjoy the rest of your day.
13:50 [MUSIC]