One interesting tidbit... Jabbar played his first and last NBA games against the Pistons. He finished his career, roughly 20 years later, losing to the Pistons in the 1989 NBA finals.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar rookie year 28.8 points 14.5 rebounds .518 from the field All NBA Second Team All NBA Defensive Second Team All Rookie First Team Rookie of the year
200mphz06 Shaq in this era? Are you kidding? He would dominate everybody. As he would in ANY ERA. Most dominating player of any sport, of all time. He got fouled 25x more than fouling his opponents.
@@GatCat I think he meant more that Shaq liked to lower his shoulder during post ups, which in this era would be an offensive foul. Shaq would have needed to have hold back ala Wilt in order to not foul
I was not a fan of the college no dunking rule, but you can see how it probably helped a young Kareem develop his finesse game around the hoop. He had such a well developed low post game for a rookie and such a soft touch. Kareem had a soft jumper and his sky hook is arguably the most dominant shot in the history of the NBA, damn near unstoppable. It's amazing to me that no other center developed the sky hook after Kareem used it basically dominate other centers for so many years. Great video!
+JonnyHood15 It does (help). But many centers back then had a decent to good hook as well. Thurmond, Reed, Cowens, Lanier, Thurmond to name some. A yr or two later, Issel and McAdoo didn't really, but they were face up jump shooters/driving types who played more like forwards.
Jigga My Nigga that's true a lot of people don't know how great bellamy was in the 60-61 season he had one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time!!!
Bellamy is an NBA Hall of Famer who had an up and down NBA career. He did have an incredible rookie season. However, he had a reputation for lacking consistent motivation. Bellamy felt he could play on par with Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain but didn't distinguish himself when playing against the likes of Darrell Imhoff, Henry Finkel, Toby Kimball, or Connie Dierking. He and Willis Reed were the Twin Towers pairing after Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmond. However, Bellamy and Reed never got past the first round of the playoffs. Chamberlain and Thurmond did go to the NBA Finals.
This was even before the skyhook. He made his very shot and even drew a charge of the defensive end. Couldn't ask for a better start to an illustrious career!! God bless Kareem 💯
@@Minolla It's my understanding that a person is called what they were called at the time. Just as we do not call Cassius Clay Muhammad Ali when he fought Liston. He is referred to as Cassius Clay during that time even today. "Despite Liston's attempts to knock out a blinded Clay, Clay was able to survive the fifth round until sweat and tears rinsed the irritation from his eyes." --Wikipedia
Who knew that this young kid at his debut get his first bucket and would score 38,387 pts by the end of his career and become 1st in the All time leading scorers in the league
@Willie Gordon i will admit i am a big Dandridge fan. I'm sick that Haywood (career long malcontent and underachiever), Wilkes (landed in right spots soooo often) and Sampson are in the Hall and Bobby isn't. He isn't the only one, of course. But his omission stands out to me.
I as at this game, it was on a Saturday afternoon. My friend and I stood by the locker room door and when Alcindor {Jabbar[ came by us we were both shocked at how tall he was.
I'm 35 and grew up on the Westside of Chicago during the Jordan era so to me Jordan is my GOAT but one could certainly make a case for Kareem being #1. He played against more comp than anybody over a 19 year career which spanned 3 decades(60's, 70's and 90's) and averaged basically 25 points and 11 boards while shooting 56% from the field. He is the NBA all-time leader in points scored, blocked shots and MVP's(6). Add up the fact he was a 19x all-star and won 6 rings who dominated longer than him? He was the first man the iconic Wilt Chamberlain said he needed help guarding and had the most unstoppable offensive weapon the "Sky hook" the NBA has ever seen. If he were in today's shoes he'd be listed at 7'2 or 7'3 and I never saw a player able to use their length quite like Kareem. Not only that mhe was an elite athlete whose was so nimble and whose reflexes were so sharp he was kicking Bruce Lee's ass in Game of Death until Bruce kicked open the blinds and impaired his eye sight.lol. Either way it goes if Kareem isn't the GOAT he will make u say hmmmm...he definitely deserves more respect...
Tough one. I hate to say it, because Jordan was my favorite, but think Kareem was the greatest. Kareem made his teams instantly better. Kareem was such a game changer. Jordan was the greatest individual player, but he didn't make teams instantly better.
His skill set at this point is so far beyond anyone else. His court sense, foot work, passing, defense and of course scoring. About 90% of the blocks they call goal tending against would be legal these days
Kareem was listed at 7’2” for most of his career but I recall one moment in the mid 70’s when a tv broadcaster said that Kareem had recently been measured and was 7 ft 3 and 5/8 inches tall.
Wilt Chamberlain Archive Thanks for sharing this with us all. So, even back then,they did interviews between quarters and at halftime huh? I started paying attention to NBA games around the time they began airing on CBS. I don't remember any of the games on ABC.
Wilt Chamberlain Archive Another question for you. What do you know about Wilt and Clyde Lovellette?The two were Kansas alumni, albeit seven to eight years apart. Why didn't they get along? I know Lovellette hit Wilt with a vicious bow that knocked out several of his teeth. It has been said that the blood poisoning Wilt suffered from as a result of that incident may have led to his dying much younger than he should have. What's the real story?
steals and blocks only 73-74 season but i think if steals and blocks recorded in wilt era wilt would led in triole doubles and quadruole doubles //wilt averaging 8/8 blocks unofficial in 112 games more than 4.4 assits career so more than 300 triple doubles
I grew up in Milwaukee Wisconsin and I saw Lew Alcindor , ALOT , with Coach Larry Costello and Oscar Robinson. Ah ,,,,,,,,,,, Those Were The Good ole Days.
You betcha. I was absolutely positively Devastated when the Milwaukee Bucks traded Lew Alcindor/ Kareem Abdul Jabbar to the L.A. Lakers. Hopefully this year will be the Bucks year. I hope so. I'd love to see the Bucks and the L.A. Lakers play against each other and the Bucks take 'em in 6 games.
@@ryanrohr3529 I hear kareem Abdul-Jabbar did not like living in mawalkee, Wisconsin, less black people at the time, coach larry Costello he loved to pass the ball to kareem Abdul-Jabbar too much in the low post, etc etc
Jabbar didn't like the cold and snowy winters of Milwaukee so he asked to be traded after six seasons. Kareem's presence made his teammates better, the Bucks set a record for highest team field goal percentage in NBA history.
I’m a big football fan but I just starting watching basketball and my favorite player that I started watching has got to be this guy badass player tall as shit and all around awesome
I remember Lew's first year sooo clear. I was 12 years old and we were sports FANATICS. ALL sports! My dad used to take us to Cobo Hall and see games. I remember one time Bucks came to town and I think my dad dropped us off. Different world then. We watched the game THEN snuck to the scorers table and watched the last 3-5 mins of the game. We even picked up some of the leftover sportswriters notes. I kept them for years. Crazy!
Interesting how the game was called back then. The charge on Bellamy was not a charge. Jabbar was moving and not stationary. The traveling on Jon McGlocklin was not traveling. Horrible call by Mindy Rudolph. The second charge on Bellamy was a worse call then the first!
This is how referees should call games. This is exactly how games were called in 1969 - 1970. If an offensive player pushed into a defensive player, it was an offensive foul. A defensive player could be moving, giving ground, and a foul would be called on an offensive player pushing into that defender.
Great video. I never knew that they called offensive fouls so rapidly back then. I'd like to see the floppers of today like James Harden or Dwayne Wade try there ref baiting moves, they'd foul out of the game in the first quarter. Also, those camera angles that they used back than were much better.
Denim Ticken Players were less skilled back then. Yes, there were palming rules, but judging form some 60s highlights, people still got "faked out" by these
Great video. It's worth noting that the Detroit center, #8 Walt Bellamy, scored 25 points of his own in this game. Bellamy would soon wear out his welcome in Detroit (he would average a career low 10ppg with the Pistons in 56 games in 1969-70 season), and he would be traded to Atlanta. #20 Otto Moore, the Pistons' backup center, also appears in the video and seems to be getting some decent minutes early in the game. Can only assume that Bells was in foul trouble.
ddenuci The next time these two teams met, on Oct 30, 1969, Jabbar scored 23 pts and fouled out. Bellamy only had 9 points, but Otto Moore chipped in with 16 pts. Moore averaged a double-double (11.9ppg/ 11.1rpg) in the 1969-70 season. And he actually ave. 15.5ppg and 15rpg after moving into the starting lineup on Jan 2. But the Pistons realized that they needed more beef up front (Moore was listed at 210 lbs), and so selected Big Bob Lanier as the first pick in the 1970 draft.
Yeah otto moore,jon mcglcklin,bellamy,jimmy walker mccoy mclemore,eddie miles ,dave bing,and don smith were on the floor here,some pretty good players.
Kareem was before my time, but dang what an incredible player. Pure length, mobility and skill. He is one of my favorites and he would destroy any team today. Just give it to him down low and with todays centers I bet it would be good 70% of the time. I wish they would put his first couple of years on NBA Hardwood Classics, I would watch them all.
My neighbor growing up was the announcer at the Milwaukee Arena, and he would get us great seats to games. It was a great place to watch a game, back when it was all about the basketball and not about creating an "entertainment experience" which just equates to noise and commerce.
Like Tim Duncan Abdul-Jabbar won it all in his second year. When he had an older superstar. Hey, just like when Duncan won it with an older David Robinson.
@Willie Gordon Yes. The trade was made during the 68-69 season. The Knicks made it to the Eastern Division finals that year before the Celtics schooled them. Bellamy didn't do well in Detroit and was eventually shipped off to Atlanta. He was a vital cog in Hawk teams that made the playoffs but did not go deep.
Jabbar was 6 wins and 15 losses against Willis Reed and his 1971 title was fortunate because Reed injured his shoulder badly against the Hawks and couldn't shoot for the remainder of the playoffs. The Knicks lost game 7 by 93 to 91 against the Bullets for the only time in 6 consecutive playoffs from 1969 to 74. The Bullets went to the finals to face the Bucks. In 1970/71 the Bucks won 1 game and the Knicks won 4 games. Jabbar would of never won an NBA title without Magic Johnson if Reed didn't get injured!
Imagine if him and Giannis was on teams lol. Giannis is a legit more agile, quick, powerful Kareem I see so much Kareem in Giannis game. But times hve changed as far as players train and develop so Giannis is a bit more quicker and powerful
Kareem averaged 28.8 points a game in his rookie year. His 29 points in this game would be consistent with his performance throughout the 69-70 regular season.
You can tell the pistons were terrible the year before. Who else would hire the guy that sat Wilt in the final minutes of a close game 7 in the 69 finals. Van Breda Kolff literally gave up a title just because his ego wanted to win without Wilt. It's almost as stupid to hire him as it was for the bulls to keep Krause after he broke up their dynasty because he couldn't get along with Phil Jackson.
Watching this video wondering who TF Lew Alcindor was and why they were addressing Kareem by that name..... Just learned a really cool basketball fact lol.
This seems almost prehistoric by today's standards. I started paying attention to basketball just a year later when I was 12 and seeing empty seats for the first pro game of the greatest player to ever come out of college at that time is amazing. David Stern along with the rivalry between Magic and Bird changed the game in the 1980s more than most fans understand now.
