RIP, to two great legends. Dipper was classier than people credited him, and Reed was THE REAL "MR. KNICK," not some stiff from Georgetown who attempted his FIRST, LAST, AND ONLY FINGER ROLL at the end of the '95 ECSF!
This video is about Chamberlain vs Reed, but I would feel remiss not to make mention of what a fabulous and underrated player Dick Barnett was for the NY Knicks during their championship years. Overshadowed by his younger, more acclaimed Hall-of-Fame backcourt partner Walt Frazier, Barnett was himself an excellent defensive player and the master of the step-back jumper. The late great Lakers announcer Chick Hearn gave Barnett the nickname "Fall Back, Baby!" for his unorthodox shooting style while playing for the Lakers before joining the Knicks.
@@70sfan In all my 6 decades of living, I've never seen any films of Wilt Chamberlain 1970 NBA Finals Game 6 highlights where he scored 45 Points and grabbed 27 Rebounds. The game was minus the injured Willis Reed and the Lakers won at home to tied the Series at 3-all, forcing a Game 7 (The Willis Reed Game) at MSG.
@@replaybb dick was great...he was also beautifully well dressed man....clyde was asked who were the best dressed guys on the knicks..his answer....dick barnett and earl monroe...thise guys always looked good..high praise from Clyde..peace
Here's what the May 11, 1970 issue of Sports Illustrated had on Game 4. It starts off my noting that West had pain and swelling in his right hand from a previous game, and so had to ice it to get ready for Game 4. "In 52 minutes, he (West) shot 13 for 26, 11 for 12 from the free throw line, got five rebounds and assisted on 18 of the Lakers other 33 baskets. Baylor played his best game, too - with 30 points, and some moves that he took from his 1960 repertoire- and Chamberlain was at the top of his game. So was Erickson, who is now the fine player he showed promise of being when he held the full-court press together at UCLA several years ago. Despite leading for virtually all of the game, the Lakers let Barnett and DeBusschere bring the Knicks back, and they could have won if Frazier hadn't missed at the buzzer. Then, in this overtime, the Lakers didn't need momentum. They had John Tresvant. A substitute forward, Tresvant had seen no action in the series until the last minute of regulation time ... Tresvant responded like a puppy dog let off the leash, making steals, getting rebounds, starting fast breaks, passing, drawing fouls, giving them and generally inspiring his teammates with an exuberance that carried the Lakers to a 121-115 victory"
A great game by both: WIlt had 18 points (7/13 fg, 4/7 ft), 7 assists and 25 rebounds. Reed had 23 points (10/23 fg, 3/6 ft), 2 assists and 12 rebounds.
It's refreshing to see those clips. Every fan should respect the pioneers of the game and the more modern athletes from its faltering steps to now. Respect. Wilt Chamberlain's palming ability is impressive. Those passes were a thing of beauty.
@@letshaveadebate4166this is knee surgery wilt, wilt& Philadelphia 76ers beat Willis reed & ny knick in 1968 playoffs, wilt had 50s points & 38 points games pre knee surgery wilt against Willis Reed, wilt 100 points games, 50s points 44 points scoring points average etc etc
Wilt was an excellent player even when playing injured. He was not in condition yet when he came back at the end of the season. It's obvious to me that he is not as mobile as he was when he was healthy. He fails to challenge shots that he would normally have challenged and gets out-maneuvered for rebounds by Reed a couple of times because he's standing still. Not to take anything away from Reed, who in his prime was a great player and a real winner.
Wilt look old against Bill Russell & Boston Celtics 1969 playoff series , younger wilt would've tearup 35 years Bill Russell & eaarly 1960s score 50& 38 points etc etc against Willis reed
@@user-iv9er3nr6z yeah I sure remember watching the Celtics and Knicks battle in the early to mid seventies . I was living in buffalo and those two teams were on CBS and cable out of ny city alot in the buffalo area.... Reed... Bradley..Monroe. white.. Nelson.... Silas were all great players but the Guys who really stood out to me were cowens .. havlicek.. debusschere and Frazier... Especially Frazier and havlicek....
@@manny4552 really Buffalo bill red Buffalo 🐃 helmet, late o.j simpson made alot of 💰 💰 signings autograph with legendary white NFl helmet with red Buffalo on it, ❤️ oldie & knee surgery wilt& Willis reed battles, , ❤️ / to see early 1970s Dave Cowen & Boston Celtics battle Willis reed &ny Knicks battles Willis reed &ny Knicks beat Dave Cowen &Boston Celtics 1973 playoffs series ,& Dave Cowen & Boston Celtics beat Willis reed & ny Knicks in playoffs series 1974 , very sad when o.j simpson past away miss him making 💰 💰 signings autograph with white& red Buffalo 🐃 bills NFL helmet
@@user-iv9er3nr6z well I met o j a few times in the 1970s he was very friendly.. signed cards.. helmets...any items... All those NBA players and series you mentioned indeed I saw live ..a great era.. yeah Chamberlain had lost a lot of mobility by the 1970s.. plus he concentrated on defense more but reed and cowens played him tough.. as well as anyone did
More pure gold presented by 70's Fan. For a guy who suffered a potentially career threatening knee injury (e.g., torn patella tendon) in the 9th game of the 69-70 regular season, the Big Dipper was pretty darn awesome in this series. The only tangible Reed/Chamberlain comparisons in this series should be relegated to Games 1-4. Reed suffered his leg injury in Game 5, so the following statistics from Games 1-4, indicate that the two legendary centers played to a standstill. Game 1 Advantage Reed Knicks Win Reed 37 PTS 16 REBS 16-30 from the field Chamberlain 17 PTS 24 REBS 8-14 from the field Game 2 Advantage Chamberlain Lakers Win Reed 29 PTS 15 REBS 12-29 from the field Chamberlain 19 PTS 24 REBS 9-20 from the field Game 3 Advantage Reed Knicks Win Reed 38 PTS 17 REBS 17-30 from the field Chamberlain 21 PTS 26 REBS 7-10 from the field Game 4 Advantage Chamberlain Lakers Win Reed 23 PTS 12 REBS 10-23 from the field Chamberlain 18 PTS 25 REBS 7-13 from the field Games 1-4 Reed 31.7 PTS 15.0 REBS 55-112 .491 FG% Chamberlain 18.7 PTS 24.7 REBS 31-57 .543 FG%
Phil C I’ve never seen a fan glorify a players stats in losses more than you man. Listen the name of the game is to win. Willis was cripple and Wilt lacked the killer instinct to take advantage lol
@@casualfandestroyer2503 Forget to take your ADHD medication? This YT video is about Game 4 of the 1970 NBA Finals, not Game 7, and my statistical analysis of Games 1-4 of the Reed/Chamberlain matchup doesn't jibe with your mythical glorification narrative. The Lakers and Knicks split the first 4 games and the individual statistics indicate that the 2 HOF centers played to a standstill.
@@pjtheory Wilt is the same man who once explained to Sport magazine, “In a way, I like it better when we lose. It’s over and I can look forward to the next game. If we win, it builds up the tension and I start worrying about the next game.” Would Russell have ever said something like that? What do you think?
At 1:23 that means there must be game footage of this. Great work! It looks great. I hope more footage comes out and show the ignorant people who have said NBA centers suck back then.
And they say Wilt didn't play any defense. From this highlight Wilt played defense. Willis Reed sag off of Wilt in the post defensive scheme is interesting.
No one says wilt didn’t play defense. Idk who u heard that from. Maybe they say his defense wasn’t the focus compared to his offense early on but never heard anyone say he lacked defensively.
Few things… (1) I’ve never heard anyone saying Wilt didn’t play defense or was a “bad defender” (2) There was actually a lot of instances when Wilt didn’t get up on Reed, that’s how he got some of those open 8-10 footers (3) Reed didn’t sag that much but it was primarily because Wilt wasn’t an effective jumpshooter.
Basketball was played so different back than. The skill level has gone up so much guys from this era would get crushed by guys in the nba now. I don’t think the skill level went up until the late 80s and 90s
In the first four games Reed scored 127 points with 60 rebounds and 15 assists and he was just under 6'9". How is 31.8 and 15 plus 3.8 assists against Wilt? He had just defeated Alcindor in 5 averaging 27.8 and 12.2. Not this was not the massive Lenox Hill knee brace Willis after the spring of 1971. That Willis was never healthy again and he only played 99 games his last three seasons. How many here know that Willis Reed was 15 and 6 against Alcindor/Jabbar from 1969 to 1974 despite the Bucks winning 304 to the Knicks 266 games? Jabbar was 6 and 15 against Willis! In the last three games of the 1973 finals against Wilt, Reed at 70% of his former self played 96 minutes and scored 61 points with 33 rebounds and 10 assists. If Willis Reed did not get injured in the spring of 1971 and played to 35 like Russell or 36 like Wilt the Knicks would have won 5-6 NBA titles! Reed maybe a top 10 center, that is beyond ridiculous! Look at Pat Ewing's numbers against an old bald Jabbar or in the 1994 finals against Akeem. He was a disgrace! Pat Ewing was Mr. Choke in a big spot!
Valid points. You should also remember that during the 69-70 season that Chamberlain had knee surgery and missed 70 of the 82 regular season games. Chamberlain was still rounding into shape when the playoffs started. Reed played him well. However, Chamberlain was not operating at 100%. Reed and Abdul-Jabbar used to have battles. It is regrettable that knee surgery cost Reed much of his mobility, which was a key to his success against the taller and more-talented Abdul-Jabbar. Even with the surgical brace, however, Reed played Abdul-Jabbar with energy and fervor.
Awesome stuff Have you by any chance found footage of the first 3 quarters of game 7 of the 1969 finals? The only complete footage I’ve seen is of the fourth quarter.
@@70sfan You are such a jewel to us.... I am going to have to subscribe soon! If you get any of those 3 quarters.....I can't even put into words what that would mean to us basketball history lovers.... Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed New Year!
I'm guessing the center jump at 0:07 must be from the Overtime period. The giveaway is that Mike Riordan is shown going after the ball at 0:11. Riordan was a backup on the Knicks. In this game, DeBusschere and Bradley both fouled out, so Riordan filled in. The Lakers scored 22 points in the Overtime! That was a record at the time, any may still be the record for most points by a team in an Overtime period in NBA finals.
On the 69-70 Knicks, Dave DeBusschere was backed up by Dave Stallworth. Bill Bradley was backed up by Cazzie Russell. Mike Riordan backed up Walt Frazier and Dick Barnett. Stallworth and Russell were likely on the court during the overtime period, not Riordan.
@@KSmall109CAB We see in the clip, starting at 0:16, immediately following the tip off that all three players (Stallworth, Russell and Riordan) are in the game. So assuming this is part of the same quarter/OT in which the tip off occurs, that very likely is the Overtime period or possibly the 4th quarter. There would be no reason to have Stallworth, Russell and Riordan start a quarter unless it was because the regular starters were out of the game, or in major foul trouble. One reason this may be the fourth quarter is because there is no sighting of Lakers' John Tresvant. Based on newspaper accounts, it appears that Tresvant played all of the O/T.
I have said for years that the Lakers win the title in 1970 if Reed does not get hurt in game 5. As New York going small with a full lineup of outside shooters and basically putting two wings on Wilt to swarm him and prevent him from getting the ball down low is what won them that title. As I think the more footage we have of the 1970 finals proves that Wilt despite being 4 months after knee surgery was starting to figure out a healthy MVP Reed after game 1 in which he just destroyed Wilt with his outside shooting. According to many people I have spoken to about that series after watching the film of his game 1 performance. Wilt started to make more of an emphasis to go outside and contest Reed's jump shots and it worked as he blocked Reed's jump shot late in-game two to win the Lakers the game.
Willis had a nice shot fake. He was $ from midrange so eventually even Wilt had to come out to challengene it. Reed was pretty quick on the drive. Not an easy cover for the real giants like Wilt and Kareem etc
Dick Garrett, a rookie guard for the Lakers, did a good job in the series matched against Walt Frasier as did bench-warming non-shooting Keith Ericson vs. overpaid Bradley . This became a bit of a scandal and Bradley and Frasier showed their worth in game 7. Garrett was traded to Buffalo and never played at this level again.
Garrett was not traded. He was left unprotected in the expansion draft. Keith Erickson was not a benchwarmer. He was an active member of the Laker rotation in 69-70, as he could play the off guard or small forward position. Was Bill Bradley overpaid? Probably. Was he the Knick version of the Great White Hope? Maybe. Did his presence lead the Knicks to leave Dick Van Arsdale unprotected in the expansion draft prior to the 1968-69 season. Likely. Was Cazzie Russell's career as a Knick impacted by Bill Bradley's presence? Most definitely. At this point 50+ years later, does any of this really matter. Probably not.
Garrett and Frazier both starred at Southern Illinois University. So cool to see this footage of the former teammates facing off in the NBA finals. Together at SIU they led the Salukis to an NIT Championship in Madison Square Garden in 1967.
Reed was a great player and had a complete game. He was 6'10" in shoes (like everybody was measured from '73 on) and was one tough player that nobody crossed. Of course, Willis knew enough to not make Wilt mad even if Wilt was playing on one good knee after Wilt blew out his kneecap in '69.
