Wilt Feels Short Series Is Sweetest Way to Win (original) (raw)
Wilt Feels Short Series Is Sweetest Way to Win
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/25/archives/wilt-feels-short-series-is-sweetest-way-to-win.html
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- April 25, 1972
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LOS ANGELES, April 24—Wilt Chamberlain may be in the autumn of his career, but his September Song is pretty sweet this April.
The 35‐year‐old giant of the Los Angeles Lakers—fresh from the conquest of Kareem Abdul‐Jabber and Milwaukee — is primed for the New York Knicks.
“I hate seven‐game series, there is no way I wanted this series to go seven games,” Wilt said after leading the Lakers over the Bucks, four games to two.
“Seven games is always bad for the Lakers and it's always been bad for the teams I've played on over the years.”
Now, with the Bucks disposed of, Chamberlain wants to take the Knicks in six—or less. He remembers well what happened in 1970, when the Knicks won the National Basketball Association title in seven games from the Lakers.
Los Angeles has yet to achieve an N.B.A. championship, despite gaining the final seven times in the previous 10 seasons since the franchise was shifted from Minneapolis. To a man, the Lakers agree with their big center: the shorter the series the better.
Chamberlain, in the final two games against Milwaukee, was the most impressive he has been as a Laker. Both Bill Sharman, coach, and K. C. Jones, his assistant, said they never had seen Wilt play a better game than last Saturday's.
“Use any adjective you want,” said Sharman. “Use them all. Wilt blocked shots, picked up loose balls, intimidated everyone and grabbed rebounds.”
“He even beat Kareem downcourt,” added Jones. Abdul‐Jabbar is 10 years younger than Wilt.
Whether Chamberlain can outrun Jerry Lucas of the Knicks remains to be seen, but big Wilt, at 7 feet 1 inch will tower some six inches over his adversary.
In the Bucks’ series Chainberlain blockea roughly two dozen shots — 10 in the finale: game, alone. He grabbed 116 rebounds — more than 19 a game — and added 10.8 points a game. And he played 275 minutes of a possible 288.
Chamberlain's muscle and hustle, plus. Jim McMillian's shooting, compensated for the subpar marksmanship of Jerry West and Gail Goodrich.
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