SI Flashback: NBA Finals

In a high-scoring series -- the lowest winning point total was 117 and only once did a team score fewer than 108 points -- the Sixers capped what at the time was the greatest season in NBA history (68 regular-season wins) by defeating the team that had vacated Philadelphia (with Wilt Chamberlain as a member) in 1962. This Sixers team is considered by some to be the best ever.

Snapshot from The Waiting Made It Sweeter

By Frank Deford

They Said It "Look, they've reached a point where they're working to get 20- and 25-footers. We're happy if they have to work for that kind of shot. Besides, nobody's ever going to win a series -- a game, yes, but not a series -- on outside shooting." —Hannum

Where there's a Wilt ...: Chamberlain then brought his team home. He had eight rebounds in the fourth quarter and half a dozen blocks. Finally he made the utterly perfect move in the last seconds when the 76ers led 123-122 and Rick Barry had the ball. As Wilt began to menace him, Barry decided to pass to Nate Thurmond. But at that instant Chamberlain switched back to Nate. The switch left Barry literally hanging, with no alternative but to try a desperate push shot at the basket. It missed by feet, and the championship was won.

One-man team: The playoffs also demonstrated how dependent (for better or worse) the Warrior fortunes are on Barry's shooting arm. In the third game Rick made 55 points, but that required 48 shots. In the next game he handled the ball 59 times. Twice he lost it, three times he was fouled before shooting, 43 times he shot and only 11 times did he pass off. On occasion, it looked as if his teammates were trying to steer the ball away from him, and in the fifth game Coach Bill Sharman risked censure by sitting Barry down for a long period while his team was behind.

Back to the future: Construction of this ultimate victory had begun a long time ago, on a fall day in 1963 in Vancouver, B.C. Alex Hannum and Chamberlain had come together for the first time that September, as coach and star of San Francisco. ... Hannum started to run the Warriors his way, and almost from the first, and then on every succeeding day, the two men clashed and bickered. ... The following year, chaos ensued. Chamberlain was traded in midseason to Philadelphia, Hannum was later fired. They wandered through months of despair and coincidence until they ended up on the same team again last fall. This time, in Philadelphia, there was no rancor or distrust. They knew they needed each other -- Hannum to outcoach Bill Russell, Chamberlain to outplay him.

Issue date: May 8, 1967