The Last Drop In The Bucket

Siegfried, who himself began each game by adjusting his bad leg on the bench so that his pulled hamstring could rest for a while on a heating pad, spoke in admiration and kinship before the final game. "He is the master," Siegfried said. "They can talk about the others, build them up, but he is the one. He is the only guard."

"Do you spell that with a 'u' or just plain 'g-o-d'?" Satch Sanders asked.

"You know what I mean," Siegfried said. "His tribute is what the players think of him. We've played at about the same time but, if we hadn't, the one player I'd most like to see win a championship is Jerry West."

It is West's curse, though, that he and the Lakers must try to intrude on somebody else's era. And what makes it the Celtics'? One remembers Russell, an arm around Havlicek, helping him off the court when he was injured in the third game. "I was thinking only that he might be hurt badly," Russell told reporters. "You see, first, these men are my friends. Above all, we are our friends."