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I saw Russ play a few times, back when the Celts played a few "home" games at the old RI Auditorium (Lou Pieri was part owner of the team with Walter Brown).
Russell was as quick as a cat. My one memory is him defending a 2 on 1 break, and switching off the passer and blocking the lay-up attempt from the other guy.
Russ was a scoring machine at USF in college, but concentrated on defense and rebounding as a pro. The Celts had plenty of other guys who could put points on the board, but Russell owned the paint on D.
He never lost the final game of a championship series--either in college, at the 1956 Olympics, or in the NBS. He had 2 NCAA championships and a gold medal to go with his 11 NBA titles. His only loss in a play-off series was in the Eastern Conference finals in 1967, to Wilt's 76ers. That Sixers team was one of the great NBA teams of all times. He was injured for the championship series against the Hawks in the late 1950s, or else it would have been 12 championships in 13 seasons with the C's. The Celts won without Cousy and Sharman, they won without Heinsohn, they won without KC Jones, but without Russell, they never would have won a damn thing.
In my mind, it's a toss-up between him and Bobby Orr for the honor of Boston's greatest athlete.
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