I'm a huge Celtics fan. In honor of the beginning of the NBA Playoff season, here is a great video highlighting one of the legends of the game, Bill Russell. Russel played 13 seasons with the Celtics, and won 11 championships, more championships than any North American professional athlete in history. Not only was Russell one of the greatest players of all time, he was active in the Civil Rights Movement, for which he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama in 2011.
This video provides some insight into the 'intellectualization' of basketball that Russell was accused of by Wilt Chamberlain. I love the spiritual connotations in the discussion of Russell's playing style, such as this line at 4:10;
"Perhaps his greatest mental ability was to sift through all the mind's clutter to discover and harness purity of purpose. A distilled dedication to one goal: winning."
I also enjoyed this line from Bill at the very end; "There are 10 players, 3 refs, 2 hoops, 20,000 people, 1 ball. What's gonna happen with that ball is the most interesting thing." It may seem obvious to some, but this fact that it all comes down to what happens with the ball has been somewhat of a revelation to me. Everything else that occurs on the field or the court is a means to affect the ball.
Some other notable lines;
- Russell: "Psychologically, you have to make the opposite player question what he's doing...you have to create doubts."
- "Russell blocked shots without blocking them because people wouldn't take shots because people were afraid to take them. He changed the whole game."
- Russell: "I would block a guy's shot and say 'Yes, we did that to you. If you come back, we'll do it again. If you come back again, we'll do it another time. So you're going to have to find something else to do.'" (@2:42)
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