1963 NBA All-Star Game: When It Used to Matter
There's a lot of talk about who should, or shouldn't, be named to the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. Like its counterpart in other sports, this game has become nothing more than a meaningless exhibition...but it wasn't always that way.
Back in the 1960s, these guys wanted to win. Their stock in trade was pride, not the false bravado of today's spoiled athletes. I think back to some of the All-Star games that I saw as a teenager and the difference is striking.
In 1963, the West assembled what was being touted as the greatest All-Star team ever. The team included Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Pettit, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Walt Bellamy. Actually, point guard Guy Rodgers had been selected to start in the backcourt with West, with Baylor, Pettit and Chamberlain up front.
Lakers coach Fred Schaus instead decided to start Bellamy at forward, with Baylor, at 6'5", moving to guard. The West front line measured 6'9" (Pettit), 6'11" (Bellamy) and 7'1" (Chamberlain), an average of a record 6'11"!
The East, by contrast, had an undersized front line of Tom Heinsohn (6'7"), Jack Twyman (6'4") and Bill Russell (6'9"). The biggest man among the substitutes was 6'9" Johnny Kerr. The game, which was to be played in the Los Angeles Sports Arena, was billed as a mismatch, with the East cast as lambs being led to slaughter.
What the East did have, however, was the heart and desire to prove the critics wrong. With Red Auerbach calling the shots, the East used its backcourt of Oscar Robertson and Bob Cousy (in his final All-Star appearance) to out-maneuver the hosts.
Russell, whose will to win was unmatched, was superb, as he single-handedly neutralized the gigantic front line of the West with 19 points and a game-high 24 rebounds on his way to MVP honors in a 115-108 victory.
This is not to say that the Western team mailed in the result. They out-rebounded the East by 11 and went to the foul line 45 times compared to 18 attempts from the visitors.
They fell behind early, perhaps a bit overconfident, but battled back to the finish. Still, they could not match the intensity instilled in the Eastern team by Auerbach and Russell, who no doubt were stung by the media's premature coronation of the West as the most fearsome All-Star team ever assembled.
This year's game, coincidentally, is to be played in Los Angeles.
While I will be entertained by the derring-do of LeBron, Kobe and the rest, I will wonder why professionalism, pride and determination have given way to showboating, chest-bumping and self-gratification...and I will fondly remember the 1963 game as having set the standard for something so much more heroic.
