Season of the 76ers

Author:

By Wayne Lynch

Format:

Hardback

Availability:

Out of print. Try our second hand search facility.

Price:

£15.99

Tagged with:

Basketball, Basketball Teams, Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia 76ers

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Further Details

• Published: 1st Feb 2002
• ISBN: 031228277X
• Pages: 272

From Word of Sport:

A chronicle of the record-setting '67 championship journey of the team that finally ended the eight-year NBA domination of the Celtics. In particular, the book pays tribute to star player Wilt Chamberlain - his personal rivalry with Boston's Bill Russell and his relationship with fiery coach Alex Hannum.

From the Publisher:

Destroying a dynasty.

That was the mission of Wilt Chamberlain and 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers.

For eight straight years, the Boston Celtics had dominated the National Basketball Association. Each and every season during that stretch, a new NBA championship flag was hoisted to the top of the hallowed Boston Garden. No team had been able to stop them. Nobody thought any team could or would.

"Season of the 76ers, The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers," chronicles the unprecedented, record-setting championship journey of the team that finally stopped the Celtics and became the new kings of the NBA. It tells the story of the legendary Chamberlain's personal triumph over Boston and their leader, Bill Russell, arch rivals who had annually thwarted Chamberlain's championship dreams and had left him branded a loser.

But Chamberlain couldn't defeat the Celtics alone. He was reunited with fiery and focused Coach Alex Hannum, the only NBA coach ever to have beaten Boston for the championship. He was surrounded by the best supporting cast of his career: Hal Greer and Chet Walker, two talented offensive stars transplanted from a bygone NBA franchise; Luke Jackson, the league's first true power forward; Billy Cunningham, a sixth man loaded with instant energy and offense; Wally Jones and Larry Costello, a pair of basketball reclamation projects; and, Matty Guokas and Bill Melchionni, a couple of hometown rookies.

Chamberlain remade his game, forsaking his own incredible scoring prowess in favor of handing out assists to teammates. In turn, the 76ers remade basketball history, rocketing to an unmatched 46-4 record out of the gate and not stoppinguntil they reached 68-13, a regular season mark never previously achieved in NBA history--or even imagined back then.
The book gives fans a fascinating, month-by-month look at the team's amazing season, a season that also saw Chamberlain pursued by both a rival basketball league and the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. It also recounts in vivid, play-by-play detail one of the most historic playoff series in the annals of the NBA.

The 76ers battled the Celtics again in a much-anticipated post-season confrontation. But this time the results would be different. Amid chants of "Boston is dead" from the long-suffering, Celtics-hating fans at Philadelphia's Convention Hall, the 76ers won the series quickly and decisively. They went on to defeat sharp-shooting Rick Barry and the San Francisco Warriors for the NBA title.

In 1995, the 76ers took their place among the top ten teams in NBA history. Season of the 76ers makes the strong case that they are the best NBA team of all time. Packed with pictures, playoff box scores, and reproductions of the 76ers' championship yearbook, the book is not only the biography of a great team, it is a fun- and fact-filled sports collectible.

The NBA's 2001-2002 season marks the 35th anniversary of that special "Season of the 76ers" - a fitting time to relive this team's unforgettable achievements.