Basketball‘s Greatest Players

Basketball‘s Greatest Players

Introduction What's the hottest sport around? Basketball. It's 48 minutes of nonstop action. Take your eyes off the court for an instant and you'll miss a slam dunk, a behind-the-back pass, or a sneaky steal. Basketball is the only sport completely developed in America. A Massachusetts teacher, Dr. James Naismith, invented the game with his wife's help in 1891. Today, people shoot hoops all over the world. From college campuses to NBA (National Basketball Association) arenas, basketball keeps fans on the edge of their seats. And nobody plays it better than the men of the NBA. Fans love to argue about who's the greatest. This book tells you all you want to know about the best players ever.

DEFENSE! College ball, 1953. The game between the University of San Francisco and Brigham Young University has just started. Bill Russell, a sophomore (second-year student), is San Francisco's center. At 6'10" , he can outjump everyone on the floor. The man Bill's guarding dribbles around him. When the man goes in for an easy layup, San Francisco's captain scowls at Bill. “ Why don't you try playing some defense?” he hisses. Bill gets angry. He knows the captain doesn't like him because he's black. He decides he'll show the guy exactly what defense is. So he sticks to his man as though his life were at stake. The player doesn't score another point.

It's then that Bill realizes that defense can win games. From now on, he vows, that's what he'll concentrate on. Other centers feel defense is unimportant. If they don't have the ball, they just stand around the basket. When they block shots, they slap the ball hard into the stands. Bill shows them a new way of playing. He makes defense lead to fast breaks and scoring. Timing his leaps, he tips blocked shots to teammates racing downcourt. He tears around the floor, stealing balls and grabbing rebounds. In 1956, Bill joins the NBA as the Boston Celtics' only black player. His style single- handedly changes basketball defense. The league is startled when Bill doesn't care about scoring. But the Celtics don't need points from him to win. They count on him to make sure the team works together. Bill becomes the greatest team player on the only team in history, in any sport, to win eight championships in a row.