The Lost Finals MVP: 1962
A clash of the titans
Oh look, the Boston Celtics engaged yet again in one of the greatest NBA Finals ever. Just like in 1957, they won the seventh game in overtime.
Also like before, the opponent had a performer who merits strong consideration for being the Finals MVP.
Monsieur Elgin Baylor was ridiculous.
One of the all-time great Finals performances from Elgin as he averaged (averaged!) 40.6 PPG, 17.9 RPG, and 3.7 APG. On the road in Game 5, Baylor led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 126-121 win with 61 (SIXTY-ONE!) points.
A playoff scoring record then and still the NBA Finals scoring record now.
(NOTE: PERSONALLY, I still consider Baylor’s 61 points the true single-game playoff scoring record. Michael Jordan would later score 63 points in a playoff game, but he needed double overtime to do it.)
With that victory, the Lakers gained a 3-2 series lead as they headed home to California. Boston was on the ropes and Baylor was looking like he would indeed be the Finals MVP and give the Lakers franchise their first title since George Mikan was the mainstay in Minneapolis.
But that man Bill Russell had a say in the matter.
On the road in LA, Russell was an all-around menace: 19 points, 24 rebounds, and 10 assists. His effort thwarted Baylor (34 points, 15 rebounds) and Jerry West (34 points) in a 119-105 Boston win.
Then in Game 7, Russell had the game of his life.
30 points and 40 rebounds in a 110-107 overtime win.
(For the record Baylor had 41 points and 22 rebounds in Game 7, but only shot 13-40 from the field).
Russell’s points led all Celtic scorers. Obviously his rebounds led everybody on both teams as he tied his own Finals record for boards in a game. His 8-14 FG shooting was great for the era, but amazing considering pretty much everyone else on the floor sucked.
We’ve already seen Baylor’s horror, but everyone not named “Bill Russell” (8-14) or “Jerry West” (14-30) was terrible as the teams combined to shoot 33.9% as folks left and right had the yips.
Looking at you, Frank Selvy.
Even more remarkable was the fact that Russell shot 14-17 from the free throw line. That’s 82.4% for a career 56% FT shooter. Great time to sink your freebies, Russ.
With that titanic performance in one of the great playoff series ever played, Bill Russell secured the Celtics’ fourth straight title and his third straight Lost Finals MVP.
His final numbers for the series: 22.9 PPG, 27.0 RPG, 5.7 APG, .543 FG%, and .742 FT%
Still more titles and Finals MVPs to come for Russell.
This inspired me to look up Selvy's background. He is nearing his 89th birthday. In 1954, playing for Furman he scored 100 against Newbury College, still the record for a Division I game. Here is what Wikipedia says about this 1962 game 7:
"Selvy's best known game in the NBA is probably Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals in which he almost defeated the Celtics. Selvy's Lakers faced a four-point deficit at the hands of Boston Celtics in the final minute of the game's fourth quarter. Selvy then proceeded to secure two crucial rebounds and score two baskets to tie the game at 100. However, he lost his chance for the ultimate heroic moment as he missed a 12-foot jump shot right before the buzzer that would have secured the championship for the Lakers had it gone in. The miss sent the game to overtime, where the Celtics prevailed in this, the second of seven NBA Finals match-ups between Boston and Los Angeles over the course of eleven seasons.
Regrettably for Selvy, his missed shot gained even larger significance as those years went by because the Lakers ultimately lost every one of those championship battles with the Celtics, thus magnifying the pain of Los Angeles having lost a golden opportunity, with Selvy's shot, to end that streak of futility before it had even begun. (The Lakers, while still playing in Minneapolis, had lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals in 1959, as well.)
The player who initially had the ball on that final play was Rod "Hot Rod" Hundley. And Hundley had in fact dreamt the night before that he would make the championship-winning shot. And further, after pump-faking his defender into the air, Hundley indeed briefly had an opening to take a shot. But rather than selfishly insisting upon attempting to play out his dream in real life, when Hundley noticed that Selvy was open for an even better shot — a shot that Selvy usually could be counted upon to make — Hundley gave up his own chance for glory and passed the ball. Selvy's miss, however, meant that Hundley's sacrifice had been for naught and that Hundley would never know if indeed he would have won the championship himself, had he taken the shot he had available. Because of this, Hundley would occasionally call Selvy and, when Selvy answered the phone, Hundley would simply say, "Nice shot!" and then hang up. For his part, Selvy has expressed some degree of irritation at Hundley's teasing.
It was a fairly tough shot because I was almost on the baseline. But I would trade all my points for that last basket.
— Frank Selvy as quoted on NBA.com"
That game seven was my first recollection of Celtic basketball. I was all of nine years old; the game was televised on the old channel 5 in Boston. Don Gillis was the announcer.