'Havlicek stole the ball'
The Sixers were one field goal away from shocking the Celtics in the 1965 Eastern finals when John Havlicek stole an inbounds pass.
GAME 7, 1965 Eastern Conference finals, 76ers down 110-109, inbounding the ball under their own basket in the Boston Garden with 5 seconds remaining. If you are a longtime Sixers fans, nothing more needs to be said. The scenario alone should still make you queasy, give you nightmares and make you hate the sound of Johnny Most's voice. You know what comes next.
Havlicek stole the frickin' ball.
The Sixers prepared for such a moment with the acquisition of Wilt Chamberlain just a few months earlier. They wanted to dethrone the six-time defending NBA champions, and doing so on the fabled and despised parquet floor would be the ultimate victory.
Sixers coach Dolph Schayes called for Hal Greer to inbound the ball to Chet Walker, who was then to pass back to Greer, the team's best jump shooter, Greer setting up behind a screen set by Johnny Kerr. Except that the pass never made it to Walker.
Greer's pass was lobbed, giving John Havlicek, the Celtics' very athletic and intelligent forward, enough time to react and get to the ball before Walker could. Sam Jones picked up the loose ball, dribbled out the clock and the Sixers had their first disappointing and gut-wrenching moment at Boston Garden.
And Most's voice echoed forever.
"Greer putting the ball in play," Most announced. "He gets it out deep . . . and Havlicek steals it . . . over to Sam Jones . . . Havlicek stole the ball, it's all over, it's all over. Johnny Havlicek is being mobbed by the fans, Johnny Havlicek stole the ball."
Havlicek had the play sized up right from the start.
"As the ball was being inbounded," Havlicek recalled, "I watched as the officials handed Hal Greer the ball. And I started counting to myself, 'One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three,' knowing that he only had 5 seconds to inbound the ball. And I knew we were being very aggressive on the inbound play. After about 3 1/2 seconds, nothing had happened.
"As [Greer] lobbed it, I thought right away that I might have a chance to deflect it, intercept it or whatever. As it happened, I was able to go up and momentarily control it, deflect it to Sam Jones, who dribbled out the clock."
People questioned why the plan wasn't just to lob it into Chamberlain underneath the basket. But Chamberlain said he wasn't comfortable getting the ball at that point, figuring the Celtics would take advantage of his awful foul shooting and foul him before he could get off a shot.
It was just another instance in which Chamberlain was labeled a non-winner. The loss marked the fourth time in 6 years that a Chamberlain team was eliminated by Boston.
Bill Russell, on the other hand, was perceived as the ultimate winner. Yet it was a Russell gaffe that gave the 76ers back the ball in the first place. Inbounding with that 110-109 lead, he forgot about the guy wires that supported the backboard. On his pass in, the ball hit the wires and the Sixers had life. But before the ball was handed over to Greer, the Celtics, especially ascerbic head coach Red Auerbach, were arguing that Walker, who was defending the inbound pass, didn't give Russell enough space to throw the ball and that it should remain the Celtics' possession. But referee Earl "Yogi" Strom would have none of it.
The ball was handed to Greer and . . . you know the rest.