[CornFed]

Absolutely true that Russell had a much better set of players around him.  But your fixation on offensive stats diminishes the excellence of Russell's performance against Chamberlain one-on-one.  In no way do I wish to denigrate Wilt's legendary dominance.  It is just that Russell consistently mitigated his impact and allowed the superior talent of the Celtics to prevail.  I am not finding blocks or steals numbers on basketball-reference.com, but I think it would be statistics like those that strengthened Russell's case to be MVP.  He gave up three inches and very considerable bulk to Chamberlain, yet kept him contained whenever they met.  In the game you mention, Wilt was held to less than two-thirds of his average point production and was well under his average in rebounds.


And ultimately, how much value can one be said to have on a team that goes nowhere.  I think Russell was a deserving MVP, although I agree with you that it is shocking that Wilt did not have more.

[CornFed]

Absolutely true that Russell had a much better set of players around him.  But your fixation on offensive stats diminishes the excellence of Russell's performance against Chamberlain one-on-one.  In no way do I wish to denigrate Wilt's legendary dominance.  It is just that Russell consistently mitigated his impact and allowed the superior talent of the Celtics to prevail.  I am not finding blocks or steals numbers on basketball-reference.com, but I think it would be statistics like those that strengthened Russell's case to be MVP.  He gave up three inches and very considerable bulk to Chamberlain, yet kept him contained whenever they met.  In the game you mention, Wilt was held to less than two-thirds of his average point production and was well under his average in rebounds.


And ultimately, how much value can one be said to have on a team that goes nowhere.  I think Russell was a deserving MVP, although I agree with you that it is shocking that Wilt did not have more.