NBA Tournament of Champions: Bill Russell Bracket Finals

A common thread throughout two of the three brackets we've gone through so far this round: their namesake isn't playing in the Final. Bill Russell makes it three of four, since he saw one of his teams knocked out last round, but it does set up a battle of titans led by legendary centers.

The format of this battle remains the same as before: this series will be a best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format) with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. You can click on the corresponding links for first and second round results from this bracket. Onward to the main event.


'71 Milwaukee Bucks (78-18) vs '72 Los Angeles Lakers (81-16)
Game 1: @ '72 Lakers 141, '71 Bucks 126 (LAL leads 1-0)
Game 2: '71 Bucks 112, @ '72 Lakers 106 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3: '72 Lakers 132, @ '71 Bucks 129 (LAL leads 2-1)
Game 4: @ '71 Bucks 109, '72 Lakers 100 (Series tied 2-2)
Game 5: @ '72 Lakers 99, '71 Bucks 86 (LAL leads 3-2)
Game 6: @ '71 Bucks 114, '72 Lakers 105 (Series tied 3-3)
Game 7: @ '72 Lakers 120, '71 Bucks 107 (LAL wins 4-3)
This was a great back and forth series. Game 1 saw no defense, as Oscar's triple double couldn't outdo monster games from Gail Goodrich and Jerry West. The Lakers couldn't take firm control of the series though, as Kareem seemed to raise his game in those big moments to re-tie the series. Ultimately though, as I figured this series would, it went to a 7th game and both teams brought everything they had to the table. A great effort from LA's backcourt outdid the major players from Milwaukee to advance.

To see the updated bracket, click here.


This really turned out to be one of the better brackets top to bottom despite the short series that abounded here. A wealth of great centers and point guards made the decisions for this All Bracket team a difficult one (so much so that I had to fudge some of the positions a little bit). But tough cuts and some finagling of positions need to be made, and the people who made it all earned it. Accompanying each player are their per game averages and shooting splits (field goals/threes/free throws). Here's the Bill Russell All Bracket Team:

• PG: Jerry West ('72 LAL, 16 G): 22.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 8.8 APG, 0.4 BPG, 1.9 SPG; 48/40/77
• SG: Gail Goodrich ('72 LAL, 16 G): 23.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 0.4 BPG, 1.8 SPG; 50/29/85
• SF: Oscar Robertson ('71 MIL, 16 G): 18.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 8.8 APG, 0.7 BPG, 1.4 SPG; 47/40/82
• PF: Wilt Chamberlain ('72 LAL, 16 G): 14.9 PPG, 18.1 RPG, 4.1 APG, 4.2 BPG, 0.8 SPG; 66/NA/51
• C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ('71 MIL, 16 G): 29.1 PPG, 15.7 RPG, 3.2 APG, 3.4 BPG, 0.8 SPG; 56/33/69

Bill Russell Bracket MVP: Jerry West ('72 LAL): This one was pretty tough to decide. Kareem could have easily won this award, but I feel that the award should go to a player from the winning team unless someone has runaway numbers. Kareem certainly comes close, but not quite. Jerry, meanwhile, had a few phenomenal games and did plenty of scoring and distributing. Gail Goodrich was also under consideration with his monster Game 7 being the highlight of an excellent tournament so far. Wilt didn't score nearly enough.

These sims are still technically going on, so in a way, these guys wouldn't know they'd already won and been named to the All Bracket Team, but such is the technicality we have to live with in a simulated tournament as opposed to an actual one. I'm taking a few days off from posts and be back Monday to resume with the bracket finals. Monday's post will have a battle of Texas teams. Should be fun!