Apr. 26, 1964 - Game 7 NBA Finals Highlights (Warriors @ Celtics)

Apr. 26, 1964 - The Celtics, long the power of the NBA, extended their domination to record proportions tonight at Boston Garden. They gained their sixth consecutive championship with a 105-99 victory over the San Francisco Warriors in the fifth game of the final playoffs and took the series, 4-1.
No other major professional team had won its championship more than five times in a row. The Celtics had been tied with the Yankees and the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL, who had won the World Series and the Stanley Cup, respectively, five straight times.
In a game with many moments of sloppy play, the Celtics had let a big lead slip away and then held on just long enough as time ran out on the Warriors. With 15 seconds to go, Bill Russell dunked a rebound with the authority of a man trying to drive the ball through the floor. That made the score 103-99 for Boston and settled the issue. The crowd of 13,909 went wild with joy.
Not waiting for the game to finish, some fans charged to the side court, raised coach Red Auerbach of the Celtics to their shoulders, and tore his jacket in the process. Order of sorts was restored for the last seconds, and then Auerbach and the Celtic players rode the shoulders of happy fans after the final buzzer signaled the Celtics’ seventh NBA crown in the last eight years.
Russell did his usual fine job defending against Wilt Chamberlain, giant of this sport of giants. Wilt didn’t score for the first six minutes. Although he produced a 30-point effort, Wilt usually must do better for San Francisco to win.
Tom Heinsohn was the scoring hero for the champions with 19 points, but it was Sam Jones who got the Celtics off and winging to a big lead as the second half started.
Trailing 100-92 with a couple of minutes to go, San Francisco poured in five straight points to trim the lead to 3. Then it got only 2 points away before Russell slammed the ball through the hoop after Heinsohn had missed a layup.
Russell, Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Frank Ramsey, and Jim Loscutoff have been on all of the championship Boston teams. The road to great success began in the spring of 1957, when Auerbach’s forces won their first NBA title. With the exception of 1958, when the St. Louis Hawks beat the Celtics in a six-game final, Boston has won ever since.

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