National Basketball Association Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Celtics' dominance, league expansion and competition (1956–1979)=== In 1957, rookie center [[Bill Russell]] joined the [[Boston Celtics]], which already featured guard [[Bob Cousy]] and coach [[Red Auerbach]], and went on to lead the franchise to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center [[Wilt Chamberlain]] entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, setting new single-game records in scoring ([[Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game|100]]) and rebounding (55). [[Russell–Chamberlain rivalry|Russell's rivalry with Chamberlain]] became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=December 1, 1991 |title=Russell vs. Chamberlain: A rivalry for the ages |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/12/01/russell-vs-chamberlain-a-rivalry-for-the-ages/ |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |location= |access-date=March 10, 2024}}</ref> [[File:Wilt Chamberlain Bill Russell 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bill Russell]] defending against [[Wilt Chamberlain]] in 1966.]] The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics. Led by Russell, Cousy, and Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966. This championship streak is the longest in the history of American professional sports.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/sportsnation/story/_/id/15153911/the-most-impressive-championship-streaks-all-sports |title= The most impressive championship streaks in all of sports|last=Whitten |first=Hannah|date= April 7, 2016|website= [[ESPN]]|publisher= [[ESPN Inc.]]|access-date=April 10, 2024 |quote=}}</ref> They did not win the title in [[1966–67 NBA season|1966–67]], but regained it in the [[1967–68 NBA season|1967–68 season]] and repeated in [[1968–69 NBA season|1969]]. The domination totaled nine of the ten championship banners of the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Championship Wins|url=https://www.nba.com/celtics/history/championships|website=Celtics.com|publisher=NBA Media Ventures, LLC|access-date=December 31, 2018}}</ref> Through this period, the NBA continued to evolve with the shift of the [[Minneapolis Lakers]] to Los Angeles, the [[Philadelphia Warriors]] to San Francisco, the [[Syracuse Nationals]] to [[Philadelphia]] to become the [[Philadelphia 76ers]], and the [[St. Louis Hawks]] moving to [[Atlanta]], as well as the addition of its first expansion franchises. The Chicago Packers (now [[Washington Wizards]]) became the ninth NBA team in 1961. From 1966 to 1968, the league expanded from 9 to 14 teams, introducing the [[Chicago Bulls]], [[Seattle SuperSonics]] (now [[Oklahoma City Thunder]]), [[San Diego Rockets]] (who moved to [[Houston]] four years later), [[Milwaukee Bucks]], and [[Phoenix Suns]]. In 1967, the league faced a new external threat with the formation of the [[American Basketball Association]] (ABA). The leagues engaged in a bidding war.<ref name="jozsa"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Quirk |first1=James P. |last2= Fort|first2= Rodney D.|author-link= |date=June 5, 2018 |title=Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports |url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pay_Dirt/q_1ZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en |location= |publisher= [[Princeton University Press]]|page= 202|isbn= 9780691187945}}</ref> The NBA landed the most important college star of the era, [[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar]] (then known as Lew Alcindor). However, the NBA's leading scorer, [[Rick Barry]], jumped to the ABA, as did four veteran referees—[[Norm Drucker]], [[Earl Strom]], John Vanak, and Joe Gushue.<ref>{{cite book|last=Salzberg|first=Charles|title=From Set Shot to Slam Dunk|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|year=1998|isbn=978-0-8032-9250-5|page=203}}</ref> In 1969, [[Alan Siegel]], who oversaw the design of Jerry Dior's [[Major League Baseball logo]] a year prior, created the modern NBA logo inspired by the MLB's. It incorporates the silhouette of [[Jerry West]], based on a photo by Wen Roberts. The NBA would not confirm that a particular player was used because, according to Siegel, "They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it. It's become such a ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal point of their identity and their licensing program that they don't necessarily want to identify it with one player." The logo debuted in 1971 (with a small change to the typeface on the NBA wordmark in 2017) and would remain a fixture of the NBA brand.<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowe|first=Jerry|title=That iconic NBA silhouette can be traced back to him|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/27/sports/la-sp-crowe-20100427|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100429022209/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/27/sports/la-sp-crowe-20100427|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 29, 2010|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 27, 2010|access-date=May 23, 2011}}</ref> The ABA succeeded in signing a number of major stars in the 1970s, including [[Julius Erving]] of the [[Virginia Squires]], in part because it allowed teams to sign college undergraduates. The NBA expanded rapidly during this period. From 1966 to 1974, the NBA grew from nine franchises to 18.<ref name="jozsa">{{cite book |last=Jozsa Jr. |first= Frank P.|author-link= |date= October 2014|title=National Basketball Association Strategies: Business Expansions, Relocations, and Mergers |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/National_Basketball_Association_Strategi/H02qBAAAQBAJ?hl=en |location= |publisher=[[Springer International Publishing]] |page= 89|isbn=9783319100586}}</ref> In 1970, the [[Portland Trail Blazers]], [[Cleveland Cavaliers]], and [[Buffalo Braves]] (now the [[Los Angeles Clippers]]) all made their debuts expanding the league to 17.<ref>{{cite web|title=1970–71 SEASON OVERVIEW|url=http://www.nba.com/history/season/19701971.html|publisher=National Basketball Association|access-date=July 30, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119020355/http://www.nba.com/history/season/19701971.html|archive-date=November 19, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> The New Orleans Jazz (now in [[Utah Jazz|Utah]]) came aboard in 1974 bringing the total to 18. Following the 1976 season, the leagues reached a [[ABA–NBA merger|settlement]] that provided for the addition of four ABA franchises to the NBA, raising the number of franchises in the league at that time to 22. The franchises added were the [[San Antonio Spurs]], [[Denver Nuggets]], [[Indiana Pacers]], and [[New York Nets]] (now the Brooklyn Nets). Some of the biggest stars of this era were Abdul-Jabbar, Barry, [[Dave Cowens]], Erving, [[Elvin Hayes]], [[Walt Frazier]], [[Moses Malone]], [[Artis Gilmore]], [[George Gervin]], [[Dan Issel]], and [[Pete Maravich]]. The end of the decade, however, saw declining TV ratings, low attendance and drug-related player issues – both perceived and real – that threatened to derail the league.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Runstedtler |first=Theresa |date=March 16, 2023 |title= How Black Basketball Players in the '70s Paved the Way for the All Stars Today|url=https://time.com/6262690/black-basketball-players-70s-impact/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=March 10, 2024}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page