YouTube Gold: Bill Russell Blocks A Wilt Chamberlain Dunk

This was something most people could never do, and most would not even try

When people think about the strongest NBA players, most people will quickly think of Shaquille O’Neal, and there’s no doubt that he was unbelievably powerful. You could point to a few other people. Maybe Ben Wallace, Karl Malone, Willis Reed and a handful of others.

However, there’s no question that the strongest player in NBA history is Wilt Chamberlain.

At 7-1 and around 300 lbs., unlike O’Neal, Chamberlain was never out of shape. He reportedly could bench 600 lbs. and do 1,000 lbs. squats.

Toss in a reported 50” vertical leap and you can see why he was a load to deal with and only Nate Thurmond, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell were able to come close.

Indeed, Russell knew he couldn’t stop Chamberlain and instead tried to limit him. But every so often, Russell got the better of Chamberlain on individual plays. Take this beauty.

Chamberlain gets the ball and goes up to dunk over Russell, who is 5-6 inches shorter and far lighter.

Somehow, Russell manages to take away the dunk. It’s a pretty phenomenal play. Make sure to watch the slo-mo at the end.

The video says this is from 1967 which is interesting because that was the only season that Chamberlain won a title during Russell’s 1957-69 career.