Legends of World Olympic Basketball

Some of the greatest names come from the USA, the land that gave birth to Basketball.

The second half of the twentieth century produced many star Basketball players who helped the sport's popularity reach its zenith. From the end of the 1950s and through the 1960s, there was a battle-royal between two of the 'holy terrors' of American and world Basketball: Wilt Chamberlain, a centre who swept over records and personal bests, came up against Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics legend, who led his team to victory in no less than eleven successive championships.

In the 1970s Lew Alcindore, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabar, appeared in the Basketball world. Playing for UCLA and in ABA and NBA teams, he stayed in the forefront for two decades, winning titles and setting up appearances and total point records that will not be easily overcome. Another leading light of the time was Julius Irving (known also as "Dr. J", a player who looked like he was dancing, and raised the show of Basketball to new heights"

The 1980s found two of America's great cities, Boston and Los.Angeles, struggling for the top place in the NBA under the leadership of two first-class players - for the Celtics, Larry Bird, an all-rounder with an incredible game sense, and for the Lakers, whom he took to five championships, Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, Jr., a charismatic 2.05 m playmaker with inspirational flashes and magic passes

When Michael Jordan emerged at the end of the 1980s, Basketball took on a new dimension. His unbelievable technical skills established him as the uncontested king of Basketball, bringing millions of fans all over the world to their feet. In his time he won a college championship title, six NBA championships for the Chicago Bulls, an Olympic gold medal at Barcelona and innumerable personal awards and records.

There was of course a whole series of great players from outside the USA, from countries like Yugoslavia, the USSR and Italy, who made history with their achievements, especially in the '70s and '80s. But the player who must take the world record for long service and for points on the Basketball court was the Brazilian Oscar Schmidt. A real scoring machine, he managed an amazing achievement. Starting with the Moscow Olympic Games, he competed in five successive Olympic Games, and was top scorer in Olympic tournaments, with 1,093 points.

The first European player to move on successfully in the NBA league was a young Croat, Drazen Petrovic. The Mozart of Basketball, a player of amazing technique, he had won many personal and team distinctions even before crossing the Atlantic. Sadly, his career ended early in 1993 when he was killed in a car accident just before the European Championship in Germany..

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