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Chamberlain–Russell rivalry

The on-court rivalry between Chamberlain and Bill Russell is cited as one of the greatest of all time. Russell won 11 NBA titles in his career while Chamberlain won two. Chamberlain was named All-NBA First Team seven times in comparison to Russell's three but Russell was named the NBA MVP—then selected by players—five times against Chamberlain's four. Russell's Celtics won seven of eight playoff series against Chamberlain's Warriors, 76ers, and Lakers teams, and went 57–37 against them in the regular season and 29–20 in the playoffs. Russell's teams won all four series-deciding seventh games against Chamberlain's by a combined margin of nine points.

The comparison between Chamberlain and Russell is often simplified to one between a great player (Chamberlain) with a player who makes his team great (Russell); an individualist against a team player. Chamberlain would say Boston did not rely on Russell's scoring, and that Russell could concentrate on defense and rebounding. Chamberlain went on: "I've got to hit forty points or so, or this team is in trouble. I must score—understand? After that I play defense and get the ball off the boards. I try to do them all, best I can, but scoring comes first." Chamberlain outscored Russell 30 to 14.2 and out-rebounded him 28.2 to 22.9 in the regular season, and he outscored Russell 25.7 to 14.9, and out-rebounded Russell 28 to 24.7 in the playoffs.

Russell and Chamberlain were friends in private life. Russell never considered Chamberlain his rival and disliked the term, preferring "competitors", and also said they rarely talked about basketball when they were alone. When Chamberlain died in 1999, Chamberlain's nephew stated Russell was the second person whom he was ordered to inform. While previously friends, after Russell criticized Chamberlain for his performance during Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals, the two men did not speak for two decades. Russell privately apologized to Chamberlain and later publicly apologized in a 1997 joint interview with Bob Costas. The 1969 NBA Finals is arguably the biggest stain on Chamberlain's career; supporters of Chamberlain said Russell won more games because he had better-skilled teammates; in the finals; however, Chamberlain's team was favored and lost.