The NBA Finals had become an endurance test.

The Celtics won Game 6, 99-90, at the Boston Garden to force a final
deciding game back in Calfornia. Jerry West played despite a pulled
hamstring and scored 26 points, which was 13 under his average for the
series.

"You want to come up with the greatest performance in your life in
the championship test but you're now in the 100th game and the body is
weakening," Boston's John Havlicek said. "It's just a case that the
body can take only so much."

West said the Lakers would have won if "I could have played a normal game."

Boston's player-coach Bill Russell didn't think West was limited
because of the injury, a remark that might have been in jest but was
pounced on the following day by Times columnist John Hall:

"The Celtics may very well win it all once again in the grand finale
tonight in the Forum, and it is to their credit that they have hung in
there again against the odds, but they should be thanking whatever
lucky stars or planets one thanks that a freak muscle pull in the final
meaningless minutes of a fifth game that was already iced did more to
maintain their tradition than all the cigars in Red Auerbach's many
mouths."

–Keith Thursby

[Hey Keith–look at the ad on the runover! Learn how to raise chinchillas in the privacy of your own home!–lrh]