It is the most famous radio call in basketball history, hoops' equivalent to Russ Hodges' famed "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" from baseball's 1951 National League playoffs.

   In Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Division Finals, the Celtics' lead had shriveled to 110-109, and Philadelphia regained possession with five seconds left after an inbounds pass attempt by Boston's Bill Russell hit one of the wires that ran down from the ceiling of Boston Garden and helped support the baskets in those days.

   Hall of Fame guard Hal Greer prepared to toss the ball inbounds under his own basket. The logical target seemed to be massive Wilt Chamberlain in the low post, but Russell fronted Chamberlain and took away that option. Greer spotted forward Chet Walker, seemingly open beyond the key, and passed it to him ... but Boston's John Havlicek had taken a position several feet off the direct line between Greer and Walker, making it look like Walker was open when he really wasn't, and after counting off a couple of seconds in his head, Havlicek sneaked into the passing lane.

   Here is Most's call: "Greer is putting the ball into play. He gets it out deep." Then, his voice rising into a frenzy, Most screamed: "Havlicek steals it. Over to Sam Jones. Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball!" Havlicek had tipped the inbounds pass away from Walker and toward teammate Jones, who dribbled out the clock as fans poured onto the court. The Celtics had the win, and would go on to capture their seventh consecutive championship.

   Havlicek went on to score over 26,000 points in an NBA career that lasted 16 seasons, but he is best remembered for that steal immortalized on tape by the late Johnny Most.

   Wilt Chamberlain was quite simply the most dominating offensive force in basketball history. A marvelous athlete who possessed strength, stamina and speed, his greatest accomplishment may well be fact that he averaged 48.5 minutes per game in 1961-62. An NBA game only has 48 minutes in it.  (The Warriors played 10 overtime periods and he played all but eight of 3,890 minutes that season.)

   In that season, he averaged an astonishing 50.4 points per game - as a point of comparison, Michael Jordan's career average is a hair over 30. A 4-time MVP, Chamberlain scored at least 65 points 15 times; everybody else in NBA history combined has managed this feat just five times. He led the league in rebounding a record 11 times and averaged a record 22.9 boards per game for his career. His single-game record of 55 boards still stands.

   He is the only center to lead the league in assists. And of course, his most prodigious feat: Wilt claimed in one of his books to have slept with more than 20,000 women.

   Later in his career, Chamberlain played on better teams, like the Philadelphia 76ers of 1966-67 and the Los Angeles Lakers of 1971-72; surrounded by more talent, Wilt didn't win scoring titles, but routinely led the league in rebounding and assists. The scoring machine had become a team player.

   Why Chamberlain isn't regarded more highly by history is a mystery. Perhaps he takes the blame for his team's frustrations - in Chamberlain's first seven years, his teams went 0-for-5 in playoff series against his nemesis, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics; Chamberlain's teams won NBA titles just twice in his 14 seasons. 

   On this night, Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA single-game scoring record by tallying 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks. He was a dominant offensive force, obliterating his own previous NBA scoring record of 78 points set less than three months earlier. Chamberlain shot 36-for-63 from the field and an incredible (for him) 28-for-32 from the foul line - this from a man whose career free throw percentage was a weak .511.

   It was the great rivalry of the NBA's early era - the Boston Celtics and the St. Louis Hawks met four times in five years beginning in 1957. Here, the Celtics won the first of the 16 titles that would immortalize them as the greatest franchoise in pro sports hisory.

   This one went down to the wire - a 125-123 double overtime victory in Game 7. The Celtics survived a heart-stopping ending, as St. Louis player-coach Alex Hannum threw a court-length inbounds pass off the backboard to Hawks star Bob Pettit; Pettit's attempt at a tying shot rolled off the rim as time expired.

   Revenge for Pettit and the Hawks came swiftly. One year later, the same two teams squared off in the 1958 NBA Finals, and this time it was Pettit and the Hawks who had the last laugh. They stunned the Celtics by winning Game 1 104-102 in the series opener at Boston Garden. After Boston tied the series by winning Game 2, Celtics star Bill Russell suffered a sprained ankle in Game 3 that would hamper him for the rest of the series. The teams split Games 3 and 4, but the Hawks took command with a 102-100 win in Game 5 and returned to St. Louis determined to close out the championship series in Game 6.

   Michael Jordan to the rescue!  On the day of Game 5, with the NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz tied at two games apiece, Jordan was not throwing up jumpers, but throwing up. A slight case of food poisoning compounded by flu-like symptoms had him rushing to the bathroom in his Salt Lake City hotel.

   Nauseated and feverish, he lay in a darkened room with a bucket at the ready until an hour before tipoff. At game time, Jordan's eyes were glazed, his forehead was burning and he was dehydrated. "I didn't even think he would be able to put his uniform on," teammate Scottie Pippen said.

   But despite reeling from a stomach flu, Jordan turned in a heroic 38-point performance, capped with a clutch three-pointer that put the Bulls up 88-85. The Bulls won it, 90-88.

   Jordan may as well have played this game in a cape and tights - no game showed Jordan's incredible will to win as much as this one.

   It was the great rivalry of the 1980s - Magic Johnson's Lakers and Larry Bird's Boston Celtics met three times in the NBA Finals. With the Lakers up 2-1, Game 4 in Boston was a pivotal one. Win, and the Celtics were even with their long-time foes. Lose, and it would be an uphill battle to win another title.

   Boston rolled out to a 16-point halftime lead, but the Lakers whittled away at it until they were within eight points with three minutes left and down just 103-102 with 30 seconds to play. A pick-and-roll from Magic Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put Los Angeles in front, but Larry Bird responded with a three-pointer to put Boston back on top 106-104 with 12 seconds left. After being fouled on the next possession, Abdul-Jabbar made the first and missed the second, but the rebound squirted out of bounds off Boston.

   After a timeout, Johnson took the inbounds pass near the left sideline. He thought about launching a jumper, but lanky Kevin McHale was in his way. So he dribbled toward the key, with McHale in pursuit and Bird and Robert Parish moving over to join him. Before they could collapse on him at the foul line, however, Johnson tossed an old-fashioned running hook shot that nestled through the net, giving the Lakers the lead. After Bird missed an attempt at the buzzer, the Lakers had a 107-106 victory; they went on to win the series in six games.

   Afterwards, Johnson labeled the shot "my junior, junior sky-hook," after Abdul-Jabbar's favorite weapon. Larry Bird noted: "You expect to lose to the Lakers on a sky-hook. You don't expect it to be from Magic."

   The 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics came down to a seventh game at Boston Garden. And while basketball is a team game, this one came down to an old-fashioned shootout between Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins and Boston's Larry Bird.

   Like two gunfighters facing each other down, waiting to blink, the two stars played a stretch of one-on-one basketball that was as pure as a game of schoolyard hoops. The game was tied 86-86 with 10:26 to play when the teams' respective stars took over. Bird fired the first shot, a jumper with 10:03 to play, and went on to score nine points in a span of 1:58. But Atlanta stayed close and drew even again at 99-99 on a basket by Wilkins with 5:57 left.

   Bird scored 11 points after that, including the go-ahead basket with 3:34 to play and a stunning three-pointer over Wilkins with 1:43 left. Wilkins matched Bird's 11 points during that stretch, but it was not enough. With his team down by two points with one second left, Wilkins intentionally missed the second of two free throws, but Boston's Robert Parish tipped the rebound to teammate Dennis Johnson as the buzzer sounded and the Celtics had a 118-116 victory.

   Wilkins ended up with a game-high 47 points, shooting a brilliant 19-for-23 from the floor. But it was the Celtics who were left standing at the end thanks to Bird, who finished with 34 points on 15-for-24 from the field, 20 of those points coming in the fourth quarter.

   The Milwaukee Bucks were favored to beat the Boston Celtics in the 1974 NBA Finals, thanks mostly to young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won his third MVP award that season. But you could never count the Celtics out when it came to the Finals. Boston grabbed a 3-2 lead in the series and had a chance to close out the series, but Abdul-Jabbar and the Bucks rose to the occasion in a Game 6 classic.

   Milwaukee led by 12 points in the first half, but a long jumper by John Havlicek tied the score at 86-86 late in the game; the Bucks' Oscar Robertson was caught in a 24-second violation as time expired in regulation. With the Bucks leading late in the first overtime, Havlicek repeated his heroics, converting his own missed shot to tie the score at 90-90 and force a second extra session.

   In the second overtime, Havlicek scored nine of Boston's 11 points, including a rainbow jumper over Abdul-Jabbar with seven seconds left for a 101-100 Boston lead. With the champagne about to be uncorked, Milwaukee called a timeout and set up one last play - not for Abdul-Jabbar, but for swingman Jon McGlocklin.

   However, the play broke down when McGlocklin couldn't shake himself free as Abdul-Jabbar stood to the right of the lane with the ball. Abdul-Jabbar looked for someone else to pass to but could find no one, so he dribbled to the baseline, turned and put up his graceful sky-hook. It nestled through the net for a 102-101 Bucks win that tied the series at 3-3.

   Game 7 was another great contest.  The Celtics bounced back like champions in Milwaukee: for the first six games, they had played Abdul-Jabbar straight up. In Game 7, Boston coach Tom Heinsohn changed his strategy - and it worked to perfection.

   The Celtics  began double-teaming Abdul-Jabbar, which freed Boston center Dave Cowens to concentrate more on offense. Cowens responded with 28 points and 14 rebounds as the Celtics coasted to a 102-87 win and Boston's 12th NBA title. After scoring 14 points in the first period, Abdul-Jabbar was held to only three shots - and no points - in the next 18 minutes.

   The defending champion Boston Celtics looked to be down and out. The young, tough Detroit Pistons had them tied in games 2-2, and were about to win Game 6 to send it back to Detroit with a 3-2 lead.

   The Celtics were down by a point Detroit had possession of the ball in the closing seconds of the game when those famed Celtic leprechauns decided to make an appearance. As Detroit's Isiah Thomas prepared to toss the ball inbounds from the sideline, Boston's Larry Bird looked away from his man and stole a glance at Thomas. He saw the Pistons' captain look toward center Bill Laimbeer in the low post an instant before releasing the ball. So Bird cut into the passing lane and stole the ball before it could reach Laimbeer's hands.

   His momentum looked like it would carry him out of bounds, but Bird somehow managed to gather his balance at the baseline and turn toward the court, where he spotted teammate Dennis Johnson beginning his cut from the foul line toward the basket. Bird whipped a crisp pass to DJ who laid it in with one second remaining for a 108-107 victory.

   The steal was remarkable. Bird's instinct and ability to turn it into the winning basket only compounded the greatness of the play. The Celtics went on to win the series in seven games and advance to the NBA Finals for the fourth year in a row, where they would surrender their title to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

   The 1970 NBA Finals are best-known for Willis Reed's inspirational moment, when he limped out onto the floor at Madison Square Garden for Game 7 and scored New York's first two baskets of the game, sparking the Knicks to a 113-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers for the franchise's first NBA championship.

   But Game 3 of that series produced another memorable moment in NBA history, thanks to an amazing shot by Lakers guard Jerry West, who earned the nickname "Mr. Clutch" for his ability to perform in pressure situations. After splitting the first two games, the teams moved to Los Angeles for Game 3 and the Lakers promptly grabbed a 56-42 halftime lead. The Knicks, led by Dave DeBusschere and Dick Barnett, chipped away at the margin in the third quarter and finally drew even at 96-96 with two minutes to play. The lead seesawed until Wilt Chamberlain made one of two free throw attempts to tie the score again at 100 with 13 seconds left.

   DeBusschere scored on a short jumper with three seconds to play to put New York up by two. The Lakers were out of timeouts, so West took the inbounds pass from Chamberlain in the backcourt, dribbled as far as he dared and then launched a 60-footer. It found its target as DeBusschere, under the basket, threw his arms up in disgust.  

   West's bomb tied the score at 102-102 and sent the game into overtime, but the Knicks managed to regroup for a 111-108 win. Had West's shot been taken today it would have been worth three points and the Lakers would have won the game in regulation, which might well have changed the course of that series.

   The defending champion Boston Celtics looked to be down and out. The young, tough Detroit Pistons had them tied in games 2-2, and were about to win Game 6 to send it back to Detroit with a 3-2 lead.

   The Celtics were down by a point Detroit had possession of the ball in the closing seconds of the game when those famed Celtic leprechauns decided to make an appearance. As Detroit's Isiah Thomas prepared to toss the ball inbounds from the sideline, Boston's Larry Bird looked away from his man and stole a glance at Thomas. He saw the Pistons' captain look toward center Bill Laimbeer in the low post an instant before releasing the ball. So Bird cut into the passing lane and stole the ball before it could reach Laimbeer's hands.

   His momentum looked like it would carry him out of bounds, but Bird somehow managed to gather his balance at the baseline and turn toward the court, where he spotted teammate Dennis Johnson beginning his cut from the foul line toward the basket. Bird whipped a crisp pass to DJ who laid it in with one second remaining for a 108-107 victory.

   The steal was remarkable. Bird's instinct and ability to turn it into the winning basket only compounded the greatness of the play. The Celtics went on to win the series in seven games and advance to the NBA Finals for the fourth year in a row, where they would surrender their title to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.