Russell, KC Jones Close on 22-2 Run to Advance San Francisco

In the most dramatic late game rally we recall in any of our Value Add Basketball Games, Bill Russell and KC Jones led a 22-2 run to close out the game and deliver the San Francisco 1956 repeat champions a come-from-behind 67-56 win in the Mississippi 2001. They will next play the winner of the last two teams in the game yet to play a game - VCU and Vanderbilt.

San Francisco rises to 33rd in our all-time team rankings, while, while Mississippi drops to 161st.

This was the first time we tracked miss free throws as well, and Russell's 50% free throw percentage (1-10 made, 11-20 missed) was a factor as he went 6 of 10 and the team went 14 of 22 compared to 11 of 14 for Mississippi.

But with five minutes left, KC Jones hit two free throws to make it 56-52 and extend the game (the last five minutes or 9 possessions, a foul or fast break steal add an extra possessions). Jones then stole a pass, and fed got the ball to Russell to make it 56-54. 

Two possessions later, Jones blocked a shot and got it ahead to Hal Perry who tied the score 56-56. Russell scored again for the first San Francisco lead of the game 58-56. Then we had the new block range come into play for the first time, as on a "65" Russell blocked a would-be score on one end, then on the other end Jones hit the only 3-point number on his 1-20 range with a "1" for a 3-pointer to make it 61-56. Mississippi hit only two 3-pointers, not unusual for an early team before they actually had the line as none of them have more than a 1-1 range for hitting 3-pointers in their 1-20 range. The surprise was that Mississippi also only had three 3-pointers with Jason Holmes just missing his 1-4 range with a "5" on a made basket.

One strategy note, Carl Boldt had a steal with 5 possessions (2:44 to play) but chose NOT to have a fast break, which would have allowed the advantage of the 20-side die to be lowered by 1, but also increased the chances Boldt (only scores or is fouled on 1-8 of 20) and instead he ran the regular offense and the ball ended up with Russell (1-12 score or is fouled) who scored to make it 63-56 and not create an extra possession since the fast break was not used.

 

Pos	Mississippi 2001	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Summary
1-PG	Jason Flanigan	6	1	0	3	3	4	1	0	1	6'3	7.1 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 2.2 Ast
2-SG	Jason Holmes	5	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	2	6'4	6.3 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 1.9 Ast
3-SF	David Sanders	6	0	3	0	0	4	0	0	3	6'7	6.9 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 1.9 Ast
4-PF	Justin Reed-nba	12	0	5	2	2	4	0	1	2	6'10	11.0 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 0.8 Ast
5-C	Rahim Lockhart	7	0	2	3	4	6	1	1	3	6'9	13.0 Pts, 8.1 Reb, 0.9 Ast
1-PG	Jason Harrison	2	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	6'2	7.1 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 3.0 Ast
2-SG	Aaron Harper	9	1	2	2	2	4	0	0	3	6'4	9.2 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 2.0 Ast
3-SF	Emmanuel Wade	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'3	4.4 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 0.9 Ast
4-PF	Richard Kirklin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	6'8	1.9 Pts, 0.9 Reb, 0.2 Ast
5-C	John Gunn	7	0	3	1	2	1	0	0	1	6'9	2.8 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 0.2 Ast
	Starting Totals	56	3	18	11	14	28	4	2	20		14 Turnovers
Pos	San Francisco 1956		3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Summary
1-PG	Hal Perry	12	2	3	0	0	3	3	0	2	6'0	9.1 Pts, 2.0 Reb
2-SG	Carl Boldt	11	0	5	1	2	2	3	0	2	6'4	8.6 Pts, 5.0 Reb
3-SF	K.C. Jones-nba	15	1	4	4	6	6	1	1	1	6'4	9.8 Pts, 5.2 Reb
4-PF	Mike Farmer-nba	5	0	2	1	2	7	0	0	2	6'11	8.4 Pts, 7.8 Reb
5-C	Bill Russell-nba	16	0	5	6	10	13	0	4	3	6'7	20.6 Pts, 21.0 Reb
1-PG	Harold Payne	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'0	1.0 Pts, 0.1 Reb
2-SG	John Koljian	2	0	0	2	2	1	1	0	2	6'5	1.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb
3-SF	Mike Preaseau	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'10	4.1 Pts, 3.1 Reb
4-PF	Bill Mallen	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'11	4.2 Pts, 3.5 Reb
5-C	Gene Brown	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	6'9	7.1 Pts, 4.4 Reb
	Starting Totals	67	3	22	14	22	37	8	5	17		13 Turnovers

We will add a photo of the score sheet.